By: Mitchell Hagenson Staff Writer
It’s no secret that everyone here at Iowa Lakes was ready for the Winter Break last month. Everyone was ready to take a break from all the hard work they’ve been doing lately for their programs at Iowa Lakes. There were probably many activities that the students here probably had planned for the holidays. Activities like spending time with friends or family, maybe going to see the new Jumanji and Star Wars movies, or even just going on a road trip with your loved ones to another state. While we are on the subject of traveling to another state, there is one student that can say he went to five states during his time off during his Christmas Break last month.
Rather than staying at home doing nothing for the holidays, Jacob Doran spent six days during his Christmas Break doing hours for the Aviation Program here at Iowa Lakes. Jake traveled from Estherville, Iowa to Phoenix, Arizona with one of his instructors named Mason Herrig. He only had one reason for doing this, and it was mainly because of the hours that he has to complete for his program. According to Tim Busch, who is the Aviation/Airport Management Program Coordinator/Chief Flight Assistant Professor for the Aviation Program stated that, “In order for the students to go to the airlines for the Aviation program, every student has to have at least 1,250 total hours for the two years their in this program.” Once Jake was offered this opportunity to fly for more hours in the Aviation Program he packed his bag and he was off.
Jake would talk about his reason for deciding to do Aviation for his major. “I love flying, I love being in the air. You get a better view from up above than you do from the ground. I just decided one day that I didn’t want to do business. I was originally going to do business. I was accepted into the University of Iowa’s Business Program and I withdrew from that and I decided that I wanted to go to Iowa Lakes to be an Aviation Student.”
Jake and his instructor Mason Herrig started their adventure the first day by taking off from the Estherville, Iowa Airport to ending up to refill in Salina, Kansas, to eventually spending the first of two nights at a cheap hotel in Amarillo, Texas. Jake would go into detail of why they had to come to this decision when it came to spending two nights in Amarillo, Texas. He would state that, “My instructor Mason has to stop flying after 8 hours in the air, because it’s a FA rule that instructors can not fly for more than 8 hours due to fatigue. It’s kind of an obvious rule, because you don’t want a super tired instructor trying to teach and if something goes wrong, fatigue keeps them from doing their job.” He compared this to a truck driver’s life, because it’s a state law that a truck driver can only drive at least eleven hours, because of how we’ll he needs to drive on the roads for the other driver’s sake.
The next day they would leave the Amarillo, Texas airport and travel to El Paso, Texas for Gas. They would then travel from El Paso, Texas to Roswell, New Mexico. Jake would then say that this was the place that he and Mason wanted to go for fun. Jake would then explain why they wanted to to go to that state for fun, “We went there for fun, because it brought the inner hippie in us. We also love aliens and New Mexico is known as the site of an alleged 1947 UFO crash, so we figured why not?”
They eventually left Roxwell, Texas to travel to Lordsburg, Texas to get their final gas stop for the night, and they would eventually end their second night of traveling leaving from Roxwell Texas to Phoenix, Arizona. They would end up spending the night in Phoenix, Arizona because of two main reasons. According to Jake, the two main reasons were,”One it was winter break and it was cold. We wanted to go someplace warm. It was time to get away from the cold weather for once it was 63 degrees down their mostly and the most it got down their was 68-70 degrees, and two Mason had grandparents down their, which we could stay their for free.”
Jake explained his main reason for going to Phoenix, Arizona. He stated,”Never been to Phoenix and have always wanted to visit Phoenix.” Jake and Mason would end up spending two days in Phoenix, Arizona. They would end up doing many activities down in Phoenix, Arizona. Activities like cruising around on four wheelers in the desert, enjoying the scenery and eating some good food like In and Out Burger, or just even finding a giant cactus that was huge and had lots of arms. Jake would then say that it surprised how many arms that cactus’ can grow and how long it takes for a cactus can grow in general. It takes about 50 years per cactus arm that it can grow.
The fifth day they were dropped off at the Phoenix, Arizona Airport, and they would end up flying to Demming, New Mexico to stop for gas. They would then fly from Demming, New Mexico to El Paso, Texas not only for gas, but to get something to eat as well. They would end getting supper with his instructor’s friend. They would then end up eating at a place called Crave Kitchen and Bar, which Jake said they cooked really good burgers their. After they were done eating, they would then fly from El Paso, Texas to Amarillo, Texas to spend their second of two nights at the same cheap hotel in Amarillo, Texas. The sixth and final day they would end up leaving from Amarillo, Texas, to getting gas in Manhattan, Kansas, to finally getting back to Estherville, Iowa.
As you can see Jake had an interesting break. Being able to travel to five different states in six days is just crazy. Tim Busch would end up saying this about encouraging people to join the aviation program at Iowa Lakes. “You don’t have to be the most experienced doing this program, if you set your mind to something you love and put the work into it, then anything is possible.” It’s clear that Jake is willing to show how much loves being in the Aviation Program here at Iowa Lakes. Life is full of opportunities, so next time you get a chance to get one of those, take it.
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