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.
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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.