Green Castle Aero Club Ltd.

The Green Castle Aero Club and its members would like to welcome candidates to apply for the Bill Kimble Flight Training Scholarship.  We offer this scholarship periodically to honor the memory of Bill Kimble, one of our founding members, by awarding the chance to earn a pilot’s license to a deserving young person.  The ideal candidate is a young person with an enduring attraction  to aviation.  Past graduates have gone on to become airline pilots, military pilots, flight engineers and air traffic controllers.  Earning a pilot’s license requires two closely related types of training:  study of flying theory and rules “on the ground” to pass a written test and acquisition of practical skills “in the air” to pass what is referred to as a “check ride.”  This year, we have revised the Scholarship into a two phase experience with the intent of potentially making it available to more individuals.

In the first phase, selected individuals will be enrolled in free ground school at Green Castle (one evening a week for 10 weeks, a course ordinarily costing $250.00.)  We can accommodate several applicants in this phase and expect that most serious applicants will be accepted and be able to complete this course, thereby gaining the knowledge needed to pass the FAA required written test.

After the Scholarship Committee has had an opportunity to observe progress in ground school, we plan to select one or more individuals (depending on availability of funds and quality of applicants) from the first phase to become Phase II students and begin flight training with an instructor.  Half of the cost of lessons and materials in Phase II will be provided by the Scholarship on a dollar-for-dollar basis; i.e. each dollar spent by the student towards plane rental, instructor fees or other covered expense is matched by the Scholarship, up to $2500 maximum, provided the Phase II scholarship recipient continues to meet the scholarship requirements as described below.  (The normal cost of obtaining such a license, based on current costs for instruction, materials, testing and airplane rental, ranges from $4500 to $6500 depending on the individual.)

Scholarship awards will be based primarily on the Scholarship Committee’s assessment of an applicant’s desire to fly, interest in aviation as a lifelong pursuit, likely aptitude for being a pilot and general level of maturity.  Acceptance to Phase I will be largely based on submitted application materials, possibly supplemented by interviews, depending on the number and quality of applications received.  Selection for Phase II  will be based on formal and informal evaluations of performance during Phase I over the first four to six weeks.  Necessarily, we will also consider various practical details such as parental support, driving distance to the airport, (No transportation to and from the airport is provided.) and competing interests.

Earning a pilot’s license typically requires an average of 45 hours of flight time, considerable ground school training, either formal or informal, and a fair amount of study on your own time.  The amount of time and energy is easily equal to a part-time job.  We have found that while many young people are excited by the prospect of actually being able to fly, few have the necessary background to understand what is involved.  It is our hope that any young person who thinks they want to fly will apply for and participate in Phase I.  The only real investment required for this phase is time and study, one night a week for approximately 10 weeks.  In return, even as he or she begins the theoretical learning process, there will be a chance for the student to meet actual pilots and get a real sense of what it takes to become one.

The Green Castle Aero Club is an ideal place to undertake the sometimes arduous but exciting task of learning to fly.  The club is located at Green Castle Airport, on F 28 about five miles west of North Liberty.  We have nearly 150 members with a wide range of experience.  We have a number of active certified flight instructors (CFI’s as we call them.)  Formal and informal instruction and advice are there for the asking.  You and your family are welcome to visit us at one of our meetings (most Wednesday nights at 6:30 PM) or whenever you are free.  (If you just want to drop by you might want to call first.  We do not have permanent office staff.)  Our phone number is 319-545-2101.  Our website: is http://www.greencastle-aeroclub.com/.  You may also contact Scholarship Committee chairman James Beeghly at 319-339-7558 (home), 319-330-1038 (cell) or jbeeghly@earthlink.net.