New Aircraft Added to K-State Salina Fleet

The aviation program at Kansas State University’s Salina campus has added five new Cessna Skyhawk 172 G100s to the university’s fleet of learning aircraft.

Kurt Barnhart, aviation department head said that in addition to having the G1000 avionics system, these new planes have autopilot. This means that students will get a well-rounded experience in K-State’s Cessna 172 aircraft. "They start learning in a gas gauge environment and, as they build flight time, move into more technologically advanced aircraft," said Barnhart.

Dennis Kuhlman, CEO and dean of K-State Salina said that adding to their learning fleet was important to the program. "As we gain students, it’s important to gain aircraft to maintain our low student-to-aircraft ratio," said Kuhlman.

The university took delivery of the aircraft in late November and students were able to use the aircraft for their last two weeks of classes.

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Kim Stevens

Kim Stevens is the publisher of State Aviation Journal, which he founded in 2009. A longtime commercial-rated pilot, he was introduced to state aviation in 1992 as Director of the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics, later serving as Deputy Division Director for the Arizona Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Division. From 2013 to 2018, he was Director of Communications and Operations for the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) in Washington, D.C. Relocating to North Carolina, Kim worked for the Raleigh-Durham International Airport for two years and now concentrates solely on the Journal. Prior to his aviation career, Kim spent a decade in the newspaper and magazine business.