Master Instructors and the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators is honored to announce an extraordinary 15th designation as a Master Instructor to Lonnie Hilkemeier of Boulder, Colorado. This milestone recognizes his excellence as an Aviation Educator for more than thirty years – only among 5 in the world with this achievement. Lonnie shares his story below.
My wife (then girlfriend) purchased my first introductory flight for me. That sparked an interest in aviation that led me to attend Colorado Northwestern Community College for an aviation degree, graduating in 1990. There I quickly gained an appreciation for receiving quality instruction! I focused on becoming a career flight instructor, intentionally seeking out mentors throughout many specialties of industry – aviation, education and others. When I learned of the Master Instructor accreditation program created by Sandy & JoAnn Hill, I was inspired to join this group of aviation educators that saw that quality was much more important than quantity – unfortunately not the “norm” in aviation. I was successful to become the first Master CFI in the State of Colorado in 1998.
To this day, I am still learning from each one of my clients. Several have graced Specialty Flight Training, Inc. (SFTI) by being excellent aviation educators; two have been with SFTI for over 15 years! Many others have become astronaut candidates, military leaders, air traffic controllers, and professional aviators. Integrity, loyalty, hard work and ethics are common denominators of our clients! Yet with all of their laurels, it is so touching when they take the time to reach back out to me to share their “life updates.”
Master Instructors and then Society of Aviation and Flight Educators are pleased to announce that Barbara Filkins of Fillmore, California has received her Second Accreditation as a Master Aviation Educator. Barbara has an interesting path as an Aviation Educator, and she shares it here:
Although my career has not been directly in aviation, aviation has been a theme and influence throughout. I learned to fly while in college, obtaining my private pilot rating through the Bates Aeronautics Program, a program that leveraged aviation to help shape future scientists and engineers as leaders in their field. It was highly successful. Along with a life-long love of aviation, Bates participants gained a strong sense of community (family) and self-confidence that we, as individuals and leaders, can help shape the future. Upon graduation, I moved to upstate New York where I experienced the winter weather as I completed my instrument and commercial pilot ratings. Returning to California in 1978, I became both a CFI and a CFII. I taught for the Bates Program until 2000, giving back to the program that gave me so much.
My aviation involvement then lay dormant, until my husband and I began to build our Velocity V-Twin in 2014. I obtained my multi-engine rating, followed by my MEI and completed the Phase 1 testing on N527VT in 2017. This experience rekindled my love of teaching. Today, I have transitioned into education as my major focus. I am actively flight instructing. I am on the faculty at CAU. I am a FAAST Team rep. And I am researching how automation and autonomy will shape future pilot training.