One of the many educational events hosted by SUN ‘n FUN during the year is a new program called Transition to the Sky.
Designed to introduce flying to travelers with special needs, Transition to the Sky allows people to experience the process and the procedures of commercial air travel. The step-by-step practice and explanation of how to perform these routine tasks in a realistic environment builds confidence and teaches understanding, according to program officials. [Read more…]
Like many high schools, Westosha Central High School in Paddock Lock, Wisconsin, struggled to make science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) studies relevant and exciting.
“Unfortunately, a lot of programs misuse the term STEM,” said James Senft, a pilot for the last 30 years who taught high school physics and is now a college administrator. “Kids are losing that connection to applied STEM knowledge because many schools have eliminated hands-on courses like shop and auto mechanics.”
At the same time, people in the aviation community are complaining about the shortage of pilots and mechanics, so Senft — who has also built and restored airplanes — decided to do something about it. [Read more…]
At 74, Canadian David Morrell has a shelf of literary awards to go along with his 30-plus novels.
Creator of the American icon Rambo, Morrell is well-known in publishing as a man who prefers intense first-hand research over library-based research.
“In 2006, I started to write a novel, ‘The Shimmer,’ about the mysterious Marfa lights of west Texas,” Morrell said. “The lights have been observed there ever since settlers arrived in the 1880s. They rise in the distance, grow and shrink, merge and separate, change colors, and generally create quite a show. In World War II, there was a military airbase near where the lights appear. As an exercise, student pilots were told to pursue them and drop paper sacks filled with flour where the pilots thought the lights originated. But the mystery remained unsolved.”
“These events so fascinated me that I was eager to use them in The Shimmer. Wanting to make the flight details accurate, I took flying lessons from Sierra Aviation, a flight school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. My first thought was to take just a few lessons so that I could have the general idea, but I became so hooked that I finally earned my license.” [Read more…]
All over the world in late September, thousands of girls were introduced to aviation.
For the third annual Girls in Aviation Day, 74 events were held for an estimated 9,700 girls in the United States, Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Switzerland, and Zambia.
The day’s mission: Help girls between the ages of 8 and 17 all across the world realize there are opportunities — and a place — for them in aviation. [Read more…]
Summer Camp on the SUN ‘n FUN campus is not your father’s summer camp.
Here in sunny Florida on the southside of Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (KLAL), during the seventh year of the camp, 96 students enjoyed learning about aviation from experts.
One year, Patty Wagstaff dropped in to talk about unusual attitude recovery.
“We want the campers to experience and understand the many facets of aviation,” said Richele Floyd, the new education director. [Read more…]
Retired USAF Colonels Blake and Sandy Thomas met at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. On their first date Blake took Sandy on a ride in a 1944 BT-13, a two-seat military trainer with a radial engine.
“It was love at first flight,” Sandy said.
In December 2017, they will celebrate their 23rd anniversary. Their shared love of aviation led to flying offspring. Their first-born homebuilt was an RV-7, their third, a Sopwith Schneider. This is the story of their middle offspring, a replica World War I fighter, the 1917 Nieuport-28. [Read more…]
Gary Rower of Rower Airshows donated a flight in his Stearman to the SUN ‘n FUN Media pool drawing and on Friday morning, April 7, 2017, I won.
Abandoning dignity, I raised my arms in the air and gave a whoop of joy.
For the 24 hours leading up to the scheduled Saturday morning ride, I told everyone I encountered about it with evangelistic zeal. I was insufferable to friends, family, total strangers — you name it. [Read more…]
Flying a P-51 Mustang is the dream of many pilots. Owning a Mustang, according to businessman and pilot Andrew McKenna, is a way of honoring those who flew them. [Read more…]
During this year’s SUN ‘n FUN, a group of Chinese and Americans gathered beside the B-25J “Panchito,” an aircraft similar to the one used during the famous Doolittle Raid on Tokyo.
The Chinese came to honor American airmen who fought with the Chinese against the Japanese in World War II. In particular, they commemorated the Flying Tigers. [Read more…]
During a bright sunny day at this year’s SUN ‘n FUN, the people sheltered in the shade of the Seaplane Pilots Association (SPA) tent on Taxiway Echo all knew who owned the brightly-colored Seabee parked nearby.
Built in 1947, the Republic Seabee RC-3 (N713ET), is a four-place amphibious aircraft. A plush toy from the movie E.T. sat in the window.
“That belongs to E.T. He’s a party waiting for a place to happen,” Barb Bailey said. [Read more…]
