The Breitling Countdown Clock on the SUN ’n FUN website is ticking down as Lakeland-Linder Regional Airport (LAL) in Florida transitions into GA’s season-opener national fly-in/convention/airshow. A pleasant Florida morning in late March revealed things falling into place. Piper Aircraft had its tent up already, as did the Experimental Aircraft Association and the Aircraft Owners […]
Merger mania: EAA and AOPA?
With the announced resignation of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association‘s Craig Fuller and the departure last year of the Experimental Aircraft Association‘s new president, some are asking whether AOPA and EAA should merge. I think not. Neither EAA nor AOPA members should support a merger concept based only on recent performance by either organization, […]
Back to basics with the 3Rs?
New airplanes cost too much. Used aircraft prices have slumped. The fleet is aging. There’s a lack of new thinking in the industry. The pilot population is dropping. I think you’ve heard all this before. Now, an old friend has an idea. But I think I’ve heard it before. The idea is the large-scale “remanufacture” […]
New CEO for LoPresti as company shifts focus
Stunt pilot Corkey Fornof is looking for new opportunities and the LoPresti Fury won’t be flying airshows in 2013 as LoPresti Aviation attends to a fast-growing business in lighting for jets and turboprops. Changes reflect a sharper business focus by LoPresti Aviation’s new CEO, Tyler Wheeler, who is capitalizing on demand for Boom Beam landing […]
Briefly, a showroom of Cubs
Imagine yourself in a dealership filled with new Cubs! That was the scene at Florida’s Spruce Creek Fly-In community recently. For a moment, the FBO morphed into a gleaming showroom of Cubs, both Legend and legendary. Stick-and-Rudder City! Paraphrasing that ‘70s pop song, there were big ones and tall ones and fat ones and small […]
Want to fly a jet?
After some years, I ran into John and Martha King of King Schools at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Convention this fall and caught their Light Business Aircraft briefing on jet ownership. As usual they were frank, straightforward and fact-based. They told it like it is. It was refreshing, educational too. They know how […]
Corkey Fornof: Flying with Fury
“I’ve known your name forever,” I told Corkey Fornof, star attraction of the “First Saturday” breakfast last month at LoPresti Speed Merchants in Sebastian, Florida. “Me too!” laughed the stunt pilot legend, showing off the long-awaited LoPresti Fury (nee SwiftFury) these days at airshows. The man is having fun. And can he fly! Everyone’s first […]
To win, you’ve got to play the game
“I’m seeing a virtuous cycle,” said National Business Aviation Association president Ed Bolen at this year’s NBAA convention in Orlando. He was speaking of The Alliance for Aviation Across America. Ad hoc Washington coalitions are often just “inside baseball” (and manufactured “causes” by corporate front-groups are downright deceptive), but the Alliance’s cumulative results since 2007 […]
The show goes on
Conversations drifted to tragedy in Connecticut, but the holiday season’s 25th annual Toy Parade went on as scheduled at the Spruce Creek Fly-In community in Florida. The parade boasted an ingeniously decorated Cub, Cherokee and Waco, the latter owned by 2012 Grand Marshalls Pat and Lenny Ohlsson, long-time real estate gurus (pictured below) Spruce Creek’s […]