Independence Aviation Earns Flight Training Excellence Award

February 2017 - Independence Aviation LLC, based at Centennial Airport (KAPA) in Englewood, Colorado, home to a local EAA/IMC Club, has received the first-ever “Cirrus Training Center of the Year” award by Cirrus Aircraft, an international leader in general aviation.

This honor was presented to Independence Aviation at the Cirrus CX Symposium in Knoxville, Tennessee, where flight trainers affiliated with Cirrus Aircraft met with company leaders to discuss the future of private aviation.

Cirrus has training centers nationwide in virtually every state. Cirrus certification is contingent on meeting and maintaining stringent private aviation standards, including innovative and advanced performance targets and the application of smart electronic and safety technologies.

“Also, the training centers must subscribe to and demonstrate Cirrus’ deep passion for safer airplanes, safer pilots, and safer skies,” said Bob Stedman, co-founder and president of Independence Aviation. “To be singled out as the premier example of these standards is an honor,” he said.

Independence Aviation provides aircraft rentals, aviation instruction, pilot mentoring programs like the EAA/IMC Club, and aircraft and hangar management. Founded in 2007 by two veteran certified flight instructors, the firm is guided by a philosophy that relationship-based flight instruction produces superior private pilots. Key elements of Independence Aviation’s approach are to teach students in airplanes they’d be willing to fly cross-country and mentor them as they evolve to aircraft that fly faster and higher. All Independence Aviation planes are used for instruction and rentals to qualified pilots. The entire fleet is equipped with modern avionics and current databases, and each aircraft is impeccably maintained in both mechanical operations and appearance.

Independence Aviation provides Cirrus training programs in concert with its custom slate of ongoing educational modules and pilot mentoring. All Independence Aviation training programs are available at both the company’s headquarters location Centennial Airport (KAPA), where the EAA/IMC Club group meets, and at Rocky Mountain Metro Airport (KBJC) in Broomfield, Colorado, where the company has a satellite operation.

In addition to the top training center award, Independence Aviation managers, including Stedman, general manager Rhett Kamm, and Chuck Gensler, Independence Aviation co-founder and chief flight instructor emeritus, were treated to a flight in the VisionJet, Cirrus’ recently certified single-engine personal jet. “It was a thrill to be at the controls of this game-changing aircraft for the first time,” said Stedman.