{"id":28816,"date":"2020-06-22T20:00:40","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T01:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=28816"},"modified":"2020-06-22T18:20:29","modified_gmt":"2020-06-22T23:20:29","slug":"apsu-sees-hopkinsville-firefighter-take-new-aviation-science-programs-first-solo-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2020\/06\/22\/apsu-sees-hopkinsville-firefighter-take-new-aviation-science-programs-first-solo-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"APSU sees Hopkinsville firefighter take new aviation science program’s first solo flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – Early Monday morning, Ryan Erb sat behind the controls of an Austin Peay State University (APSU) Guimbal Cabri G2 helicopter at the Clarksville Regional Airport and eased the craft off the ground.<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University student Ryan Erb takes his first solo flight. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

In doing so, the Hopkinsville, Kentucky, firefighter became the first student to fly solo in Austin Peay State University\u2019s new aviation science program, which launched last year as the state\u2019s first helicopter flight school that awards bachelor\u2019s degrees.<\/p>\n

The program\u2019s director, Charles W. Weigandt, announced the news in an email to Austin Peay State University President Alisa White: \u201cToday marked a major milestone for the APSU aviation program. Mr. Ryan Erb completed his first solo flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other students in Erb\u2019s class \u2013 Rotor-Wing Private Pilot Lab I \u2013 will take their solo flights soon, accumulating 18 hours of flight during the class. By the time they earn their bachelor\u2019s degrees, they\u2019ll have had more than 165 hours in flight.<\/p>\n

Erb discussed the program and what it\u2019s meant to him during a recent interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been challenging,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely nothing easy about trying to fly a helicopter. I\u2019ve always been told there\u2019s no such thing as a natural-born helicopter pilot. <\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/a>

Ryan Erb, left, and instructor Donald Stanton smile after Erb\u2019s first solo flight. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd there\u2019s a lot to learn.\u201d <\/p>\n

In Weigandt\u2019s email to the president, he said, \u201cI congratulate Mr. Erb and his instructor, Mr. Donald Stanton, for their hard work leading to this momentous accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next flight lab for the students will come this fall when they get 19 \u00bd hours of flight time, including 4 \u00bd hours flying solo.<\/p>\n

With the bachelor\u2019s degree, students can pursue careers including flight instruction, aerial tourism and charter operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like a lot of people still in the military are looking for this kind of avenue,\u201d said Erb\u2019s classmate, Kristina Fish. \u201cAnd I think it would benefit a lot of people to just know that this is a huge, awesome resource that they can use right here, and they can start doing it while they\u2019re still in the military.\u201d <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[470center]<\/p>\n

To learn more<\/h3>\n

For more about aviation science at Austin Peay State University, go to https:\/\/www.apsu.edu\/engineering-technology\/aviation-science.php<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarksville, TN – Early Monday morning, Ryan Erb sat behind the controls of an Austin Peay State University (APSU) Guimbal Cabri G2 helicopter at the Clarksville Regional Airport and eased the craft off the ground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[22711,23,31941,11642,34774,31940,512,21749,825,34776,33724,3374,34775],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-7uM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28816"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28817,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28816\/revisions\/28817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}