K-State Poly Student, Longtime Staffer, Relish Return to Salina Campus
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Tim Unruh
June 19, 2020
A stark change in both teaching and learning methods brought challenges this past semester at Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus, especially to those who excel by doing.
The global COVID-19 pandemic that struck the United States in the early spring, relegated Wildcat pupils to sitting in front of their computers, learning from home.
“It was kind of an odd year going into spring break and not being able to come back to school. I think it took a lot of us by surprise,” said Brent Koenigsman, 20, of Hays, a senior in the professional pilot program.
“It was very difficult to stay motivated,” he said. “I think it’ll help me down the line, especially going to the airlines, when a lot of their training is online.”
There were similar banes for instructors and staff as the campus in the Salina Regional Airport and Industrial Center was nearly deserted for a couple of months or more.
“I’m really missing those in-person, face-to-face student interactions, and I’m very excited to get back to campus and see people in the real world,” said Lindsey Dreiling, executive director of aviation strategy at K-State Poly.
The campus will be open when the fall semester begins in person on Aug. 17, she said. That’s a week earlier than normal.
Student pilots have been doing flight training since May 18 and have collectively logged more than 400 flights.
The eight-week experience in the virtual world “was a two-fold thing,” Dreiling said. “In some ways, I’m grateful we’re able to really have the access to the technologies available that we can be able to broaden access to things. We’re able to expand our outreach and have multiple persons in a meeting.”
Then she added “there are aspects that are missing” without that physical presence.
“There is a lot of body language. A lot of people talk with their hands, and you miss that without the conversation in person,” Dreiling said.
Online classes with interactive meetings conducted on Zoom video communications, were vastly different from the norm.
“A lot of us are hands-on learners,” said Koenigsman, who is renting an apartment in Salina.
“Being kicked online affects the way we learn. It was very difficult to stay motivated,” he said. “I had to make a schedule of when I was going to do work and for free time. Our teachers were good about keeping regularly scheduled meetings on Zoom.”
Koenigsman’s happy to be back on the airfield, flying and flight instructing. He needs to obtain his multi-engine certification and complete the necessary hours to become an airline pilot and has a year’s worth of classes to complete a bachelor’s degree.
“We’ve been flying three and a half weeks now, starting with a limited number of students, the ones who were about to finish a rating (level of certification),” Koenigsman said. “Last week (mid-June) it was opened up to all students who wanted to return.”
As the executive director of aviation strategy, Dreiling leads K-State’s global aeronautics initiatives, focused on promoting the university’s aviation programs around the world.
She is leading efforts to “broaden access to under-represented groups,” such as minorities and women in aviation.
“I know women are only 8 percent of the aviation industry, specifically on the flight training side,” Dreiling said, “and aviation maintenance borders on 2 to 3 percent. Minorities are also not to the levels we would like them to be.”
Fall 2020 enrollment won’t be official until mid-September, said Emeryld Wills, enrollment management assistant on the Salina campus, “but they are expected to be higher.”
Fall 2019 enrollment was 632 campus-wide, with 261 in the professional pilot program, 39 in aviation maintenance and 33 in unmanned aerial systems.
After a call to Kathy Sanders, K-State Poly registrar, Dreiling learned fall semester enrollment is projected to be up 100 students overall, and more than 300 in the pilot program. Aviation maintenance and UAS are expected to be “steady/comparable to last year,” she wrote in an email message.
From visiting with students, Dreiling surmises that all are ready to move closer to the old normal.
“They’re excited to get back. Most of them are pursuing something they’re very passionate about,” she said. “They’re anxious to get back on campus, and can’t wait to continue their educations.”
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Aviation Devotion Runs Deep to K-State's Dreiling
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Tim Unruh
June 22, 2020
Flight means a lot to Lindsey Dreiling, whether it’s in the cockpit, or pushing industry advancements.
“That’s where my heart is. Aviation education is what I’ve always been passionate about,” she said.
As executive director of aviation strategy at Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus in Salina, Dreiling, 35, is on the front lines of making things better in an more inclusive way.
“Lindsey is uniquely qualified to lead the implementation of the K-State Global Aeronautics Initiative,” said Tim Rogers, executive director of the Salina Airport Authority.
“Achieving the goals of ‘The Initiative’ will keep K-State Aviation at the forefront of innovation in all aspects of manned and unmanned flight,” he said.
In her seventh year at K-State, and eight months into a second stint, Dreiling has served as a certified flight instructor, instrument and multi-engine instructor, and holds a small remote pilot certificate for Unmanned Aerial Systems.
She also has served as a ground school instructor, worked in administration, in the library and an aviation academic adviser.
K-State announced in May that Dreiling was appointed by U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, to serve on the DOT’s Women in Aviation Advisory Board. The 29-member board’s mission is strengthening the presence of women and girls in aviation.
Joining Dreiling on the board is Kate Fraser, a member of the K-State Poly class of 2009.
A native of Nemaha County north of Topeka near Wetmore, Dreiling grew up on a farm and still has some acreage there.
“It’s where all my family lives,” she said. “Crop-dusters, aerial applicators, are how I got interested in aviation. I always dreamt of being up in the sky.”
In between her time at K-State Poly, she worked for the Kansas Department of Transportation as deputy director for aviation and UAS and is still president of the Kansas Commission on Aerospace Education.
“In all my career positions, through the transportation industry, I see (UAS) as a future,” Dreiling said. “I have a futuristic mindset and that all starts with education.”
Those involved are watching another evolution of aviation, she said, “how much it’s grown over the past few years and where it’s headed as well.”
Dreiling mentioned urban air mobility, or UAM.
“I call it the ecosystem of aviation, and how education and industry feed off of each other,” Dreiling said. “We focus on aviation education, workforce development and training.”
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Kansas Erosion Presses On, Conquers Challenges
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Tim Unruh
June 17, 2020
Lessening lag time is key to keeping brothers Steve and Larry Ade’s businesses booming through the seasons.
Despite some challenges, good times were maintained through a cold winter and so far in the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“We don’t have very many days where we can’t find something to do,” said Steve Ade.
The co-owners of Kansas Erosion and Big Horse Hay, bested typical slow seasons by building big inventories of wattles, blankets — erosion control products — from wheat straw and coconut fiber.
“We stayed real busy, and that’s part of why we had such a successful spring,” he said. “We spent the winter creating inventory.”
Rather than laying off most of their 37-person Kansas Erosion crew, they worked through two shifts, six days a week, even after what some might consider a seasonal slowdown.
“We decided last fall that we weren’t going to downsize or lay anybody off. I wanted to keep my foot on the throttle all winter long. We kept all our shifts running as much as we could,” Steve Ade said. “When other (erosion products) companies might have backed off because of the winter or the (pandemic), we had this large inventory we could draw on, and we came out in the spring full speed.”
Big machines in a rented 69,000-square-foot Salina Airport Authority building at 3600 Airport Road, kept churning out products.
Their warehouses, including two more leased from the airport — totaling more than 100,000 square feet — were full when spring arrived.
Big supplies of wattles and blankets, used heavily in the construction and landscaping industries, filled the Kansas Erosion product pipeline to customers located in over 20 states across the country, when demand rose in the spring.
“I didn’t have to worry about a slow time this spring, because we had warehouses full,” Steve Ade said.
The pandemic “had a very small effect,” he said. Kansas Erosion workers were monitored and there were extra safety precautions taken to keep the coronavirus at bay.
“It never slowed us down a bit,” Steve Ade said. “I don’t think we had one employee miss a day of work because of the pandemic.”
He added there was no evidence of slow sales this past spring.
The Ade brothers’ Big Horse Hay business, which involved buying straw from farmers, and baling and hauling it, began during the early spring in south Texas shortly after wheat harvesting began.
That process is moving north behind the combines, and the business, with a crew of approximately 25 people, is supplying straw for two other erosion plants in the United States, plus three mushroom farms and a number of dairies.
Big Horse Hay supplies the Kansas Erosion plant from what is baled in central Kansas after wheat is harvested, usually during June.
“The reason we go so hard, so fast, is once the wheat is cut, nature goes to work and degrades the straw,” Ade said. “Otherwise, it starts to lose its structural value. You can’t make a good wattle out of bad straw.”
Running degraded straw through the Kansas Erosion machines “just grinds it up into much,” he said.
Putting straw into storage protects it, adding to its shelf life.
“We will use the straw for a year. It’ll sit in the sheds from now until next year,” Ade said.
“My machines are still running on straw bales from last June.”
Both companies are growing, he said. Kansas Erosion has doubled its production over the past three years, and that’s exciting to Steve Ade.
“I enjoy the challenge, and enjoy what I do, growing the companies,” he said.
Kansas Erosion has added a partner, Cherokee Manufacturing, owned by the Gunderman family, of Minneapolis, Minn.
For now, Steve Ade is fixed on growing the enterprises. By how much, he doesn’t know.
“I suppose some day, the kids can decide when it’s big enough,” he said, and maybe God and Mother Nature will tell me when it’s time to slow down.”
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Greetings!
We are all glad that the traffic has bounced back. For the month, we are averaging about 200 operations per day, and a few of those days we recorded over 400 ops. Most can be accredited to the return of K-State, but we are starting to see more general aviation and corporate traffic as well.
It has been nice being fully staffed over the last few months, but I expect to lose one controller very soon to a DOD position and another controller has requested a transfer to be closer to home.
On July 10
th
, the FAA, AAAE and USCTA will be hosting a webinar to discuss procedures and future plans for FAA contract towers, ongoing federal budget challenges for contract towers, FCT staffing and hours of operation, and many more issues of critical importance. If anyone is interested, the link is available on the AAAE website.
Reminder, the RSAT meeting is July 27
th
at 10:00am. Look forward to seeing everyone.
Stay Safe and Happy Flying!
Jay Hatchett
Air Traffic Manager
Salina (SLN) FCT
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Feature Facility
New to the Market!
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2941 Centennial Road
Located at the intersection of two arterial streets (Schilling & Centennial) at the Salina Airport Industrial Center, this office facility is available now.
With nearly 4,000 SF of professional office space, Bldg. 394 includes
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Call the Salina Airport Authority today at 785-827-3914 to schedule a tour or email
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On the Flightline at America's Fuel Stop
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Salina Airport Authority | www.salinaairport.com
3237 Arnold Avenue
Salina, Kansas 67401
785-827-3914
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