Nourishing flight innovation

Sedgwick County Commissioner Gwen Welshimer has proposed making the county, which includes Wichita, the Air Capital of the World, “an incubator for future flight innovation,” according to a blog by Emily Behlmann at the Wichita Business Journal. The post notes that Welshimer thinks the county needs to be a leader in the personal flight industry, from ultra-light aircraft to planes an average person can easily learn to fly, as it has been in the general aviation arena.

The blog, which you can read here,  notes:

“She pointed to examples like the ICON Aircraft A5, which is said to cost $139,000 and takes off on land and water, as examples of what she thinks Wichitans could be creating. “They sound very futuristic and not like something we’d use here in Kansas, but there are a lot of people who like these, and they’re being manufactured all over the United States,” Welshimer said. “I’d like to see all of this done here, in the Air Capital of the world.”