New Flight School Opens At Casper Airport

A new flight school has just landed in Casper, Wyoming. (Pun intended).

No matter if you want to learn to fly for the fun of it, or to make it your profession.

Atlas Flight School has begun operation on the east side of the Casper/Natrona County Airport.

Age is not an issue. If you have ever looked up when you heard an airplane and wondered about being that guy, flying that plane, try a discovery flight. 

Discovery flights are not expensive and with an instructor by your side you'll have a chance to get hands on the controls, in the air, to see how you like it.

Owner Mike McKenna believes that the best pilots in the world will be trained in Casper, Wyoming.

That's because this airport has THE WORST that a student pilot can experience.

High gusty winds, cross winds, quick moving and unpredictable weather, extreme heat and cold, snow and ice, and mountain flying that can make those winds even worse.

Add to that, high altitude and high density altitude, which negatively affect the performance of airplanes.

It has often been said that if a pilot learns to fly in Casper he can fly anywhere.

Some flight schools around the nation shut down training when winds reach 20 knots (23 mph). That won't happen at a Casper flight school.

On those days when it is too rough to take up a small plane, Atlas has one badass full motion flight simulator. Who doesn't want to give this thing a try?

Students will use this flight sim to practice the more difficult maneuvers before they go out and try it in a real plane.

This new school is a great opportunity to see if flying is for you.

If you would like to learn more, maybe even stop by to see their planes and the very cool flight sim, you can follow them on Facebook, Instagram, or visit their website.

About The Owers.

Mike and Heidi McKenna, the husband and wife team that owns the school.

Mike is a Casper native, has turned a passion into a way to help others achieve what might seem like an out-of-reach dream, but it is not.

Heidi is also a native of Casper. Her parents own Smith RV.

He got his electrical engineering master's from the University of Wyoming, then worked at Intel in Phoenix for seven years designing computer chips. He then returned to Casper, Wyoming and now owns several companies.

As a pilot, he bought a 172 so that his son could learn how to fly.

He was approached several times, asking if they could use it for training. He eventually caved and set the plane up so that people he knew could use it to learn how to fly in it.

Interest grew and eventually he was approached by Atlantic Aviation, saying that they were required to have a flight school at the airport.

At the time he did not want to start a flight school. He was thinking about the aircraft maintenance company he owns at the airport. But Heidi saw the benefits of a full school and encouraged him to press on towards it.

They struck a deal with Atlantic.

Now the ball was rolling and Mike went looking for a few more planes.

The flight school has now moved into a bigger hangar with 4 Cessna 172s and a Comanche.

The Comanche is a low-wing airplane with retractable gear to help teach commercial complex flying.

Students are expected from all over the country to learn all levels of flying.

The school has different lesson plans geared toward your high-flying dreams.