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Dominion Aviation
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA (November 22, 2005)... Albert M. Orgain, IV, head of the Risk Management Group and Aviation Team at Sands Anderson Marks & Miller, a lifelong pilot and a decorated Vietnam War veteran, and Dominion Aviation are bringing a Cessna 172SP Skyhawk with a G1000 glass panel to the Chesterfield Airport training line this month, the first time that the new type of technologically advanced aircraft (TAA) "glass cockpit" single engine platform will be available for flight instruction in the Central Virginia area.
Bearcat Enterprise LLC, a venture Orgain started with former Richmonder Russell Proctor, III, his roommate at VMI and fellow Vietnam veteran, will purchase the aircraft. It features the Garmin G1000 NAV III glass cockpit that replaces the traditional "steam" gauges with two computer display screens that give a richer navigation environment as well as flight information on the aircraft's systems. Becky Luther, chief aviation instructor at Chesterfield-based Dominion, says that, until now, flight instruction in the area has been confined to the traditional cockpit gauges and navigation displays.
Orgain underwent 3 days of transition training at the Cessna factory and flight school in Independence, Kansas, and returned to the Chesterfield Airport on November 17, 2005, in the pilot seat of the new Cessna. Proctor rendezvoused with Orgain at the Independence Airport and served on the return flight as right seat navigator. Proctor, now an international business consultant specializing in political risk in Asia with Browning, Randall, Pasteur and Associates, Virginia Beach, became closely acquainted with aircraft operations while working outside the US for much of the last 35 years. He is a former Special Forces officer whose record includes over 1,000 parachute jumps.
Luther reports that Dominion's instructors will receive training provided by a Cessna-certified G1000 instructor. In turn, Dominion's instructors will be able to provide current and in depth instruction to their customers in the glass cockpit.
"This is the start of a new national trend [in TAA training] and Cessna is one of the leaders in light aircraft sales," Luther notes. Dominion expects to train current pilots who want to transition to the newest technology, in-training pilots who desire to be able to fly both the traditional and new systems, and new students who's interest is in only the most modern cockpit systems.
It was Proctor, explains Orgain, who initiated the idea for acquiring the plane and suggested the former VMI rats name their joint venture after the 9th Infantry Division Base Camp ("Bearcat") in III Corps in the Republic of Vietnam in the mid to late ‘60s. Orgain, a helicopter gunship pilot, was stationed there. Proctor was a temporary visitor on one of his Special Forces assignments. The men had been discussing their experiences when the aircraft venture was conceived.
Orgain, who leads the largest practice group at the five-office law firm, is a nationally-known defense attorney whose cases often deal with aviation, airport and airline litigation, as well as trucking, product liability, fire and other property claims, personal injury and insurance law. He is chairman of the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society, a former Chairman of the Transportation Section and Air and Space Transportation Committee of the Virginia Bar Association and is a Board member of the Virginia Aviation Foundation.
Founded more than 150 years ago, Sands Anderson has 76 lawyers practicing among its offices in Richmond, Blacksburg, Fredericksburg and McLean, Virginia, and the Research Triangle of North Carolina. In 2008, it was ranked 9th in the Virginia Lawyers Weekly annual listing of the state’s largest law firms. Sands Anderson provides a full range of legal services to corporations and businesses, healthcare providers, financial institutions, state and local governments, the insurance industry and individuals.