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ABOUT US

SUMMARY:
Personally, I go to websites for media & information. I don't really need to read their life story to find what I need & make a purchase. I'm in. Cha-ching. I'm out. But, aviation is different. Flying machines, parts & doo-dads are everywhere. But, there is always an unquenchable thirst for INFORMATION. Because of this, speculation, propaganda & ego's run rampant in the aviation world. And, it's a good thing because it drives the value of truly accurate information to premium levels. We ONLY sell equipment we know & trust our lives too & we also have a perfect safety record over 20 years - but we "specialize" in 1 thing - good information. That information (in my opinion) is only as good as where it came from. So, that's what this page is about.

INTRODUCTION:
Finding common bonds with clients is extremely important to us for reasons mainly related to safety. To my knowledge, Denise & I are the highest time Trike Instructors in North America with perfect safety records. We intend to keep it that way for a million reasons but regardless the quality of equipment people fly, various levels of training & experience; safety really starts with who we are. If we have something in common with clients, chances are that we'll work well together & keep each other safe. In fact, half of our annual revenue is received before we meet a client in person. That typically doesn't happen without you knowing as much as you can about us - and certainly won't happen until we know a lot about you. We value trust. In fact, we require an Application to our school but it's nothing pretentious - just an effort to get to know you before we commit to a business relationship of any kind when gravity is in the equation. And, we can truly only complete about 15 clients per year.

A THOUGHT ABOUT AVIATION BUSINESSES:

DENISE BIO:
Denise is a semi-retired Emergency Room Registered Nurse. She is the former owner of Paradise Air Hawaii and is one of only a few humans in the world holding the credentials of CFI, LSR-M, ROTAX IRMT, and also a Private Pilot in Airplanes and a perfect safey record. Denise operated Paradise Air Hawaii since 2002 and has flown 1000’s of people in one of the most unforgiving terrain (North Shore of Oahu) with a perfect safety record. Denise is a champion base jumper & expert rated sky diver. If you’re looking for the definition of ‘girl power’ she is it. Denise has many options in the world of aviation so we are extremely proud to have her on our team.

DENNY'S BIO:
Denny has been a Trike Instructor & Guide since 2001. He has logged over 9000 hours of teaching 'in trikes' with a perfect safety record. He was the 1st FAA Certified Light Sport Flight Instructor in Eastern Washington & Northern Idaho. He currently splits time between Scottsdale, AZ & Spokane, WA. He loves being outside, his family, contract engineering in the marine industry & 'playing airplane'.

>HISTORY OF TRIKESCHOOL:
Denny grew up in a rural farming community in Eastern Washington where his folks ran a small auto parts store & enjoyed their kids. He went to Whitworth College, a private christian college on a football scholarship. With hopes of becoming an engineer, yet easily distracted as a student, he managed to graduate with a degree in Business and minor in Physics. After graduation, he immediately moved to Seattle for a job as a CAD/Drafting intern, finish schooling & eventually a development engineer in the marine & watercraft industry. He has been a development engineer for the last 16 years.

The job in Seattle was a great job for a few years. But, as an athletic, outdoorsy guy stuffed into a post-modernistic bullshit office - the ladder to success looked a heck of a lot more like a fire pole to cardiac arrest. Figuring that many entrepreneurs are born at their desk around 3am, Denny unplugged & transferred his 401K. All he remembers is that there was no traffic & no rain to the south that morning. And that was extremely rare for Seattle...

Since buying an ultralight trike is obviously the most logical re-investment of retirement funds, that's what he did. Shortly thereafter, he got totally ripped off on his first trike by Don Reinhard of Personal Flight in Chelan, WA. And the dream was in full swing.

Knowing the sport had promise but very little support, he packed up the trike & pinned Kemmeries Aviation in Phoenix, AZ on the map - via an 8-week detour skiing in the Rockies of course...

While living in the parking lot at Big Sky Mountain in Montana, a chance meeting with Warren Miller commended his lifestyle change but further challenged him to shut off the heat in the RV. According to Warren, he was a p@ssy for not living in a frozen VW like he did 40 years prior. 7 weeks later, the water system in the RV finally thawed out as he rolled into Arizona - via Spring Break in Lake Havasu of course...

After completing solo training at Kemmeries, he realized he was flat broke. So, he squatted in a tent in the desert for 3 months, lived on cup-o-noodles & became a Trike Instructor just like any other aspiring engineer would do when he has no good reason to prioritize survival.

With a few students under his belt, Denny started his school on September 10th, 2001. The next day, the World Trade Center was attacked & the nation's airspace was closed for the rest of the season. And the dream continued.

With airspace issues on the burner, the only other place to fly freely was Europe. So, he sold his RV & went there to learn where the sport developed & where it should go in the US - via some quality time in southern France & Ibiza, Spain of course...

Denny came home & hit the road with the trike. When not pirating wi-fi to complete small engineering projects, Denny started setting the trike up at pretty much any venue in the Northwest that would allow it, and even some that didn't - which consequently landed him his first contract flying for local law enforcement and search & rescue.

The next year he launched a seasonal gig in a small town outside Spokane next to the skydiving operation where he could test the viability of the business. Within months, a sleepy little airport became Top Gun for eccentric bird men & the number of trikes quickly out-numbered the airplanes. After about 2 summers of countless early mornings & late evenings, a client "buzzed the tower" over the Mickey Rooney concert at the local fair & the town immediately passed an ordinance banning ultralights from the airport. After the FAA & Dept of Transportation notified the town that they would need to "buy" the airport back from the government if they were going to discriminate against any type of aviation. It was reopened - but it was time to move the dream...

After diving back full-time into the contract engineering world in the Fall of 2004, Denny was flying around eastern Washington and the terrain ravaged by the Ice Age Floods as recent as 10,000 years ago. He landed atop Prosser Butte just outside Spokane, WA & proximal to a small college town of Cheney, WA. He stood around & wondered: "Can an airstrip be built on top of a hill?" You be your ass it can.

While the financial crash of 2007 brought most frivolous spending to its knees, it was the best year Denny's company had ever seen with over 30 aircraft sold to existing pilots "stepping down" from General Aviation. It was the first time Light Sport Aircraft had truly looked like a reliable & proven alternative to high cost & inefficiencies of General Aviation. It was the first time the dream looked real.

The next few years brought interesting projects with IMAX, Sony Pictures, a couple of Hollywood productions and several cable & television projects such as Discovery Channel & Travel Channel. And, as Homeland Security branched into every facet of choking aviation some obscure opportunities materialized with research departments of several IV league universities as well as border patrol & classified projects utilizing small portable aircraft & UAV/drones. Denny was eventually hired as a consultant for larger more sophisticated projects associated with the military & NSA. The flying had changed. The planes became tools - not toys. Clearly, this was no longer a dream. It was a business.

With a push from experience & advice from contractors, it was clear that there was a demand for more capable, portable, utility aircraft. In 2010, Denny partnered with contractors & started developing a Trike that was truly off-field capable. It needed to be durable, easily portable, adaptable to different conditions & easy to maintain in the field. It needed to take after true off-field & high-performance motorsports - not just another bolt-together novelty claiming off-field capability. In 2010, Denny launched Wild Sky Aircraft Company & spent the next 4 years in research & development of a "stubborn" aircraft (and FAA certification process) earning its name, "The Goat". He had never dreamed of an aircraft this ugly - but it worked. It was a fully welded stainless steel airframe with nitrogen suspension, a turbo charged engine & 30" tundra tires. In practice & opinions of ADV motorcycle riders, climbers, divers, explorers & general abusers of equipment in the name of purpose, the Goat fit the bill. It had essentially designed itself and it was a tool, not a toy. It was everything we needed & nothing we didn't. And, as the spec operators said, "the uglier, the better."

In 2014 Wild Sky achieved FAA recognition as an aircraft manufacturer. The Goat received it's certification the same year. 28 orders for fully built Goats were received by 2016 booking production for the next 3 years but the demand continued & decisions had to be made. In one year, the team developed full Assembly Instructions and Diagrams so the first ever Light Sport Trike "Kit" could be offered to those with average mechanical aptitude & began selling in both the government & private sectors immediately.


FUTURE OF TRIKESCHOOL:
TrikeSchool simply aims to continue as a reliable & conservative sales, maintenance & training entity for private recreation, DHS projects & airborne law enforcement/APSA support on land, sea & snow. Our locations & private airstrips are by appointment only in both WA and AZ. We have all the necessary equipment & capacity to be 100% portable on short notice. While the uses & capabilities of Trikes have changed dramatically in the last 20 years, one thing that hasn't is their reliability in the right hands. How can we help you?

OUR GOALS & OBJECTIVES:
It is our intention to offer an truly experienced, yet unbiased education of the top 5 brands of trikes & culture that surrounds them. It is our goal to be genuine, trustworthy & fun to work with balance with the risk of sharing the dream of flight with you. It's our objective to operate as a nationally respected trike operation while developing the culture in the Western United States. We will offer a balanced combination of equipment, education, research & development, and events to people who will appreciate it.

GENERAL VISION:
Aviation in general, the ownership of a trike, and the participation in the sport is a natural progression through 3 phases.

Phase One: Discovery & Research
Phase Two: Training & Ownership
Phase Three: Support & Affiliation

The vision of our company capitalizes on these phases. In Phase One, we focus our energy on promotion, events & warm invitation to who we are and what we do. We will establish ourselves as a fun, yet reliable and predictable resource to the our clients. In Phase Two, we will focus on the Training & Education necessary for the client to make an unbiased & informed decision on an aircraft while we identify the training technique necessary for each unique client. Phase Three of our operation focuses on continuing support & education along with aerotrekking, expeditions, & events both domestic & international. Throughout these phases, we will continue to assist our manufacturers with design improvements & industry development through field reports, competition & testing.

OVERALL MISSION & PURPOSE:
"Expedition Quality." With a genuine passion and respect for the sport, it is our mission to promote only the safest, elite quality personal aircraft & services available. We are ultimately committed to the lifestyle and people pursuing the essence of pure adventure, as we do.
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