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A new generation is ready for flight
A new generation is ready for flight
As AOPA Day grew to a close, hope for a new generation of pilots emerged. AOPA member Jim Adams III and Nicole Manning brought their 10-day-old son, Jayden Orion Adams, to the Big Yellow Tent.
After pulling out a pocket calculator, Adams, of Bradenton, Fla., said, “He’s got 5,830 days until solo.”
Jayden, who was wearing a specially made onesie with the AOPA Project Pilot logo, slept through aircraft flying over the tent performing aerobatics. Maybe he’ll be awake for his first space shuttle launch, which his dad plans to take him to on May 30.
Adams, who has been a pilot for six years, flies a Piper Lance.
In addition to the Adams family, nearly 3,000 Sun ’n Fun spectators filed through AOPA’s Big Yellow Tent—many of them to enter for a chance to win a handheld Garmin 496 receiver. Others wanted an AOPA Day sticker so they could get a chance to win prizes including a prop lock.
“Why are we going to the AOPA tent?” a 20-something asked his group of friends after they entered the Sun ’n Fun gate. “To get stickers!” his friend responded.
Victor Romley, of Conn., won one of the prop locks after getting spotted wearing an AOPA Day sticker by the surPRIZE Squad. Now he just needs an aircraft to go with it.
Romley has a light sport aircraft SportCruiser on order and should have it delivered in May.
“It’s something I really wanted because I don’t want to leave the plane unsecured,” Romley said. The prop locks are a reminder of AOPA’s Airport Watch Program, which reminds pilots to lock their aircraft and look out for suspicious people at the airport.
April 11, 2008
April 11, 2008
