About Andrew Stoner

My name is Andrew Stoner and I am the founder of Starry Fox Aviation. I graduated from The Pennsylvania State University in December of 2008 with a degree in Aerospace Engineering with emphasis on helicopter design. It was during my time at Penn State that I took a flight testing class and met a pilot named Jared who eventually became my primary flight instructor.

I began flying out of a small airport called “Altoona-Blair County Airport” (KAOO) in Martinsburg PA in October 2007. This airport was about 1 1/2 hours away from Penn State. This meant, every time I flew, I spent 3 hours driving, an hour on the ground, and maybe an hour or two in the air. This meant, at least 6 hours of total time spent when I decided to go fly. I started out flying about once a month. I did all my primary training in a Piper Warrior. It is very comparable to a Cessna 172 (another popular training airplane), except that it is a low-wing instead of a high-wing. With Jared, I was able to solo right around the 14-hour mark, and pass my private pilot check ride in December 2008 with about 41 hours on the first try. Up until this point, I have had limited exposure to other pilots.

I relocated to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex January 2nd, 2009 to accept an Engineering job with a major helicopter company and began flying out of an airport called “Arlington Municipal Airport” (KGKY) in Arlington, Texas. I very quickly inquired about a multi-engine add on to my private license. I wanted a multi-engine add on partly because I let a few months go by without flying, and if I had to go up with an instructor again, I wanted to earn something more than currency and I figured a multi-engine add on would provide more of an instant gratification than an instrument rating would. I was able to pass my multi-engine check ride with about 6 hours of multi-engine time and about 60 hours total time.

It was during this time, while being able to hear horror stories and witness some myself, of pilots flying out of Arlington that made me want to become more involved in aviation safety. A good pilot is always learning and a flight instructor can only do so much. My goal is to provide pilots with as much practical knowledge as possible so that they may be able to easily continue learning and be more safe-competent pilots.

Ever since I got my multi-engine add on, I have been working on my Instrument rating with an instructor named Dave at “Fort Worth Spinks Airport” (KFWS). While training under Dave, I decided to study and take the exams required to become an “Advanced Ground Instructor” and “Instrument Ground Instructor”.