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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2018)
Wednesday, January 24, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon 13 New flight simulator attracts a crowd By Jodi Schneider McNamee Correspondent Outlaw Aviation hosted an open house event on Saturday at Sisters Eagle Airport to celebrate their new FAA- certified Modular Flight Deck Advanced Training Flight Simulator (sim) donated by the Aviation Department at Central Oregon Community College (COCC). The sim will be used for the SHS Flight Science pro- gram by students that are working toward their private pilot’s license. Julie Benson, Sisters Eagle Airport owner and founder of Outlaw Aviation, asked for the retired flight simulator from COCC. It’s now in the Outlaw Aviation hangar at the Sisters Airport, ready for flight stu- dents to use after school. “What’s really great about this space at the airport is kids who really want to fly come here after school and hang out while working on their private pilot preparation,” Benson said. “They also get hours on their log book on the sim, while Certified Flight Instructors (CFIs) Walt Lasecki or Sam Monte sign them off. It’s instruction time. It keeps their head in the game and gives them knowl- edge and experience.” From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. community members were invited to take the yoke inside the sim and attempt a simu- lated landing of the Outlaw Cessna 172 with co-pilot Charmayne Owens, a flight class student at SHS who has her student pilot’s license. “I’ve already tried the sim a bunch of times,” said Owens, smiling. “The simu- lator really gives you the realistic feel of what you’re supposed to be doing inside a plane. And it’s really a great comparison to an actual plane. It gives you more of a challenge because there is less adjustment time, so it sets you up for the real thing.” “In a real airplane you have a little bit of a delay with your controls, and the sim is very sensitive, so you really have to be on your game in this or you lose control,” noted Benson. Sheryl Yeager, FAA Certified Flight Instructor and Flight Science teacher, was also on hand to answer any questions about the sim. Yeager, who’s had a pilot’s license since 1999, tried the new sim a month ago. “It’s really awesome, you have control, and everything responds,” Yeager told The Nugget. “It’s so realistic. Students can even practice emergency procedures safely on the ground.” First one in the sim was young “Ace” Chew, the grandson of Gene Garton, a retired military pilot. Garton watched as his grandson guided the plane up into the wild blue yonder. CFI Lasecki was nearby the computer that controls everything pilots were seeing while in the simulator. “You can control the weather, the time of day and the location for the person ‘flying’ in the sim. Such as having to land your plane at the Atlanta, Georgia airport during a rain storm,” Lasecki said. “You can actually fly anywhere in the world in this sim. You can also change the plane you’re flying to some- thing other than the Cessna 172 that we normally use for training. But we use it in a certified mode and the FAA limits what we can do.” Students can practice fly- ing into a city they’ve never been before with a visual of the way it really looks, so when they really fly there in their real plane, they’ve already “done” it. Chris Schneider from Redmond has always had an interest in aviation and after flying in the sim, he said, “I think it handled so realisti- cally,” Schneider said. “It’s not something that anyone could just jump into and know what to do. So, I was glad there was a co-pilot. She even helped me understand a little bit of the instrument panel.” Karl Baldesarri of the COCC aviation program joined the open house for a presentation about career opportunities in the aviation field. “The neat thing about the flight program and sim in Sisters, for me, is that it con- tinues to show how Sisters school system — or the high school specifically — is a little more unique than other schools,” Baldesarri said. Sarah Conroy, Chiropractor Prevent • Heal • Feel Better Happy a 2018, Sisters! Nourish yourself... N Schedule feel better! nline! o Est. 2002 ned Sisters Ow Call 541-588-2213 392 E. M Main Ave. | www.sisterschiropractor.com Located within Bigfoot Wellness Shena Fields LMT#7439 | Harmony Tracy LMT# 21211 What Are You Doing for Valentine’s Day? Singles party in the bar Reserve a table upstairs for a romantic three-course Valentine’s Dinner Menu at SistersSaloon.net | 541-549-RIBS | 190 E. Cascade Ave. PHOTO BY JODI SCHNEIDER MCNAMEE Charmayne Owens and Ace Chew took flight in a new flight simulator located at Sisters Airport. “When I was a kid some of us dreamed about being a pilot, but it wasn’t realistic. And the pool of perspective pilots shrunk. Right now, the aviation industry is seeing unprecedented times. And I think we’re in a time where programs like this can lead into a valid career opportunity for anybody that’s interested. Countries are starting bigger connections to each other. Some areas of the world are just starting to break into the 21st century by connecting, and aviation is the way to do it.” COCC has recently signed agreements with Horizon Airlines and SkyWest Airlines to provide scholarships for students enrolled in the avia- tion program. Does Your Portfolio Have Room for Both Active and Passive Investing? Investors today live in an era offering unprecedented global investment choices, in both active and passive vehicles. Investments in each category have opportunities and challenges for investors to consider when crafting an optimal fi nancial strategy. With so many choices at your fi ngertips, it may make sense to use both active and passive investments to effectively build and manage a diversifi ed portfolio. Defi ning active and passive investing: Active investing is an approach that seeks to capitalize on ineffi ciencies in the market by identifying individual securities that don’t currently appear to be priced based on their true underlying value. Success using this approach generally requires in-depth research and analysis by knowledgeable investment professionals. Many traditional mutual funds fall into this category. Active fund managers who oversee these funds seek to generate returns that outperform a benchmark, or a specifi c measure of market performance, such as the S&P 500 index. They make investment decisions based on a defi ned approach or strategy. Passive investing is an approach that seeks to match the performance of a specifi c benchmark or segment of the market. Many passive investors choose, for example, to put their money to work in an index fund that invests in a broad segment of the market. Perhaps the most common passive investments are funds that track the performance of the S&P 500 Index, an unmanaged index of large capitalization U.S. stocks. The premise is to own a broad cross-section of the market, or of a segment of the market, rather than trying to identify specifi c securities that may outperform a benchmark or segment of the market. It’s worth noting that there are increasingly more investment options offering a middle ground between active and passive strategies. Called strategic or smart beta, this investment strategy combines the transparency, consistency, and cost-effi ciency of passive investing with the investment insights found in active management. Considerations for each approach: There are benefi ts and shortcomings to each approach. Actively managed investment strategies offer the opportunity for outperformance versus a specifi c segment of the market. They can also take steps to defend against the impact of down markets that inevitably occur from time to time, often by avoiding individual securities or sectors that have challenges. To accommodate the research and expertise involved, actively managed investments typically come with higher expenses, which detract from the net returns they generate. Also, because they are using a selective approach to investing, there are times when they will choose to invest in securities that don’t perform to expectations, and perhaps miss out on the full benefi t of broader upward trends in the market. A key benefi t of passive investing is that fees tend to be lower than other investment strategies. They also tend to be tax-effi cient because trading is minimized in the fund as it continues to track an index over the long term. A downside to passive funds is that by simply investing in a benchmark, an investor foregoes the opportunity to outperform that index. This means returns tend to match those of the market, minus any fees. Also, in volatile periods or when markets trend down, index fund investors will see their investments follow a similar path. A case for both strategies: Is one approach the best choice for your portfolio? The reality for many investors is that a combined approach may be an effective solution. You may determine that part of your portfolio should generally track with the market. If that’s the case, a passive fund may make sense. At the same time, you may want to take advantage of specifi c opportunities in segments of the market where selectivity may help you reach your goals. If so, active strategies may offer a better path to success. The good news is that you have a tremendous opportunity to effectively diversify and tailor your portfolio to help you achieve your long-term goals. A fi nancial advisor can work with you to determine what approach and investments work best given your fi nancial goals, investment time horizon and risk profi le. Mark Greaney is a Financial Advisor with PacWest Wealth Partners, an advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. in Bend, Oregon. He specializes in fee-based fi nancial planning and asset management strategies and has been in practice for 17 years. Contact Mark at www.PacWestWealthPartners.com, or call him at 541-382-2354. Mark is located at 35 NW Hawthorne Avenue, Bend, OR. Ameriprise Financial and its affi liates do not offer tax or legal advice. Consumers should consult with their tax advisor or attorney regarding their specifi c situation. Investment advisory products and services are made available through Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., a registered investment adviser. Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC. © 2018 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved.
