My Journey Continues…… College Bound

By Travis Senft

My name is Travis Senft and I hope you had a chance to read my article “Journey to Become a Pilot at Seventeen” in the Spring 2021 magazine. In this article, I spoke about not being afraid of hard work, keeping opportunities always in front of you, and always being prepared. I found these simple principles have served me well in my journey. I am confident it can also serve you just as well as you define your journey.

I am now navigating to my next waypoint. Unfortunately, navigating to my next waypoint is not as easy as putting the information into my navigational device, verifying the information, pushing the “Direct To” button, and letting the autopilot put me on a course to my next waypoint. The autopilot not only puts me on a direct course, it also corrects my heading for crosswinds. While I am preparing to depart for college, I have checked the weather, NOTAMS, and runway information; I am prepared for changing crosswinds that might cause me to make heading changes to my course. I find myself referring back to the Boy Scout motto “Be prepared”. I would also encourage you to always be prepared for crosswinds that might blow you off course. Remember, just because you have to correct for crosswinds on your journey, you still can reach your destination safely.

How did I prepare for my flight to college? Research, college visits, and asking lots of questions was the plan that helped me navigate to the right college for me. I started at AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I took time to visit almost every college and university booth at the annual airshow. I did not stop at every booth because I had already decided that I would like to attend a college within a few hour flight of my home in Wisconsin. Although great choices, this eliminated colleges like Liberty, Embry Riddle, and the University of North Dakota. With the more distant colleges eliminated, I started my tour of all the other colleges at the airshow. This included Southern Illinois University, Dubuque University, Western Michigan University, Saint Louis University, and Minnesota State University Mankato. All of the colleges had excellent representatives that could answer questions about the aviation programs and the college. Many also had students that flew a plane into the show. This was especially helpful because I could ask the question directly to flight students and check out the planes that I would be flying. Most of my questions focused on flying as a first-year student already having a private pilot’s license. After my initial visit to AirVenture, I eliminated Western Michigan University and Saint Louis University. Although both schools have award-winning programs, they were not the right fit for my needs and situation.

This started the second phase of my flight plan. I started to contact each school to set up a tour of the college and aviation centers. This process was super easy and everyone was helpful. I started at Minnesota State University Mankato. I set up a campus tour to meet with the Director of Aviation on Monday morning. My dad booked a hotel room and rental car. More about the rental car later. It was a beautiful fall Sunday morning. I completed my preflight, pulled the RV-12 out of the hangar and we started on our two and a half hour cross country flight to Mankato. The flight was uneventful and the scenery was breathtaking. Until we got within ten nautical miles of the airport. Wow, we were being innovated with airplanes. Airplanes are everywhere in every direction. The ADS-B screen was filled with traffic at every altitude, speed, and direction. What is going on? This little airport just south of the Twin Cities was blowing up with air traffic. We were just going crazy looking for traffic and flying the airplane. I was able to fly a perfect pattern despite the formation of two aircraft cutting me off. Once on the ground, I looked over towards the ramp and it was packed with airplanes and people. It was a pancake breakfast day. Upon taxing, we were marshaled onto the overflow ramp. After I shut down the plane, a nice gentleman greeted us, “Welcome to Mankato” and handed us a free breakfast pass. Still, a little stunned over the number of people, we asked if there were any tie-downs because we were staying the night. With a confused look on the gentleman’s face, we replied, “We are okay.” He replied, “Okay enjoy your breakfast.” After looking around, we decided to pull the plane through the middle of the crowd and park the plane next to the University planes. While pulling the plane, we were stopped by a local newspaper reporter doing a story on the event. He interviewed us, took our pictures, and wrote down our names. We then proceeded to secure the plane and figure out the location of our rental car. We found the car we nicknamed “Little Red” as it was the smallest car I had ever seen or driven.

The next morning we ate breakfast and met the Director of Aviation at the airport. While touring the facilities, the dispatcher stopped us and said, “Hey, are you the people on the front page of the newspaper?” With a puzzled look and equally puzzling response, we said “I don’t know.” She then proceeded to get a copy of the newspaper. What do you know, we made the front page news with a picture of us pulling our plane through the crowd of people.

We continued our tour of the facilities at Mankato. They had amazing planes, 32 of them. They had multiple Redbird full-motion flight simulators and a nicely equipped classroom. I thought I found my new home. After we toured the airport, we took Little Red to campus and took a tour of the campus. It was also equally beautiful. They had an amazing campus and sports complexes. We flew out with a good feeling about the program at Mankato. Our next tour was Southern Illinois University. Once again, we made our hotel and car rental reservations. We flew out on another beautiful Sunday morning with our tour scheduled for Monday. During the two and a half hour flight, we questioned if there was going to be a pancake breakfast and if we were going to make the front page of the newspaper again. No such luck and the flight was uneventful. Again, we secured the plane and made our way to the FBO and the rental car. The rental car was once again a small red car. We called this car just “Red” because it was bigger than the car at Mankato. The SIU Aviation and Transportation Education Center was new, only being open for a few years. We took a comprehensive tour of the center and the campus. The most interesting parts of their program were all the different minors I could receive. This included Air Traffic Control, UAV, all the way to Dispatcher certification. The aviation program was bigger than Mankato and afforded more diversity in programs. They also had a variety of aircraft. While most aircraft are C-172’s, the avionics packages varied. The other big advantage SIU has is their weather. Carbondale, Illinois only receives about 10 inches of snow annually. Being from Wisconsin, this sounds amazing. The major drawback that ultimately led me to eliminate SIU as a college of choice was the scope and sequence of their flight courses. I would be entering the program as a private pilot. This is okay, the first course would be flying and building hours for your commercial certification. This is not a good fit for my unique situation. I am a senior in high school with over a year before I enter college. I have a full year to build hours in our school plane at a cost significantly lower than at the university. While a great school with many amazing aviation programs, it was not the school for me and I quickly eliminated SIU from my list.

Dubuque University was next. This is only a 45 minute flight from my home airport of Burlington, Wisconsin. No need to stay overnight but we did get a rental car. Can you guess the color? You would be correct, Red. This was a midsize car. We had the nickname “Big Red”.

Dubuque airport was a controlled airport with regional flights scheduled daily. Dubuque was an extremely beautiful campus and area. Located in the driftless area with breathtaking views just west of the Mississippi River. Everyone was super friendly and made me feel like a V.I.P. I sat down with a professor of the Aviation Department and just had a one-on-one talk. This was super-inclusive, warm, and friendly. This is a nice school with a friendly atmosphere. It was a clean campus with flowers, green grass, and the sidewalk was free from gum or debris. You can tell pride runs deep at this school. The aviation center was new and impressive. The classrooms were well lit and had the technology to support virtual learning. The flight programs were well designed and even included helicopter certification. This was a well-run flight school. The one unique thing at Dubuque is that every graduate gets a brick with his or her name and degree permanently installed on the campus walkway. This school is definitely in the running.

Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois was my next stop. This is only a 34 minute flight or one and a half hour drive from my home in Wisconsin. This was a fun flight as we had to stay under Chicago’s Class B airspace. What color do you think the rental car was? Wrong! Lewis University has an airport on campus. No rental car is needed. We took the short flight on another nice fall day. After a short flight with triple seven’s flying overhead, we landed at Lewis. We taxied over to the Lewis hangar and proceeded to get out of the airplane. Two students greeted us and asked if we were lost and if we needed directions to the FBO. We said NO, we are here for a campus tour. He replied with “oh, let me find out where you can park.” After all, we did park in the middle of their flight operation spaces. We were instructed to park just to the side of the hangar out of the way of Lewis flight operations. We met with the aviation advisor and took a tour of the aviation center. This also was a newer building and was amazing. The advisor told us all about the flight programs at Lewis. They also had many impressive programs similar to SIU. We also learned that the college was started in 1932 as a flight school and their mascot is the Flyers. We also took a great tour of the campus with a friendly student from enrollment services and admissions. They fly C-172 all equipped with G1000’s. Their program would allow me to continue to build hours during my senior year of high school. This flexibility allows me to start my course work and flight experience as a sophomore. I would start my instrument flying along with my commercial ground school. I would also get a minor in Aircraft Dispatch and Air Traffic Control. The campus is clean with a lot of green spaces. Everyone I have met has been super friendly and willing to help. Lewis seems to have everything I am looking for in a college. It is only a 35 minute flight from Wisconsin, has a diversity of aviation programs, is ranked as one of the top-flight schools in the nation, and has a unique four plus one master program. This program allows a student to become a flight instructor while Lewis pays for their Master’s degree. Lewis also has a top-notch scholastic flight team and the only college I have visited that has a drone racing team. Lewis also has an airport on campus. All the other schools had about a fifteen to twenty minute drive from campus. I can see how this might get tiresome when you have to make the trip several times each day. Having the airport on campus is awesome and waking from your dorm room to the plane is a positive experience.

I think I found my school. Lewis University seems to be the best course for my journey. I have set my navigational aid to Lewis University. While I have set my Direct To location, I realize that I might have some course corrections to make to reach my final destination as a commercial pilot. I am confident with the support I will receive from the staff and faculty at Lewis, my course and landings will be smooth. Stay tuned for more of my journey. How do I pay for flight school?