APS Awards Upset Training Scholarship to an Accident Survivor

After graduation from the University of Alaska, Anchorage, student Robin Spaulding hopes to use her skills as a pilot to make a positive difference in the world. She's already a dedicated member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and Women in Aviation, and a pilot passionate about aviation safety. Spaulding survived a September 2018 nighttime training accident in Alaska in which she became disoriented on a moonless night and lost control of a Cessna 206. Others might have given up flying at this point, but the event motivated Spaulding to seek additional training.

Spaulding was recently awarded a complete Professional Pilot Upset Training course at Aviation Performance Solutions (APS) that covers a complete integrated UPRT course giving her the benefit of not only the upset prevention and recovery training, but the improved manual handling and airmanship skills that go with that training. In awarding the scholarship, an APS spokesman said what impressed evaluators at the company about Spaulding was "not only did she continue to fly despite her harrowing experience, but also that her passion for aviation only increased and she was proactively engaged in evaluating her experience and trying to become better because of it."

The APS UPRT scholarship, awarded annually, teaches pilots the time-critical skills they need to overcome an unexpected airplane upset and mitigate the risk of Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I), the number one fatal threat across all sectors of aviation.