| Issue 6 | Volume 148 | Tuesday, October 17, 2017 | theavion.com |
Zachary Fedewa/The Avion Newspaper
F-16’s and Rachel Platten: A Homecoming to Remember This is Our Flight Song: An Interview ERAU Alumni Association Hosts with Rachel Platten Dynamic Aircraft Static Display Collin Anderson News Editor
What’s Inside
After “Fight Song” concluded, the grand finale of fireworks from behind the ICI ended, and the crowd dispersed, four reporters from the Avion and myself were able to get backstage and interview Rachel Platten. After the meet and greet, we had a limited time to briefly introduce ourselves and ask her three questions. The first question asked was about Platten’s charity work and, more specifically, how she got involved 11 years ago. Platten explained that when she was in New York before she had a band, manager, or even anything, she still wanted to be involved in music but didn’t know how. She Googled local
charities and reached out to “Musicians on Call.” She started with hospitals and then eventually went into record labels. When she was rejected, she went back to charity work which reminded her of what she did and she was still reaching out to people. The next question was “With all the female empowerment associated with your songs, was it planned or unexpected?” Platten answered that she didn’t mean it for women in particular and that it was more for herself. “The fact that it inspired anyone else is just… wow.” She continued by saying that it does speak to women, but her new record is more universal. It is mostly about feelings; love, anxiety, terror, etc. The last question of the
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night was, “If you were to cover any song what would it be and why?” Platten said that she would cover “Sunday Candy” by Donnie Trumpet, but she thinks she would blow it. She couldn’t sing the lyrics as beautifully as Donnie, but she has started learning a little bit on the piano. All of the people who interviewed Rachel Platten that night all agreed that she was extremely nice and sincere. In the brief time we had to talk to her, she shook each of our hands, asked our names, and put thought behind every answer to each question we had. Rachel Platten is clearly a rapidly up-and-coming artist. We wish her luck with her new album coming out on October 27 and in her future endeavors.
K’Andrew France-Beckford Staff Reporter The final day of Homecoming 2017 concluded with a static display organized by the Embry-Riddle Alumni Association. This year’s display had a stark decrease in fly-ins as compared to last year’s, with only seven aircraft excluding Embry-Riddle's two AMS jets. A red Piper Cub, two Cessna Skycatchers, an RV-7 previously displayed at ‘Sun-n-Fun’, and two F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 311th Fighter Squadron from Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico were all parked on the ramp. There were also two new attendees - a 1996 Yak 52 and a 1976 Navion Rangemaster G. Despite the low attendance, however, this year’s aircraft
Going Back to the Moon
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- specifically the first-time attendees – particularly stood out in many ways. Navion is the modern child company of North American Aviation. In fact, the Rangemaster shares the same empennage as the P-51 Mustang. One of the pilots, Glenn Barcheski, who was a former Photo Editor for the Avion Newspaper, stated that the aircraft had finished its annual inspection the day before. The Yakovlen Yak-52 is a Romanian build Soviet trainer aircraft that is still in production today. Students were allowed to sit in the pilot and trainer seats and take pictures of the interior. The pilot, a 30-year graduate of Embry-Riddle, said that the aircraft is recently bought and that she plans to return next year. Of course, there was the ever-present 1981 Gulfst-
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ream GIII, popular with freshman and alumni alike. No longer airworthy, N127GK spends its days receiving attention from AMS students except for days like this when its opened to the visiting public. Other popular displays were the 311th’s F-16s. After seeing Cessna upon Cessna and the occasional Delta flight, the sight of military aircraft really excites the general Riddle population, especially after doing low passes over campus that previous Thursday. The 311th is the squadron is responsible for training the Air Force’s flight school graduates on the F-16. Cadets from Department 157 volunteered with manning the admission table as well as security, a good opportunity for those aiming for pilot slots to make connections.