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| Tutima Academy |
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History
Originally started in 1997, the Sean D. Tucker School of Aerobatic Flight, has taught thousands of pilot’s the true meaning of flight. The school consisted of Sean, instructor Ralph Riddell and one Pitts S-2B, the faithful N50AL. Operations were conducted out of Sean’s airshow hangar in Salinas, California.
In 2000 Ralph handed the reins to aerobatic instructor/mechanic Ken Erickson, who had been working with airshow legend Wayne Handley. Ken grew the school’s stellar reputation, training some of the most notable names in the business.
The year 2002 saw the school move into more a more spacious location, taking over the FBO in King City, California.
In 2004 Sean’s son Eric came on board adding his talents to the instruction staff.
In 2005 Eric Tucker and Gustavo Calzadilla of Tutima hatched the idea of a new partnership, to propel the school to the next level.
In early 2006 the Tutima Academy of Aviation Safety was born, the same great aerobatic flight school, but with a new vision of offering the highest level of precision training possible.
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Location
 The Tutima Academy is based at the Mesa Del Rey airport (KKIC), in King City California. Located in the heart of the scenic Salinas valley along California’s central coast, King City can boast some of the best flying weather in the US. The nearby Pacific Ocean keeps the weather mild, and the Big Sur mountains to our West block most of the winter rains from spoiling our flying. King City has more than 360 days of flyable VFR weather per year. We think it’s perfect.
Our 3-mile circumference FAA waivered aerobatic practice area is less than a quarter mile adjacent to the runway, making the commute back and forth very brief. The airspace is also NOTAMed as such and is monitored by Oakland ARTCC, significantly decreasing the traffic in the area (not that we don’t keep looking!). We are also close enough to the airport so that coaching and critiquing can be accomplished from the comfort of the door to our briefing room.
There is plenty to do in the area surrounding King City and we are located less than an hour drive from Monterey, two and a half hours to the San Francisco Bay Area, and about five hours from Los Angeles.
Most of our students fly into the Bay Area (San Jose, Oakland, San
Francisco).
King City has several nice hotels in town, close to the airport. We recommend Keefer’s Inn:
831.385.4843
www.keefersinn.com
Tell them you are with the Tutima Academy!
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Experience
Since most of our students come from out of town (we have pilots from all over the world fly with us on a regular basis), spend more than a few days with us, and the flight training is fairly intense, we favor more flexible schedule. We intentionally keep the student numbers low vs. instructors available so that each student may receive as much personal attention as required to complete the training while they are here.
On a typical day the student arrives at 9 AM (or later if you like to sleep in!). The airplanes will be fueled, cleaned, and have received a very thorough pre-flight inspection. We prefer to do our own preflight to meet the demands for aerobatic flight; students are welcome to look over the aircraft as well. The first flight is briefed (usually .5 to 1 hour) then we go fly! After the flight we debrief, then subsequent flights are based on the students schedule, depending on how they feel, lunch etc. Think of us as aerobatic camp!
We work very hard to ensure that each student feels as comfortable as possible and learns as much as they can during the time they spend with us.
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