He Flies in the Name of Higher Education : Aviation: Adviser Tom Potter uses his small plane to reach CSUN graduate students in outlying areas.

Minutes after landing at the Oxnard Airport, Tom Potter, Cal State Northridge graduate adviser in education, opens the terminal door and says, “Welcome to my office.”

Spotting a woman looking around the terminal, he approaches her and the two exchange names.

“I thought it was kind of strange when you asked me to meet you here,” the woman says.

Potter had flown 30 minutes on a recent Saturday morning to give Renee Callahan advice on receiving a master’s degree in elementary education from CSUN.

Until four years ago, Potter, 52, drove to meet with students in outlying areas, but after buying a Cessna 177-B Cardinal, he soon found flying easier and more restful.

“Flying is very relaxing to me, which allows me to arrive in a better frame of mind. I can be more sensitive to the students’ needs,” he said over a microphone-equipped headset in an interview 3,000 feet above Thousand Oaks. “There is nothing more exhausting than an hour or two on an L.A. freeway. This way, I save time and energy.”

For the past three years, Potter, who is also a university professor of elementary education, has flown about 100 hours making monthly counseling trips on weekdays and weekends. He usually flies out of Agua Dulce Airpark, about 20 minutes from his Canyon Country home. After just one year with a pilot’s license, he took a second mortgage on his Canyon Country house to buy the $20,000 used plane.

The state pays him a flat rate of 24 cents a mile, the standard amount for people using their cars on university business. He estimates that it costs about 40 cents a mile to operate his aircraft, but, he said, he can “fly as the crow flies” to save on mileage. Expenses for a flying trip from Van Nuys to Oxnard are about $18.40 while a ground trip would run about $10.80. The unpaid expenses are written off on his taxes, Potter said.

The trip via airplane took half the time of going by car, he noted. And he’s not the only one who saves time. Callahan, who normally would have traveled more than an hour to the San Fernando Valley campus for such counseling, lives about 15 minutes from the airport.

“It’s a killer, having to drive to Northridge,” said Callahan, 40, a first-grade teacher and mother of three. “I told them, ‘Can’t I just write you a letter?’ It’s wonderful that he is willing to come down here.”

Over a cup of coffee from a terminal vending machine, Potter reviews Callahan’s transcripts and academic records. The professor pointed out that a class she had already completed for a teaching credential would count toward a master’s degree.

He also met with two other Ventura County residents, Linda Leach, 39, of Ojai and Beth Lindley of Ventura, both of whom were surprised at the meeting place, at the Oxnard Airport.

“He called me to set up an appointment,” Lindley, 31, said. “I didn’t expect it would be here.”

Meanwhile, curious airport workers wondered what had blown into their tiny terminal. Until that day, Potter had gone unnoticed, despite the fact that he had visited the Oxnard Airport at least a dozen times.

“We never even realized he was here,” said Lorena Lewis, seated behind the counter at Airport Travel Agency.

Out on the ramp, Potter checked the oil, gasoline, instruments and engine before heading to his next destination: Gen. William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster.

“One-Seven-Seven-Tango-Papa ready for takeoff,” Potter radios to the air-control tower as he approaches the runway.

At 9:55 a.m., the four-seater plane is airborne. It climbs to 6,500 feet to clear the mountains in the Angeles National Forest to the southwest of the Antelope Valley.

Potter lands a few minutes late for his 10:30 a.m. appointment, and hopes that Cindie Garren has been patient. He walks into the terminal, a room with vacant ticket counters and large windows, to find the 28-year-old student sitting with her husband and their 4-month-old son, Heath.

The professor takes a look at her paperwork and gives her some advice. But this time, he gets the chance to talk not only about graduate studies, but his first love, airplanes.

Garren’s husband, Stan, wants to learn how to fly and asks for some pointers. Potter warns him of the high cost of lessons and the rigorous Federal Aviation Administration flying exam.

“I can tell you’ve got AV gas in your blood,” Potter said, grinning.

Another prospective CSUN student, 23-year-old Stephen Baldus, is sitting on a coach in the terminal seeking information that will help him decide whether to get his master’s degree at Northridge or UCLA. The professor explains that he views CSUN as more of a teaching institution, and UCLA as a research institution. Baldus is given application deadlines and a list of CSUN class offerings to consider.

In addition to Oxnard and Lancaster, he has made trips in his plane to Camarillo, Santa Paula, Santa Barbara and Rosamond. Only in Camarillo does Potter even come close to having a real office: a conference room at the Ventura County Superintendent of Schools educational services center, adjacent to the airport.

He says the only disadvantage of traveling via airplane is unpredictable weather.

“Sometimes, due to icy conditions or thunderstorms, I have to make a last-minute call and tell them I’ll be an hour late or that I won’t be able to make it at all,” he said.

Raymond Jung, chairman of CSUN’s elementary education department, said Potter’s mode of transportation is a novelty on campus.

“We’ve never had a professor use his plane in this manner,” Jung said. “It’s commendable of him. It’s a little unusual, but he’s just combining his interest in education and flying.”

On a recent day, a friend from Husum, Germany, joined Potter for a trip.

“This is something new to me,” said Uwe Heidenreich, 48, who teaches fifth- through ninth-grade students in his homeland. “A professor in Germany would never think of this. It’s amazing.”

Potter admitted that he doesn’t have to visit students on their own turf, but it has advantages.

“We may not be able to bring the classes to them, but at least we can meet with them in their area,” he said. “I guess we could just say, ‘If you don’t live near campus, we don’t want you,’ but I would like to think that we do.”