Bow, originally from Rexburg, Idaho, knew he wanted to be a pilot from boyhood. He started his aviation career right out of high school. In the fall of 2004 he started training at the Westwind School of Aeronautics in Phoenix, Arizona, where he received his commercial license in the spring of 2005. In 2007 he attended Flying Tigers Flight School in Rayville, Louisiana where he learned to be an Ag pilot (crop duster). He originally wanted to be a commercial pilot but after receiving his Ag pilot training he was doing some crop dusting for a friend and decided that was the road he wanted to travel. Frontier Ag Aviation saw Bow’s “Ag seat wanted” ad in an aviation magazine and contacted him. Frontier Ag Aviation, with locations in Oakley and Brewster, hired Bow in February 2009 as a full time Ag pilot. Bow flies one of the 401 Air Tractors owned by the company.
In Bow’s off-time he enjoys flying 2nd seat with his friend who flies a corporate Learjet. Not only does Bow fly planes, he also jumps out of them. He recently became a skydiver. He made his first solo jump a few weeks ago and according to Bow, there will be many more jumps in his future. Bow is also interested in aircraft maintenance. He has spent numerous hours at the Hawks Nest with John Lysinger, Oakley Municipal Airport service manager, as his mentor.
In the 23 years Bow has resided on planet earth, he has spent many of those hours above planet earth. And now, by the luck of the draw at the NAAA convention, he has another opportunity to spend more time above planet earth.
Bow will begin his aerobatic flight training on January 25, 2010 in Groveland, CA. For three days he will be under the direct supervision of Wayne Handley. Wayne will coach Bow through six aerobatic flights. Bow will be in great hands. Wayne is a former naval aviator, Ag pilot (crop duster), aerobatic champion and preeminent air show performer. Wayne began his aviation career in 1957 and has amassed over 29,000 hours of flight time with little of it spent straight, level and upright. In 1983, at the ripe young age of 44, with 15,000 hours in his logbook, he started flying in aerobatic competitions. A few years later he decided to leave competition and chose to fly air shows full time. Wayne now spends most of his workdays coaching aerobatic competitors, air show performers, Ag pilots and military pilots.
Wayne has won several aerobatic/air show awards: 1985 Outstanding Airman Award, 1985 California Unlimited Aerobatic Champion, 1996 Art Scholl Showmanship Award, 2000 Crystal Eagle Award, 2001 Sword of Excellence Award and in 2005 Wayne was inducted into the ICAS Foundation Air Show Hall of Fame.
You can read more about Wayne Handley on his website: http://www.waynehandley.com
We at Frontier Ag Aviation wish Bow the strength to handle all the G’s he’ll be pulling during his rookie aerobatic flight training. Bow, have a super great time! We hope it is everything you expect it to be and more.
Article Written by:
Connie Ziegler
Oakley Aviation, Frontier Ag, Inc. |
