Page 20 - Volume 13 Number 6

challenges of flying in the southwest and the opportunity to fly “the best and fastest King Air out there.”
Lubbers came to Northside Hay Company with 1,600 hours in King Airs. He first got his pilot’s license while in community college in Iowa, but lost interest while playing golf professionally from 2003­2006. In 2011, he was working in the golf industry in Florida and was visiting his parents on their Iowa farm when crop dusting planes flying overhead reminded him how much he
missed flying. He found a flight school in Florida and by 2012 he had earned his instrument, commercial and multi­engine ratings.
In 2013, his parents purchased a Cessna 414A and Lubbers flew it for them as a shuttle between their home in Florida and their chicken hatchery business in Iowa. They moved up to a King Air C90B, then a King Air 300 that allowed for nonstop flights between the destinations. When his parents retired from the
business and settled into Florida full­time, they no longer needed the airplane. Lubbers flew the 300 on charter and for about 20 Angel Flights through the Angel Flight Southeast Air Charity Network until the airplane sold, right before learning that Northside Hay Company’s pilot was retiring.
It’s been an ideal partnership, both said.
“He’s from an agricultural background as well and he gets us,” Earl said. “He gets what we do and what we’re about.” KA
Chief Pilot Josh Lubbers recently started flying for Northside Hay Company when their previous chief pilot retired. With 1,600 hours in King Airs under his belt, he says he enjoys the challenges of flying in the southwest and the opportunity to fly “the best and fastest King Air out there.”
18 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
JUNE 2019