Bomber Career Day a success for aviation
9 March 2022
MHHS students considered a myriad of careers at the recent Career Day event involving area high school students. Aviation careers – presented by pilots of the Leading Edge Aviation Foundation (LEAF) were particularly popular.
In addition to inspiring local students and residence to pursue aviation careers, the non-profit Foundation provides flight training assistance and scholarships to local students. Funds are raised by donation of airplanes, aircraft parts, model airplane collections and other marketable items to be sold. A recent scholarship went to Mountain Home High School Navy JROTC cadet Johnathon Mason to attend the National Flight Academy (Pensacola, Florida) this summer.
To start aviation careers, students may utilize the Foundation’s Aviation Learning Center located in the Baxter County Airport terminal building and containing a fully FAA certified flight simulator, an extensive aviation library and space to host periodic aviation ground school sessions covering all the knowledge needed to pass pilot written exams.
Kevin Crawford (Flight Instructor- Leading Edge Aviation Foundation) discusses aviation careers with Helen Sampson, at recent MHHS Career Day Exposition.
LEAF honors Trey Ressler
Courtesy of Baxter Bulletin – March 7, 2022
Fishing Guide Flies High
Courtesy of Baxter Bulletin – February 2, 2022
Tim Schut, the third local professional to earn a private pilot’s license in the last two months at Baxter County Airport, was aided by the Leading Edge Aviation Foundation.
Schut, a White River fishing guide, said flying is like fishing. One begins learning with
instruction and practice and then, continues to learn all his life. Guiding on the White River in the Mountain Home area during the winter months, Schut guides in Alaska during the summers. He expects to add Alaska bush flying to expand his guide practice there. Working with resources and instructors of the LEAF of Mountain Home, Schut found the experience of learning to fly both exhilarating and challenging. Just like hosting a guide trip in challenging waters, the satisfaction of a successful flight is very rewarding. First scheduled to complete training in 2021, he completed all written study with on-line resources, but his work schedule in Alaska interrupted progress until completing the mandatory FAA flight check here. Because of his varied schedule, he says he “flew with all of the available LEAF instructors,” giving him a rich and varied background of aviation technique. Since there is no commercial flight training available in the area, the non-profit LEAF maintains two training aircraft for rent with flight instructors. With the mission to educate, encourage and provide financial assistance to people interested in aviation who might otherwise be excluded, LEAF also operates an aviation learning center in the north wing of the Baxter County Airport terminal building. The LEAF Aviation Learning Center hosts ground school sessions and houses a flight simulator (certified by the Federal Aviation Association) for learning pilots to gain experience in all types of flight conditions, and an extensive library with videos and aviation magazines and texts for learning pilots.