Being a pilot offers a special overview of your world and the events affecting it. It’s part of what makes flying special. This month’s devastating tornados call this to mind. Our airborne views of human civilization and nature’s ways are perspectives the Average Joe might not see in a lifetime. This month’s news from Tornado […]
Drew's Views
Profiles of change: SUN ’n FUN’s Bob Knight
He’s been on the SUN ’n FUN board for years, but chairman for just 18 months. Robert C. (Bob) Knight is head of Knight Industrial Equipment (a long-time Lakeland Airport tenant), an airport board member and community leader. He’s been flying out of LAL since 1965. That A-36 Bonanza of his, which he calls “my […]
Profiles in Change: SUN ’n FUN’s new president
At a time when our GA institutions seem in transition, plagued by leadership changes and questions of fiscal stability and stewardship, it seems SUN ’n FUN got a head start on fixes. Its new leadership is now in gear and beginning to roll. A recent visit with new President John “Lites” Leenhouts was my second, […]
Everyday GA as transportation?
Many factors have challenged the typical GA airplane as a transportation mode. I recall the early-1960s debate at my home field whether the new Interstate Highway System would be boon or bust for General Aviation, at least for the average Cessna or Piper. My conclusion then, as now: Both. Although still a teen, I had […]
Gone but not forgotten
We lost some key “downtown” airports as the 20th Century faded into history. Famous campaigns fought to save them; local politicians with big plans “got” them — Chicago Meigs (10 years ago this month) and Bader Field in Atlantic City, N.J. They represented the height of GA utility. Now, in their absence, have politicians’ airport-killing […]
Countdown to SUN ’n FUN
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” […]
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 […]