The N3772 Romeo, a Cessna 172, can comfortably fit three people with a place for luggage in the back. (Photo by Clara Noelle)

WILLIAMSTOWN — The sky is the limit for pilots right now and interest in aviation is soaring.

“It’s such a good time to get into aviation because they’ve increased the pay (for pilots) after COVID,” said Alex Martinsen, flight instructor at River Town Aviation LLC at the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport. “So we have a lot of women coming in, younger teens coming in, and they’re just wanting to learn how to fly.”

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said in March the carrier is prepared to increase pay to up to $590,000 a year for their commercial pilots.

“Just a lot of opportunity right now,” Martinsen said.

Co-owner Josh Wilson said River Town Aviation began as a passion project to keep general aviation going at the local airport and to continue to train new pilots. He said they addressed some of the issues that kept a school from prospering at the airport in the past due to not having a maintenance shop by opening one along side the flight school.

River Town Aviation LLC teaches students with planes and a flight simulator, the Gleim BATD simulator. The instructor can manipulate weather and engine conditions to instruct students on how to fly in those situations and can cut the engine of the simulated aircraft to give students that experience without putting them in danger. (Photo by Clara Noelle)

“It was kind of cost prohibitive to have a flight school when you always had to deal with trying to find a mechanic at another airport,” Wilson said. “Now that we have that here, I think it’s going to pay dividends for the general aviation community here as a whole, and especially the flight school.”

Wilson said every flight school aircraft gets an extensive annual inspection but they will also gets a new oil filter and complete checkup after every 50 hours of flight time and another extensive check up after 100 hours of flight time.

Martinsen said one of the other advantages students at River Town Aviation have over other flight schools is access to an air traffic control tower.

“Not all flight schools have that,” Martinsen said. “So our students are learning to communicate with air traffic control. Our students are very comfortable on the radio and they all sound really good, and professional.”

Martinsen said it usually takes a student four to five months to go from their first class to taking their first solo flight. He said the national average for flight time in that span is 65 hours but students only need to get in 40 hours to take that first solo flight. He said the flight school can teach anyone at any age how to fly, and they have students that range from 15 to 91, but they must be 16 to take their first solo flight, and 17 to get their pilot licence.

River Town Aviation plans to expand its airplane mechanic program. It recently added a new mechanic with experience working on planes. Josh Wilson, one of the owners as well as an airplane mechanic, said he hopes to hire apprentices and grow the mechanics program. (Photo by Clara Noelle)

Martinsen said there was also ground training students must complete but Airport Manager Ben Auville said there is now online material out there that allows students to learn at their own pace.

“The FAA has materials out there, and there’s other companies for the ground school, so a lot of it is computer-based training,” Auville said. “So you can do most of your ground school at your on pace at home.”

High school student Frederick Nicely said he takes this route with his ground training by using a program called Pilot Institute.

“You get about the same hours but it’s a more cost effective way of doing your ground training,” Nicely said saying it saves money on paying for instructors. “But of course they’re here if you had any questions.”

Martinsen said they definitely integrate the at-home training into their teaching but that they also have a state-of-the-art flight simulator they use to teach students.

Instructors and students go through an extensive pre-flight checklist that includes checking the fuel for water, the wings of the plane and the instruments. (Photo by Clara Noelle)

“This runs off of X-Plane 11 and it kind of gets students used to the instruments,” Martinsen said.

He said it was also a good crisis management tool for students as instructors can change weather conditions, cause instrument failure and even shut off the engines of an aircraft. He said this allows students to learn what to do in an emergency while being in a safe and controlled environment.

Martinsen and Wilson both said the school hopes to grow and expand as the airport builds new hangers and they acquire new aircraft for students to train in.

For more information on the school individuals can visit their website at rivertownaviation.com.

“We’re currently accepting new students,” Martinsen said.

The flight simulator has two navigation settings. The one shown above is the six-pack setting. The other one is the glass panel instruments. (Photo by Clara Noelle)

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com

The picture above shows the Grand Central Mall from 1,300 feet in the air. Planes are not allowed to go below 1,000 feet in congested areas for safety reasons. (Photo by Clara Noelle)

The picture above shows Parkersburg High School and stadium from 1,300 feet in the air. (Photo by Clara Noelle)

The picture above shows downtown Marietta, Harmar and Williamstown from 1,300 feet in the air. (Photo by Clara Noelle)