The most exciting perk of working as an aviation reporter is that, occasionally, I get invited to ride with airshow performers. Four of us from the media pool at SUN ‘n FUN 2018 enjoyed that thrill on Thursday, April 12, 2018. Kimberly Moore of The Lakeland Ledger newspaper, Phil Lightstone, a freelance writer for the Canadian […]
Sun 'n Fun
SUN ‘n FUN capital campaign takes off
Now that SUN ’n FUN 2018 is over, that doesn’t mean that work stops on the grounds of the fly-in at Lakeland-Linder Regional Airport (KLAL) in Florida. “We are just starting a capital campaign to add a $4 million expansion to the front of the Aerospace Discovery at the Florida Air Museum,” reports SUN ’n […]
MZeroA offers free Private Pilot Blueprint book
MZeroA’s Jason Schappert was just 8 years old when he attended his first SUN ’n FUN. “This is my hometown airshow,” he says. “My parents would take me when I was little and now I do that with my kids. It’s a family tradition. SUN ’n FUN has a lot of meaning for us.” Of […]
Classic Caribou carries cargo
SUN ‘n FUN 2018 hosted a rare airlift aircraft that resonates with veterans of the war in Southeast Asia. It’s a deHavilland CV-2 Caribou. If airlifters, those classic carriers of cargo and combat troops, sometimes get overshadowed by the fighters and bombers, that does not detract from the pivotal significance of the transport mission to […]
Helping GA reach a bigger audience
This year marks the debut of the Grunt Style Air Show Majors, with SUN ’n FUN kicking off the year-long tour. The majors is sponsored by Grunt Style, a company that manufactures and sells clothes that evoke the “American fighting spirit.” As the company explains on its website: “With nearly 500 veterans and patriots, our […]
Texas Raiders gives vet a lift
A veteran got the chance to fly, once again, on a warbird during this year’s SUN ‘n FUN. The Commemorative Air Force brought Texas Raiders to SUN ’n FUN, delayed a bit by the weather at the beginning of the show. But when it landed at Lakeland-Linder Regional Airport, Sargent Bill Kelly was waiting, ready to […]
Picture of the Day: Texas Raiders fly-by
General Aviation News‘ Of Wings & Things columnist and warbird expert Frederick A. Johnsen sent us this photo he took at SUN ‘n FUN 2018. “The Commemorative Air Force B-17G ‘Texas Raiders’ made a low fly-by with one main gear retracted during the group’s ‘Tora! Tora! Tora!’ reenactment,” he explains. “During the spectacle, pyrotechnics and […]
The world’s busiest airport — for a week
During the week of SUN ’n FUN, Lakeland-Linder Regional Airport becomes the busiest airport in the nation. But that’s nothing new for the airport, where there is always something new going on. Just since last year’s SUN ’n FUN, the airport opened its new U.S. Customs facility; cut the ribbon on the new NOAA building; a […]
Building Chris’s Bliss
Members of The Lakeland Aero Club are building an experimental Sonex Motorglider to fulfill a father’s promise. When Leslie Johnson made plans to build a Sonex Motorglider with his son, no one knew his son Chris had cancer. “The garage was set up with tools, supplies, workbenches, you name it,” said Lakeland Aero Club Director […]