Big Bend awaits arrival of replacement aircraft

Two new Piper Warrior III planes expected to arrive early next year

MOSES LAKE — It's official.

Replacement of Big Bend Community College's flight training aircraft begins in 2006 with the anticipated arrival of two new Piper Warrior III airplanes in late January or February.

The aircraft are being funded with $500,000 from the state, monies that were appropriated in the 2005 Legislative session, and are the first replacements BBCC hopes to eventually make to its entire fleet.

"We see this as the first step in the ultimate replacement of all of our primary trainers," said BBCC president Bill Bonaudi.

Equipped with a state-of-the-art Avidyne Entegra flat panel display system that shows weather and flight instrument data, the four-person aircraft are installed with satellite global positioning systems (GPS) and are IFR certified for flying in adverse weather conditions.

These replacement aircraft enable the flight program to move forward with student training and keep up on new technology, said BBCC flight instructor and division chair Joseph MacDougall.

There are 23 airplanes currently in the fleet. Eleven of those are Beechcraft B-19s, Sport; six Beechcraft C-23 Sundowners; three Beechcraft F-33A, Bonanzas; one Bellanca 7GCBC, Citabria; one Cessna 180 with floats; and one Beechcraft D95A, Travelair.

Most of those aircraft are 15 to 20 years old and have an average of 11,000 flight hours logged.

BBCC is the only higher education institution in the state which owns its own aircraft and hires employees to instruct aviation courses rather than contracting with an outside organization. The college's flight training program is also the largest and longest running in the state.

"The program's reputation is not only nationwide but worldwide," Bonaudi said. "We have graduates flying from most major carriers at some point in their career."

In January a new winter pilot training class is scheduled to begin.

Usually BBCC only offers one pilot training class in the fall and this new class will be available to the community, MacDougall said.

Improvements to the flight center facility were made in 2003, including wireless Internet access, six aviation flight lab computers, instructor offices, simulator and flight planning areas, a dispatch office and four classrooms.

"We're just very proud of it and we intend to keep it in the forefront," Bonaudi said of the flight program.