Student inventor from China finds himself at home in the pilot's seat

Guobiao "George" Zhang, like many, has visited scenic locations around the Northwest including Crater Lake, the Cascades, the Oregon Coast, the Columbia River Gorge and the San Juan Islands.

Unlike most, he had a special perspective on the popular tourist attractions - seeing each one from above.

"Hiking is very rewarding, but on a clear day I can see the same thing in about five minutes," said Zhang, who earned his pilot's license last January and has about 200 hours of flying experience.

According to Zhang, he first became interested in flying when he visited an Oregon State Flying Club open house at the Corvallis Airport.

"I remember when George showed up, he was pretty excited," said Ron Anderson, president of the club's corporation which was set up in the 1956 to separate the airplane assets from Oregon State University. The club also has a student chapter.

Zhang was amazed to learn that becoming a pilot was within his grasp, if he could commit the time and money.

Zhang takes classes at LBCC, which allows him to participate in the club, which is restricted to students, faculty and staff of OSU and Linn-Benton Community College.

"It's expensive, but still doable," he said. "Once you're in the club and licensed, it costs about $75 an hour to take up a plane."

Zhang is in good company, the club has 165 members, with 124 members on active flying status, according to Anderson.

The club owns six aircraft: three Cessna 152s for training, two Cessna 172s and a Cessna Cutlass 172RG retractable.

"It's better than owning an airplane, if you don't fly much," Zhang said.

"For me, it's not just transportation," Zhang said. "I like to do sightseeing."

Zhang's has collected numerous photos taken from the cockpit of club aircraft. Several of his images can be found on promotional materials for the club.

On a recent Sunday, Zhang took one of the club's Cessnas, painted white and detailed in the OSU colors of black and orange, up for a short flight around the Corvallis area.

Before taking off, Zhang checked his cockpit gauges which include airspeed, an artificial horizon, altimeter, compass and vertical speed gauge.

He toggled the flaps, the aileron and rudder, and watched them to make sure they moved. Finally, he performed a "run up," revving the engines, to make sure that they were running smoothly before taking off.

Up in the air, he made lazy circles over the Corvallis area, taking in views of the OSU campus, Bald Hill Park, downtown and the Willamette River.

"It's good to fly a high-wing airplane like this, because it's better for photos," said Zhang.

"From above, everything is different," said Zhang.

Zhang, 37, grew up in Chengdu in China's Sichuan Province, which is near the epicenter of the recent 7.9-magnitude earthquake that is estimated to have killed almost 70,000 people and left 15 million homeless.

His parents still live there and he had some anxious moments after the initial May 13 quake until he was able to make contact with them and make sure they were alright.

"It was a big scare," said Zhang.

Zhang attended college in the United States and earned a doctorate degree in physics and engineering from University of California at Berkeley. Several years ago, he moved to Corvallis, where his girlfriend is a student at OSU.

When he's not flying Zhang's focus is on inventing. He specializes in three-dimensional memory.

Recently, he has been tinkering with an invention similar to the storage device cards that are used in items such as digital cameras.

According to Zhang, his creation can be used to store a high volume of video, photo and music files and can be manufactured cheaper than similar technologies such as flash drives.

"I've been working on this for about 10 years," he said. Some of his work has been licensed to SanDisk, a maker of memory cards.

Still, few things make Zhang's face light up the way recounting flights made over the Northwest does.

"It changed my life perspective," said Zhang.

"When I go up there, I see how tiny I am."

To see a photo gallery of images from a recent flight over the Corvallis area with pilot George Zhang, see www.gazettetimes.com and click on the links to 'GT Extras,' 'Photo Galleries' and 'All Albums.' To learn more about the Oregon State Flying Club, see flying.oregonstate.edu.