Aviation and AOPA Events
Thanks for stopping by the Big Yellow Tent to see the Get Your Glass Sweepstakes Archer, renew your membership, and meet our staff!
A new generation is ready for flight
April 11
As AOPA Day grew to a close on Friday, 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.
It’s his first airshow and “he saw his first Phil Boyer meeting too,” Jayden’s proud papa said, referring to Boyer’s Pilot Town Meeting Thursday night. “He let out a few squeals.” Read More >>
User fees, FAA funding in a ‘holding pattern’
April 11
User fees and FAA funding are in a holding pattern, “centered on the ‘Senate’ waypoint,” AOPA President Phil Boyer said at a Pilot Town Meeting at Sun ’n Fun on April 10. “The House has acted, the Senate hasn’t.”
The House FAA funding bill has no user fees and a very small tax increase on aviation fuel. But the Senate is still wrangling over two possible funding bills, one of which includes a $25-per-flight user fee. And Boyer said that general aviation still faces powerful enemies in the fight to get a fair funding bill. Read More >>
Save GA, take someone flying
April 11
It’s up to you to help save the future of general aviation, AOPA Executive Vice President of Communications Karen Gebhart told a Sun ’n Fun audience on April 10.
She asked the student pilots attending the AOPA Pilot Town Meeting to stand, and said, “These are the most valuable people here tonight. They represent the future of general aviation, and there should be hundreds of them sitting in the audience.” There were six out of a crowd of 300. Read More >>
TFR trouble: What you need to know
April 11
When a Blackhawk helicopter or F-16 is off your wing, the last thing you’re thinking about is what the FAA is going to do once you get on the ground. That thought won’t likely cross your mind until you’re safe on the ground and have stopped shaking.
Then reality sets in, and you realize that you violated a temporary flight restriction (TFR). The FAA will be asking for your certificate. So what do you do?
AOPA Legal Counsel John Yodice walked about 40 pilots through the FAA’s action and enforcement process during his Sun ’n Fun seminar, “What Every Pilot Should Know About FAA Enforcement.” Read More >>
Boyer touts AOPA’s FSS strategy
April 11
AOPA’s flight service station strategy has worked, AOPA President Phil Boyer said at a hangar session on April 11 at Sun ’n Fun.
While that statement might surprise some pilots who have experienced problems using the new flight service station system, “We supported [flight service] outsourcing for a very good business reason,” said Boyer. “Can you imagine what the user fee battle would have been like if they had taken the $600 million a year that flight service was costing and assessed it against gasoline-burning piston-engine aircraft?” Read More >>
User fees? Never, never, never, says congressman
April 11
User fees should not be applied to any segment of aviation, Michigan Congressman Vern Ehlers said April 11 at an AOPA hangar session outside the Big Yellow Tent at Sun ’n Fun.
“Never, never, never, never,” said Rep. Ehlers, who is a member of the House aviation subcommittee. Read More >>
GA pioneer: Aviation groups need to stick together
April 11
Aviation pioneer Paul Poberezny had high praise for the aviation organizations working to keep general aviation vibrant.
“We need a few more AOPAs and EAAs to ensure the wonderful privilege we have to fly in this country,” said the founder of the Experimental Aircraft Association at an AOPA hangar session on April 11 at Sun ’n Fun.
AOPA President Phil Boyer called Poberezny his mentor, and said that he had recognized before anyone else that pilots and aviation groups had to band together to succeed, that individually “we’ll all hang.”
“You do an excellent job,” Poberezny told Boyer. “I’m so proud to be an AOPA member all of these wonderful years. The work that you’ve done to help aviation is tremendous.”
He said that FBOs and airports need all of the help and advice they can get, and “they can get it from AOPA.”
Thunderstorms: Three kinds of bad
April 11
Few other places in the country are pilots as aware of thunderstorms as they are in Florida. So Sun ’n Fun was the perfect place for AOPA Air Safety Foundation Executive Director Bruce Landsberg to find a captive audience to discuss thunderstorm avoidance.
“There are three kinds of thunderstorms: Bad, worse, and impossible,” Landsberg told a crowd outside AOPA’s Big Yellow Tent on Friday. “For those of us flying light airplanes, avoidance is the best strategy.” Read More >>
Student pilot’s dream threatened by cancer
April 11
Camden Collins grew up flying with his dad, the late Jon Lynch, an aerobatic pilot who performed at airshows. Naturally, he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps, but at the age of 21, he’s already dealt with a major hurdle that threatened to quash his dreams—a rare form of kidney cancer.
In August 2007, Collins was in a motorcycle accident (only a few weeks after his father died of colon cancer), and hospitalized. That’s when the doctors discovered the cancer. Read More >>
Saving airports a top priority
April 11
About 50 AOPA Airport Support Network volunteers kicked off their day on AOPA Day at Sun ’n Fun by working on ways to protect and promote general aviation airports in their communities. Read More >>
Member spotlights AOPA at Sun ’n Fun
April 11
AOPA member Roger Caram-Andruet gave back to AOPA in a unique way at Sun ’n Fun, promoting Phil Boyer’s Pilot Town Meeting here and AOPA Day through his night aerial advertising business.
Caram-Andruet, manager and chief pilot for Skyspot Advertising in Lakeland, Fla., flew back and forth over the show grounds Wednesday and Thursday night in his specially equipped Cessna 172 that scrolls lighted messages under the wing and fuselage.
“Every pilot I know, myself included, can’t help but look up at an airplane overhead,” said Greg Romano, AOPA vice president of public relations. “So when Roger offered to help promote Phil’s Pilot Town Meeting and AOPA Day at Sun ’n Fun, I quickly said yes. It’s pretty cool to look up into the night sky and see your message in lights.”
Perfect start to a perfect AOPA Day
April 11
“It’s official AOPA Day!” Warm temperatures, sunny skies, a light breeze, and that welcoming greeting ushered pilots into AOPA’s Big Yellow Tent at Sun ’n Fun in Lakeland, Fla., on Friday morning.
As members flocked to see AOPA’s 2008 Get Your Glass Sweepstakes Archer, they stopped just long enough to grab an AOPA Day sticker—the sticker enters them for a chance to win a prop lock and other great gifts from the AOPA surPRIZE Squad.
Pilots crowded around the Archer, examining whatever part of the aircraft they could get closest to, even if it was the baggage compartment.
“I’ve come to see my airplane,” one member told AOPA Pilot Senior Editor Dave Hirschman, who promised him AOPA would take good care of the aircraft until its delivery early next year.
Pilots pick top two issues facing GA
April 9
The cost of flying and the future of general aviation airports are top of mind for pilots visiting AOPA’s Big Yellow Tent at Sun ’n Fun.
Nearly half of all who have stopped by so far have picked cost of flying, a natural choice with the soaring fuel prices. On AOPA Day (April 11) members can talk to AOPA President Phil Boyer and other AOPA experts about those GA issues.
AOPA sweepstakes Archer makes Sun ’n Fun splash
April 9
Maybe we shouldn’t have used the word “splash” considering all the mud. But anyway, the Sweepstakes Archer is here in Lakeland, Fla., and it looks beautiful under the sun.
AOPA Pilot Senior Editor Paul Richfield wrote about it the other day in our new blog, aptly titled “Reporting Points.”
“I spent three hours with the airplane this morning, talking to members about it and related issues. Some have already come to regard the airplane as ‘theirs,’ while others regaled me with detailed knowledge of the various Archer variants. Members were very interested in every detail of the aircraft’s restoration, from the panel to the seats and other interior furnishings, to the aircraft’s exquisite paint job,” he wrote.
Check out the blog for these and many other insights from the show.
Make your Sun ’n Fun trip safe and easy
April 3
A flight to Sun ’n Fun can be a great “road trip” for you and your airplane, but the high volume of traffic and unusual mix of aircraft can cause problems if you aren’t prepared.
Well before you launch, make sure your flying skills are up to scratch. Spot landing practice is a good idea as you may be asked to land long or short to maximize runway capacity. You’ll also want to be sure you’ve thoroughly read and understood the arrival procedures so you know what to expect when you get near Lakeland Linder Regional. Read More >>
