WVII speaks with Flying Club members
WVII (Channel 7) interviewed members of the University of Maine’s Flying Club about their experiences with the organization. “When I pack my bags to go to work, it’s not work for me. I get to live my dream every single day,” said UMaine student Cody Walker, a commercial pilot at New England-based aircraft company PlaneSense. “This club made it possible for me to get a professional pilot job before I even got my bachelor’s degree,” he said. Club members go through ground training before flying the club’s two Cessna planes based at the Bangor International Airport, and can access these resources at nearly half the cost of most charter services, according to WVII. “We like to keep our rates really low, so that anybody and everybody can come join,” said David Stansfield, the club’s president. “It’s really amazing that as college students, we’re able to jump in an airplane on a weekend and go somewhere,” said Riley Bartash, vice president of the club. “For someone that has always maybe had that feeling that, ‘Maybe I wanna fly airplanes one day, I think that would be kinda cool to try out,’ jump out of your comfort zone and do it, because it might be something you get really excited about,” Walker said.