Former Flying magazine columnist Lane Wallace has joined the editorial staff of Sport Aviation, the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) announced March 29.
Wallace’s column, “Flying Lessons,” will appear in the magazine beginning with the May 2011 issue, EAA President and CEO Rod Hightower said. “Lane brings a unique perspective to aviation and the people involved in flying, based on her own passion for flight and for life,” he said.
Wallace, who learned to fly in 1986 and is known for crafting articles and columns that explore the human experience associated with flying, said she is excited to join EAA, and that the organization’s vision to spread its message to the nonpilot population fit perfectly with her goals.
A Skycatcher on a mission
EAA’s 2011 sweepstakes airplane, a 2011 Cessna Skycatcher, was en route to Sun ’n Fun but had not made it to Lakeland as of March 29 because of bad weather, Hightower said. Flying the Skycatcher is Jeffrey Skiles, first officer of US Airways Flight 1549, the Airbus that landed in New York’s Hudson River in 2009.
Since departing Oshkosh, Wis., Skiles and the Skycatcher have conducted four Young Eagles rallies and flown more than 100 participants, Hightower said. A Flight 1549 passenger and his 11-year-old son came to a rally in Spruce Creek, Fla., and Skiles took the child aloft, Hightower said.
In other news, Hightower said the association will be focusing on “creating and growing pathways to participation in aviation,” and creating the next generation of aviators, Hightower said. “Few organizations have the ability” to promote aviation as EAA does, Hightower said, pointing to the Young Eagles program, which flies 77,000 children per year, and EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, which draws more than 500,000 attendees per year.
EAA intends to begin finding new distribution channels for the monthly Sport Aviation magazine, which now goes to 170,000 members, Hightower said. “You’re not going to see it at Borders,” he said, but instead, the magazine will be available at “niche and specialty” venues, beginning with pilot shops, he said.
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