It's a little-known fact, but after they conquered the sky at Kitty Hawk, Wilbur Wright said to Orville, "What say we jump on the Flyer and go somewhere for lunch?" According to author Stephen Coonts generations of pilots have been looking for luncheon destinations ever since. "Getting there is more than half the fun for pilots, so about any airstrip with a port-a-potty qualifies as a destination; alas, passengers often want more, such as food, perhaps, and toilet paper," he says. The destination feature — " Death Valley Sunday," page 93 — should meet the criteria of the most discriminating pilots and passengers. Coonts says, "I'll see you there sometime."
While researching this month's story about new technology in aircraft lighting (see " Filament-Free Future," page 77), AOPA Pilot contributor Peter A. Bedell flew to Chester, Connecticut, to visit Whelen Engineering Company, the leading provider of lighting products for general aviation aircraft. "Whelen is the original equipment manufacturer of lighting equipment for all of the major light aircraft manufacturers. It also provides reasonably priced replacement lighting for the aftermarket fleet. Although aviation product sales are a fraction of Whelen's overall business, the company has deep roots in aviation," says Bedell. Whelen's owner, George Whelen IV, is an active pilot and aircraft owner. The company also owns and maintains the Chester airport and the flight school/FBO on the field. Fred Frazier, vice president of aviation sales, was tapped from the former leader of GA lighting, Grimes Aerospace in Urbana, Ohio. Frazier knows his product line cold. His protégé is Sales Engineer Jeff Argersinger, who is currently busy working with the FAA to gain approval of the company's LED wingtip position lights.
AOPA Pilot always goes to great lengths to get quality photography. But for the Trinidad GT featured in this issue, we broke the mold (see " TB 20 Trinidad: Sceni-Cruiser," page 68). The photo shoot was tacked on to the end of a six-hour flying day that started at AOPA's home airport in Frederick, Maryland, and ended at EADS Socata's facilities at the North Perry Airport in Hollywood, Florida. "Because of clearer skies and better light to the south, we ended up flying all the way to the Florida Keys — almost to Marathon Key — to get The Spirit of Liberty shots," says Thomas A. Horne, Pilot's editor at large. "So in all, we flew some 1,000 nautical miles to get those pictures." For Horne, the real payoff wasn't just flying The Spirit of Liberty. It was "seeing the lights of Miami, etched against the Everglades' blackness," on the night flight back to North Perry.
Soaring is a team effort, as Associate Editor Julie K. Boatman found while pursuing her glider rating for " Leap of Faith," page 86. For any given flight, pilots may work with others to help assemble the glider, and they rely on line personnel to walk the wing and tow pilots to steer them where they can find lift. Often, young people work the line in order to earn money toward their own flight time, attaching the tow rope and running the wing during the takeoff roll. "When you're flying a glider, you can't get into the air by yourself, which is a nice counterpoint to the solitude felt after you release," says Boatman. The cooperative attitude prevailed at Estrella Sailport, where many of the instructors, pilots, and crew work together outside of the daily glider operation to boost their skills and experience. "By pitching in to help each other transition from a Schweizer 2-33A to a Cessna 182, for example, these pilots add to their repertoire — and find the joy in lending a hand."
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