A OPA Pilot Editor in Chief Thomas B. Haines first flew a Cirrus in January 1990 when the company's kitbuilt VK-30 single-engine pusher was being developed (see " Cirrus SR22-GTS: Fast Company," page 68). It was definitely a high-performance machine. Haines regularly flew development models of the more conventional and certification-bound SR20 in the last half of the 1990s and was on hand in July 1999 when the first customer airplane was delivered. "I remember the first time I heard on the frequency a pilot flying a production Cirrus, and shortly thereafter I saw an SR20 and then two on a ramp somewhere. Now they are everywhere," remarks Haines. "It's been exciting watching the company grow from nothing into a major manufacturer."
"Getting there is a big reason why we fly," says AOPA Air Safety Foundation Executive Director Bruce Landsberg. "General aviation allows us the freedom to go generally where and when we want — mostly. My first trip into Aspen, Colorado, was in an old Cessna 172 while taking a mountain-flying course." (See " Safety Pilot: Landmark Accidents, Aspen Arrival," page 88.) "It was a beautiful VFR day with no wind and clear skies. After looking at the approach and the proximity of the mountains, it was clear that if I ever had occasion to go to Aspen again in a light aircraft it would be in daylight for sure and very much likely VFR." In researching this landmark accident, Landsberg found it easy to relate to the pressure the charter crew felt but, in remembering the environment, he says all pilots need to remind themselves that the mountains play for keeps.
Every photo flight needs two aircraft, one called the "subject" and another called the "photo platform," says AOPA Pilot Senior Editor Alton K. Marsh. A 74-year-old Stinson Tri-Motor at Fantasy of Flight aviation museum-slash-theme park (see " Fantasy of Flight," page 104) made an amazing subject. Even more amazing was the fact that the platform, a New Standard from aviation's barnstorming days, was also 74 years old. It is based at Fantasy of Flight during the winter under contract and provides rides to visitors as Waldo Wright's Flying Service. Pilot Rob Lock is a former player for the Los Angeles Clippers who barnstorms Florida by winter and Ohio by summer.
"Airplanes speak to me," says Dan Pimentel, "and no airplane has spoken louder than Jerrie Mock's airplane Charlie did when I found it being stored far from public view in a Smithsonian warehouse." Pimentel, a 300-hour private pilot, is on a quest to reintroduce Mock (see " Aviation's Forgotten Pioneer," page 137) as a way to give something back to an aviation community that has been good to him. "When I discovered that Jerrie had somehow fallen through the cracks of our nation's aviation history books, I realized something had to be done." The Eugene, Oregon-based screenwriter feels that Mock's airplane, the Spirit of Columbus, is one of the most historically important flying machines ever flown, and deserves to be thought of as we think of Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. "I will have achieved success when everyone speaks the names Lindbergh, Earhart, and Mock in the same sentence," Pimentel says.
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