Newsroom

“And the Winner Is…”
AOPA Names Recipient of 2012 Tornado Husky Sweepstakes

Palm Springs, Calif. – Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association CEO Craig Fuller announced today that this year’s winner of the sweepstakes aircraft, a Husky Aviat, is Richard Zahn, CEO of a central Florida construction company.  He has been a private pilot since 2008, with multiengine and seaplane ratings.

The AOPA team planned its usual elaborate ruse to get the Husky to Zahn, who thought he was brought to the SheltAir facility at Pompano Beach Airpark (PMP) in Florida to look at a King Air his friend planned to buy. But a stand-in Husky awaited him in the closed Pro Aircraft Interiors hangar.

Zahn’s wife Michelle was key in helping to carry out the surprise. She and Zahn’s staff conspired with AOPA Editor in Chief Tom Haines the week leading up to the giveaway to formulate the story to get her husband to the airport. “I’m usually not very good at keeping secrets, but I kept this one,” she said. “It wasn’t easy, but seeing the surprise on Richard’s face made it all worth it.”

This year’s sweepstakes airplane had been battered by the 2011 Sun ’n Fun tornado and repaired by the craftsmen at Aviat Aircraft in Afton, Wyoming, to perfect condition.

- AOPA -

12-S-008

October 11, 2012