Secret revealed

Over the past 18 months, we’ve made significant upgrades to the weathered, bare-metal airplane we first acquired in southeast Arizona (see “The Everything Airplane,” June 2025 AOPA Pilot). We shared across all AOPA media channels the process of buying the airplane, working with partners to upgrade it, and flying it around the country to showcase how the latest technology and some wonderful craftsmanship can transform almost any aircraft make and model into a thoroughly modern machine.

And while it would typically not make financial sense to modify an older airplane to this degree, many products and services were donated or heavily discounted by extraordinary partners who want to both showcase their products and services and help create the ultimate flying prize for one lucky pilot. I thank every sweepstakes contributor for making that possible.

Three of the most common questions we are asked about AOPA sweepstakes airplanes are how to enter, how we choose the winner, and when the airplane will be given away.

AOPA contracts with Ventura Associates International LLC, an independent sweepstakes administrator and judging organization, to create and implement the AOPA Sweepstakes official rules. According to the rules, if you were an AOPA member any time between 9 a.m. Eastern time on December 30, 2023, and 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on June 30, 2025, you’re automatically entered in the drawing to win the sweepstakes airplane. It’s one way we say, “thank you for being a member.” AOPA members enrolled in automatic renewal, and AOPA life members receive five additional entries. You can view the complete official rules, including entry limits and alternate methods of entry online (aopa.org/sweeps).

The entry period for the AOPA Sweepstakes Cessna 182 ends on June 30, 2025, and the excitement about who is going to win the airplane was just starting to build as this issue went to press. Here’s what will be happening over the next month (and it’s actually not a secret—it’s all explained in the rules).

After the sweepstakes entry period ends, the rules state we must wait until July 7 to receive any mailed entries. We then send Ventura a list of members who were automatically entered (indicating those on automatic renewal or life members) along with individuals who entered using an alternate method (such as a mail-in entry form).

On or about July 28, Ventura will conduct a random drawing from all eligible entries received during the entry period. The winner must be a legal resident of one of the the 50 United States (or District of Columbia), Canada (excluding Quebec), Guam, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, age 18 years or older at date of entry, and certificated by the FAA as a student, recreational, sport, private, commercial, or airline transport pilot as of June 30, 2025.

As soon as Ventura sends AOPA the winning name, the fun begins. We research the background of the sweepstakes winner and devise a ruse to surprise the unknowing pilot. With the help of an “insider,” we might ask the winner to go to their home airport for some mundane reason or cleverly convince them to attend a fly-in, only to stun them with any GA pilot’s dream: the keys to a free, fully restored, and better-than-new AOPA sweepstakes airplane. We can’t wait to meet the winner—and we hope it’s you!

The 27 sweepstakes airplanes AOPA has given away include 11 Cessnas, six Pipers, two Beechcraft, and one each from Aviat, Cirrus, Commander, Grumman, Mooney, Remos, Van’s, and Waco. After we award the airplane to the winner, its fate is out of our control. AOPA does not put any restrictions on how long the winner must keep the airplane or who can (or cannot) buy it. Most AOPA members who win a sweepstakes airplane eventually sell it (see “Where Are They Now,” July 2024 AOPA Pilot). 

The next sweepstakes entry period will be opening soon. What will the next AOPA sweepstakes aircraft be? Stop by the AOPA campus at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh to find out. We look forward to seeing you there.

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