Saturday, August 29, 2020

Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport (KMRB) announces partnership with Bravo Flight Training in the Eastern Panhandle


MARTINSBURG, West Virginia — Officials with the Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport Authority announced another expansion to its services in the form of a partnership with the Bravo Flight Training program, offering pilot courses to the residents of the Eastern Panhandle.

First opened on August 1, officials with the airport said the program’s facility in Martinsburg is the latest in its family of three flight schools, first originated in Frederick, Maryland, four years ago and later expanding to Gaithersburg, Maryland.

The flight school offers comprehensive flight training opportunities, including: private pilot, instrument, commercial and flight instructor.

“The location is perfect, because we’re able to draw from different markets while building our flying clientele, but still keep it local,” founder Brenda Tibbs said. “We love the Martinsburg community, and the experience of working with MRB has already been exceptional. We’re looking forward to a great partnership here.”

According to a release, Tibbs comes from a background in early childhood development, but, after taking her children to an airshow and participating in her own discovery flight, she completed training, started flight instruction and opened the flight school.

Tibbs was awarded the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s Best Flight Instructor of 2016, with Bravo Flight Training being named a Distinguished Flight School in 2017 and 2018, the release added.

“Bravo is about getting people together and encouraging camaraderie through flying,” Tibbs said. “We organize a lot of activities to facilitate this, such as flyouts, camping as a group or short flights for group lunches in Cumberland or Lancaster.”

According to airport officials, EWVRA was considered an ideal location, because it has the space to allow for the construction of a maintenance shop, as well as both long and wide runways to accommodate the training.

In addition, the area provides different types of airspace for training and Class Delta air traffic control services, as well.

According to Nic Diehl, executive director of the EWVRA, what he believes sets the Bravo Flight Training at MRB apart is its Part 141 Certification, making it one of only two flight schools in West Virginia to have this certification.

“We talked to a number of flight schools that expressed interest in coming to Martinsburg. but in the end, we felt Bravo Flight training was the best partnership for us,” Diehl said. “We’re excited to have Bravo here, because we see MRB as a location where they can grow and where we can have more trained pilots for future use in commercial flying or flying for the military, and the more pilots we have in the area, the more aircraft we have in the area, the busier we are and the more benefit we can be to the area.”

Diehl said if somebody is interested in taking lessons, they are encouraged to take a discovery flight, which typically includes 30 minutes of both on the ground and in-the-air flight

According to a release from the EWVRA, the school already has roughly 10 students and employs two instructors and a mechanic with hopes to grow in the near future by adding more instructors and maintenance personnel.

https://www.journal-news.net

1 comment:

  1. and the demand is "IATA presented forecasts Wednesday for a slow recovery for the airline industry, with demand expected to be up to 41% below previously projected levels in 2021, and the industry lagging 10% behind previous growth projections as far off as 2025."

    ReplyDelete