David H. Hersman
Certified Flight Instructor
Home: (304) 392-2035
Cell and Text: (304) 661-2534
Email: David@EaglesWings.net
Student Pilots I Have Soloed
Updated: March 31, 2019
I have always said that flight instruction is a good job, if you like to see other people's dreams come true! It has been a privilege and a pleasure to share in the dreams of so many people.
Below is a list of student pilots I've soloed, beginning in February 1985.
All of these flights have taken place at either Hinton-Alderson Airport (WV77, formerly W59),
at Pence Springs, West Virginia, or Greenbrier Valley Airport, at Lewisburg (LWB). So the listing uses these airport identifiers.
* Pilot's names marked with an asterisk (*) actually accomplished their very first solo flights somewhere else, usually at a much earlier date. Maybe because of a long time lapse, (sometimes decades) or using a different aircraft, regulations, and prudence, required a fresh solo, and the review leading up to it.
You'll also find a few other notes of local aviation history here.
Name | Date | Airplane Model | Airplane License | Airport |
Doyle (Butch) Boothe | February 11, 1985 | Cessna 150 | N5964E | WV77 |
John Dowdy | June 29,1985 | Cessna 150 | N5964E | LWB |
Bob Jagodzinsky | September 16, 1985 | Cessna 150 | N5964E | WV77 |
Robert E. Sheppard | October 26, 1985 | Cessna 150 | N5964E | WV77 |
Terry Fleshman | December 11, 1985 | Cessna 150 | N5964E | LWB |
Jack D. Nelson | December 30, 1985 | Cessna 150 | N5964E | LWB | Jeff A. Ming | April 30, 1986 | Cessna 150 | N5964E | LWB |
*Edward W. Breit | May 28, 1986 | Cessna 206 | N5EA | LWB |
Delbert L. Kerns | June 21, 1986 | Cessna150 | N5964E | LWB |
Ronald S. Wojieck | July 24, 1986 | Cessna 150 | N5964E | LWB |
Kieth A. Holliday | October 1, 1986 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Paulmer (Junior) Weikle | November 11, 1986 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Chuck Bradac | November 11, 1986 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Dr. Stephen Sebert | February 11, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Walter W. Breeden | February 25, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Name | Date | Airplane Model | Airplane License | Airport |
Judson Howard | May 1, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
*Charles W. Bates | May 2, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Dave Fisher | May 8, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
*William T. (Bill) Mauzy | June 11, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Lonnie Burns | June 11, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Gary Dove | July 28, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | WV77 |
Doug Harold | July 31, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Randy Scott | August 21, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Elizabeth (LIz) Wickline | September 21, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Richard Derby | October 5, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Templeton (Tempie) Stone | October 17, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
*Robert Burdeaux | October 24, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
*Tom Briers | October 24, 1987 | Cessna 150 | N5964E | WV77 |
Bob Ausband | March 11, 1988 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Mike Francis | May 13, 1988 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Name | Date | Airplane Model | Airplane License | Airport |
Paul Armentrout | June 3, 1988 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
*Lee Dowdy | June 15, 1988 | Aeronca Chief 11-AC | N9513E | LWB |
David B. Snyder | July 11, 1988 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Victoria Faith Hersman | July 16, 1988 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB | Jesse Groseclose | August 31, 1988 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Emily Peltier | September 6, 1988 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
David Arritt | November 1, 1988 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Allen Redden | November 3, 1988 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Kent Hersman | November 3, 1988 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB | Kent went on to become an US Army pilot flying both helicopters and fixed wing. He retired from the Army in 2011. | ?
---|---|---|---|---|
Michael Carpenter | December 10, 1988 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Kent Redden | January 21, 1989 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Mary Kent | February 17, 1989 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
David Hall, Sr. | March 8, 1989 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Kevan Fitzgerald | May 22, 1989 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Lori Faris | July 15, 1989 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | WV77 |
Phillip Surface | September 18, 1989 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Alan Ferris | February 26, 1990 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Gary Munsey | February 26, 1990 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Melanie Humprey | August 20,, 1990 | Cessna 172 | N35388 | WV77 |
Charles Lewis | September 6, 1990 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Name | Date | Airplane Model | Airplane License | Airport |
Joe Meredith | September 18, 1990 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Annie Durrett | December 1, 1990 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | WV77 |
Joe Allen | February 1, 1991 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Rod Strong | April 6, 1991 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Charles Brown | May 14, 1991 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Rick Brownlie | July 5, 1991 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Ben Reynolds | September 3, 1991 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Robert Morgan | October 16, 1991 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | WV77 | Robert soloed on his 16th birthday! |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jon Friday | September 1, 1992 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Tom Cullen | September 15, 1992 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Zeke Lanek | September 7, 1993 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Jerry Cook | June 16, 1994 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Benjamin Hersman | November 26, 1994 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB | Ben soloed the day after his 16th birthday! |
John Garrison | February 27, 1995 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | WV77 |
Ron Pettrey | May 8, 1995 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Dave Mayo | May 22, 1995 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Larry Kemper | August 23, 1995 | Cessna 150 | N2659J | LWB | At this point we spent two years as educational missionaries in Papua New Guinea! Flight training resumed early in 1998. |
Name | Date | Airplane Model | Airplane License | Airport |
*Alan Williams | June 22, 1998 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Jack Roark | June 23, 1998 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Terry Lusher | July 18, 1998 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Donna Nickell | September 12, 1998 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Hannah Keru | December 15, 1998 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB | Hannah is a citizen of Papua New Guinea, and one of the few PNG women to ever have a pilot's license. There is much interest in aviation among PNG young people. Hannah is now married to Ken Siminji, lives in the capital city of Port Morseby. She is a Christian educator and has five children of her own. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pete Franken | August 2, 2001 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Troy McCoy | September 4, 2001 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Mike McClure | September 4, 2001 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Lydia Joseph | January 2, 2004 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB | Lydia is also a Papua New Guinea citizen. She is now
married to Pastor Titus Tauliebu, and has 2 chidlren. She is the administrator of Ufeto Christian Academy, and teaches aviation ground school in PNG. |
John Gibson, Jr. | October 11, 2004 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Tim Sheppard | December 18, 2004 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Lloyd H. (Sam) Gwinn | Septmber 7, 2010 | 1941 Taylorcraft | NC-34042 | WV77 |
*Gary Morris | September 15, 2010 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Kourosh Kahkeshani | November 12, 2010 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Charles Bradley | January 29, 2011 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Tiffany R. Jagger | June 29, 2011 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Xenophon (Xeny) Mucciarone | February 6, 2012 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
John Stockie | June 8, 2012 | CTLS | N939CT | WV77 |
N. Joel Thomas | October 5, 2013 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Harry Humphreys | July 22, 2015 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Andrew Dowdy | September 1, 2015 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB | Andrew soloed on his 16th birthday. He is the son of John Dowdy who was my second solo student 30 years earlier. When Andrew soloed his Dad was operating the control tower at LWB. |
Adam Haymond | November 23, 2015 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
Patrick Pastrana | August 4, 2016 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB | Danielle Price | May 15, 2017 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB | Rudy Swatzyna | August 22, 2017 | Cessna 172 | N4310Q | LWB | Damani Mitchell | September 30, 2017 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB | Malachi Kratz | October 26, 2017 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB | Emma Grant | April 26, 2018 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB | Kalab Hughart | March 19, 2019 | Cessna 150 | N22648 | LWB |
I began accumulating "loggable flight time" in the fall of 1976 with Ruth Gwinn as my instructor. I soloed under her supervision on March 19, 1977, at Greenbrier Valley Airport. Several years later, my first trainees soloed in this same airplane, a 1959 Cessna 150.