From Staff Reports

americustimesrecorder.com

AMERICUS — A retired corporate pilot and Vietnam veteran flew in to the Jimmy Carter Regional Airport in Americus recently to show South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) aviation students his Lancair home-built airplane and share his love of aviation with the students.

George Shattuck flew in from Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro to show SGTC students taking aviation maintenance, avionics and aircraft structural classes his airplane that he built from a Lancair kit.

Shattuck flew tail hook attack airplanes in the U.S. Navy for 25 years. He retired from the Navy and continued to fly Lear jets and Falcon 50 airliners as a corporate pilot. After his stint as a corporate pilot, Shattuck decided he wanted to build his very own plane out of a kit.

“When I retired, I decided I wanted a performance airplane,” said Shattuck. “I wanted to go fast!”

The numbers on the side of Shattuck’s Lancair aircraft read “N320GS.” “The ‘GS’ stands for ‘George and Shirley’,” said Shattuck. “Shirley is my wife.”

The Shattuck family is continuing the aviation tradition. Shattuck has two sons in the Navy, and has flown all but the youngest of his 12 grandchildren in his plane. Shattuck’s second-oldest grandchild is also working on earning a pilot’s license.

For more information about the SGTC avionics program, call Instructor Mike Cochran at 931-2584. For information about aviation maintenance, call James Manning at 931-2582 or Victoria Herron at 931-2583, and for aircraft structural classes, call instructor Mike Reaves at 931-2585.

SGTC is currently accepting applications for winter quarter. Classes begin Jan. 7 and open registration is Jan. 5 and 6. For more information about SGTC visit www.southgatech.edu or call the admissions office at 931-2760 in Americus or 229-271-4051 in Cordele.