By SPARKY BARNES SARGENT
Jack Greiner's Rose Parrakeet and Larry Howard’s 1930 Laird LC-1B-300 in front of Antique Airfield’s hangars.
Every Labor Day weekend, antiquers from all over the country pack their bags, load their airplanes (or autos) and head like homesick aviators to the Antique Airplane Association/Air Power Museum’s Invitational Fly-in at Antique Airfield in Blakesburg, Iowa.
GUEST EDITORIAL By PAULA DERKS, president, Aircraft Electronics Association
My son graduates from college in December. His father and I could not be happier. Of course, we are proud he is obtaining a college degree, but I must admit we are more than a little thrilled that it means no more tuition payments, no more books to be purchased, no more room-and-board expenses to be paid to the university, and no more extracurricular dues and fees, which seem to crop up every semester.
What his graduation doesn’t mean, however, is that he can stop studying and learning. We always have told both our son and daughter that graduation from college doesn’t mean a hall pass to closing your mind to continuous learning. Our mantra to them was: If you are to be a wise and productive citizen, you will have a quest to keep learning and exploring until the day you die.
SPLOG By DAN JOHNSON
We all discuss the declining numbers of pilots in FAA‘s database. Despite widespread concerns, efforts to bring more people into aviation have fallen short.
Several worthy projects have attempted to reverse the drop in the pilot population. Over the years, EAA’s Young Eagles program has put nearly a million and a half kids into airplanes. That’s a wonderful achievement, thanks to EAA‘s leadership and many thousands of willing volunteer pilots.
One LSA provider, Remos, has worked with the organization to provide flights to a large flock of kids attending EAA summer flying camps.
Yet we must do more to interest people in flying. Along those lines, I’m at once amazed and appreciative that AOPA and EAA have chosen to combine efforts (finally!). AOPA also is completely refashioning its former Expo into the new AOPA Aviation Summit.
For the first time, AOPA will be reaching outside the aviation community to welcome the public into all general aviation has to offer.
For the fifth year in a row, the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association (LAMA) will work with AOPA event planners to provide an LSA area at the airport display, which itself will focus on more public outreach this year. One neat new addition: Seaplanes, including LSA, flying from a pier right next to Peter O. Knight Airport in Tampa, Florida.
For more on Sport Pilot, go to ByDanJohnson.com.
SPLOG By DAN JOHNSON
Plenty of aviation enterprises face challenges, but one of the toughest has to be starting a new airshow event, such as last weekend’s Midwest LSA Expo at Mt. Vernon Outland Airport (MVN) in Mt. Vernon, Ill. Not only must organizers get myriad details right and try to satisfy a broad range of expectations while trying to avoid losing a pile of money, they must also be blessed with agreeable weather. Good management may address the first items, but only Mother Nature can deliver sunny skies.
Airport manger Chris Collins, his Expo board, and a hard-working crew of Midwest LSA Expo volunteers faced overcast skies on Thursday and 20-25 knots of wind on Friday. Yet the two days brought highly positive reviews from every vendor I queried, a few sales were logged, and day three was forecast to have the best weather yet. Organizers hoped to break even financially while drawing about 1,000 attendees.
For a first-year, LSA-only event, I’d call the Midwest LSA Expo a success. The Mt. Vernon Outland Airport team will have every right to be proud of their accomplishment. Some vendors are already promising to return next year. Veteran airshow exhibitors offered comments: “The facilities are great… Chris and his aides have promoted and organized the LSA Expo very professionally…The town is amazingly supportive and the area offers an abundance of nearby hotels and restaurants.”
For more information: ByDanJohnson.com, MidwestLSAShow.com
SPLOG By DAN JOHNSON
Here come the new tandems — and I do mean new!
Suspending a full flight trial regime, U.S.-based MySky One took a long maiden voyage from Daytona Beach, Florida, to Oshkosh. Just last month, the Slovak Republic-based sportShark, from Shark.Aero, took its first flight.
SPLOG By DAN JOHNSON
The SeaRey from Progressive Aerodyne is an all-American brand making the move from a kit-only operation to one providing fully-built SLSA and, eventually, ELSA kits.
SeaRey marketing man Darrell Lynds reported a spectacular Oshkosh: “We sold 11 kit SeaRey aircraft (the LSX) and four SLSA versions to be called the SeaRey Sport.”
SHORT FINAL By DEBORAH McFARLAND
As I write this, my own Lester is buzzing over my head. While I’ve always thought his throaty C-85/O-200 made a sweet sound, today I find the noise annoying but, in hearing it, I know that my place in heaven is assured.
Any woman who lets her husband borrow her airplane is kindhearted. Any woman who calmly pecks out her column on the family computer while her husband buzzes overhead, burns her gas and violates her airspace, is downright saintly.
While not often, Henry and I do fly each other’s airplanes, usually when one or the other is down for maintenance. I don’t have anything against his airplane, but flying another person’s bird is like wearing their well-worn shoes. It’s strange and most times the fit is wrong.
SHORT FINAL By DEB McFARLAND
Every now and then magic happens. It can happen in a certain time, at a certain place or with certain people.
Mine came on a Saturday with a group of pilots from a friendly country airport called Jackson County in northeast Georgia. This particular day and time, these folks shared with me a wonderful place called Hudson River Landing. This little slice of aviation heaven is the home of Gene Linville, a couple of airplanes and 2,000 feet of sweet Georgia grass.
I left three loads of laundry on the kitchen table, ready to be folded and put away. Grass needed cutting; tomatoes needed canning. The dog begged to go, but for him, a ride in the truck would have to wait until another day.
Like me, my green Dodge Ram has seen better days. The right front blinker assembly is held together with Gorilla tape, courtesy of a local deer. The back bumper sags a little, a confirmation that the tractor is a stouter piece of machinery. The air conditioner died last year, the passenger door lock refuses to work, but the tires are good, and the engine is maintained. For years, with its fuel tank and pump, it was our fuel truck for the airplanes, but ethanol ended that duty. Now it fuels lawnmowers, weed eaters and chainsaws.
And it does a darned good job getting me to the airport.
By ERIC CHANDLER, For General Aviation News
Like every cheapskate pilot on a layover, I grabbed the free newspaper, which featured an article about Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, the patron saint of pilots.
I was glad to find out who’s on my team. I safely finished my trip and decided to thank the patron saint of my profession by learning more about her.
Thérèse was a French woman from Lisieux who became a Carmelite nun at the age of 15 and died young from tuberculosis. She was known as the “Little Flower” and canonized very soon after her death. She felt she could best serve God with “the little way” — doing what she could for people in the small details of life. Mother Teresa of Calcutta even took her name to honor her. That’s all very interesting, but unsatisfying. I resolved to learn why she was connected to flying.
I got more than I bargained for. It turns out there are actually three patron saints of aviation: St. Thérèse, St. Joseph of Cupertino and Our Lady of Loreto. The latter two were a lot easier to figure out.
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