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POWERCAT PLANES, STUDENTS TO APPEAR AT OSHKOSH FLIGHT FESTIVAL July 17, 2003 SALINA – Kansas State University aviation students and faculty will celebrate the centennial of flight at the international Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisc. Aviation maintenance and professional pilot students are scheduled to arrive on July 28, flying airplanes from the university’s training fleet. Aviation department head Marlon Johnston said as many as one million people are expected to attend this year’s Oshkosh event, including industry representatives, pilots and mechanics. “Oshkosh is a great opportunity for our students to meet people from around the aviation industry and for K-Staters to see our airplanes,” Johnston said. “The event is the main aviation attraction all year long, so it’s great for our students to participate and help get out the word that K-State aviation is an exciting, growing program.” People attending Oshkosh will be able to see the airplanes with the Powercat logo on them and talk to current students and faculty. Troy Brockway, assistant professor of aviation, and Evan Beckman, aviation maintenance instructor, will lead the delegation staffing an information booth at the Kansas Space Grant Consortium, handing out materials about the aviation program and displaying photos of the college. In addition, Ken Barnard, professor of aviation, will be presenting a program about thunderstorm development and safety in the Aviation Forums Plaza. Barnard teaches Aviation Meteorology and Thunderstorms at K-State and adapted the topic for the Oshkosh event. “ I will cover how to identify and use the FAA system while flying in the area of thunderstorms,” Barnard said, “plus how they are formed and the conditions conducive for their formation. We’ll also look at some flying hazards associated with thunderstorms like wind shear, lightning, hail, microbursts, etc.” Most students and faculty will be traveling to Oshkosh in the Cessna 172 Skyhawks, which prominently feature a purple Powercat on the tail. Brockway said they will be parked together on the airport in the public camping area, among the aircraft of others attending the festival. The aviation department is in K-State’s College of Technology and Aviation, located on the Salina campus. |