Professional pilots will benefit from King Schools' growing focus on its suite of online professional pilot courses, following Kim Hanson's promotion to business leader, professional pilot courses.

She says: “King is a household name when it comes to preparing pilots for a professional career. My goal now is to build our courses for professional and turbine pilots to that same level. I am excited to learn new things and to be challenged, and I am honoured to have this opportunity.”

CEO Barry Knuttila adds: “Kim is the perfect person to take our 20-plus professional courses and develop a roadmap to better serve our pro-pilot customers and grow this important aspect of our business. She has a proven track record successfully running our Flight Instructor Refresher Course (FIRC) business since its inception almost 10 years ago, dealing with all aspects of content development and maintaining FAA approval. Kim is an accomplished pilot and flight instructor and as a subject matter expert, her proven attention to detail and improvement makes her an excellent choice to lead this important part of our future.”

Hanson's main priority is to make sure that King's professional courses provide maximum value for customers. “I will be ensuring that the content of our pro courses and Flight Instructor Refresher Courses (FIRCs) remain 100 per cent accurate and relevant and up-to-date,” she continues. “As an example, we just completed a thorough review and refresh of our online RVSM course. I also intend to seek out areas where professional pilots' training needs can be better met by the aviation community. King Schools is a known and trusted leader in aviation education, and I want to expand that trust to professional pilots who have a need to take continuous training and remain current as efficiently as possible.”

Kim is a member of the King Schools' executive team and reports directly to Knuttila. She attained her Private Helicopter Certificate in 2005 and went on to get her Instrument Rating, Commercial, CFI and CFII in rotorcraft as well as her fixed-wing Private Pilot Licence. She has worked in technical support, course creation, video production and sales support at King Schools, and was instrumental in creating King's highly regarded Garmin G1000 course.

Meanwhile, pilots can now take a free video course, Understanding Aircraft Marshalling, from King Schools to help them quickly learn the signals used by marshallers at a busy ramp. Aircraft marshalling is rarely covered during pilot education, leaving many pilots scratching their heads when presented with marshalling signals. Watching this course will help them understand ground signals they may see on busy ramps, at fly-ins and aviation events. They will also learn what signals to give back to the marshaller when necessary, instead of guessing what the marshaller wants to see.

John and Martha King are the co-chairmen of King Schools. John explains: “A pilot may see many different marshalling signals at a busy airport or event, so we cover them all. From start-up and departure to arrival and shut-down, this course has the common signals, as well as specialty and seldom-used signals. Like any other phase of flight, risk management is also a vital part of taxiing and parking safely, so we cover risk management best practices while on the ground too.”

Martha adds: “After a long flight, many general aviation pilots have found themselves in front of a marshaller, realising they were either unfamiliar with, or very rusty on, marshalling signals. We developed this course to help fill that gap in aviation training.” The course lasts about 20 minutes, and is available free from the King Schools website.