by
Darryl Phillips
Wow! An apology from the FAA to general aviation pilots!
It is not often that FAA has the grace to simply say they were wrong. Each pilot should take a moment to stand a little taller, smile a little wider, and remember that it is possible to make a difference.
When an apology is offered, the gentlemanly thing to do is accept it with thanks. So, on behalf of pilots everywhere, thank you, FAA.
(OK, girls. I tried to make the above gender-equal, but I can't get the words to come out right. I'm not unaware of the ladies in our ranks, wife Patsy has more ratings than I.)
While on the subject of lady pilots, this would be a good time to put in a plug for Mary Kelly's Grassroots AirCamp. This marks the fifth year for her exciting one-of-a-kind aviation youth camp, located on the shore of lake Tenkiller in the green hills of eastern Oklahoma.
The setting provides a real vacation atmosphere for the camp. Tenkiller boasts 12,900 acres of clear water and 130 miles of scenic shoreline. One end of Lake Tenkiller Airpark reaches almost to the water. The AirCamp attendees live in rustic log cabins, and while most of the time is taken up with flight and ground instruction, there is time for swimming and the more traditional camp activities.
Campers arrive on Sunday afternoon, and after a hamburger cookout, attend a briefing in preparation for lesson #1 the next morning. They fly a C-150, C-172, or PA28-140, just like any student learning to fly. The days are long and active with flights beginning at 7 AM and ground sessions throughout the day and evening.
"We're trying something really special again this year", says Kelly. "That is to reserve one week just for girls. This is the second year we are having an all girls camp. Even in the 90s, we have found that young ladies are intimidated by boys. Last year was our first all-girls camp, and we tripled our female attendance."
Mary Kelly is a former high school teacher and a 4500 hour pilot with over 3000 hours instructing. Five years ago, she and her husband Joe flew around the world, along with Congressman (now Senator) Jim Inhofe and Joe Quinn. She tells exciting tales of aerial mix-ups in Moscow. The iron curtain and the cold war were very real at that time, and Russian ATC sent them to one airport while their official papers were someplace else. What resulted was something between Abbott & Costello and Dr. No.
For information about Grassroots AirCamp, call (918) 457-3257, or write to Box 100, Cookson, OK 74427.
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It's Sun'n Fun time again. This year the dig-your-bird-out-of-the-snow-and-come-have-fun extravaganza will be held April 14-20, and as always, in Lakeland, Florida. Like the annual EAA Oshkosh convention, Sun'n Fun continues to prosper and grow. And like Oshkosh, they can't seem to avoid the problems that come with growth. A case in point: those %#&*@ wristbands. Sun'n Fun says they took a poll and people preferred wristbands! Nobody I talked to was part of the poll, everyone hates the idea of going all week with plastic wristbands that won't come off, wearing them in nice restaurants, in the shower, in bed. Our badges became collector's items, the old-timers had jackets full of badges. Can you imagine hanging those limp plastic wristbands all over your flight jacket? Wearing one on your arm is bad enough, you look like an inmate dodging those men in the white coats.
Come on, guys! The event is growing, right? More money, right? That means the attendees, (your customers) like it the way it is. That is why we come back, and recommend it to others. Very few of us are dishonest enough to hand the badges over the fence to allow someone in for free. When you indicate that your customers (mostly pilots and their families) cannot be trusted, you are doing a tremendous disservice to aviation. And if someone says they don't trust me, my first reaction is to not trust them. That's not the mood we want, it's Sun'n Fun, not Sun'n Feud. Let's go back to badges.
Another victim of growth this year is the forum schedule. At Oshkosh, the airshow has always been sacrosanct, it was forbidden to hold forums during the show. I don't know why. Sun'n Fun has continued the same tradition. Unfortunately, after the '96 forum schedule had been set, Sun'n Fun officials moved the airshow up an hour. That meant the last forum each afternoon was lost. Six forums each day had to be rescheduled or cancelled. One of them was mine.
I've always preferred the last slot in the afternoon, when the formal Stirling engine presentation is over the fun begins. It always degenerates into a bull session and a lot of valuable engine information is exchanged. With nobody needing the tent, we can stay as long as we want. Unfortunately, it won't happen this year, we get the airshow moved up an hour instead!
This year the Stirling powerplant forum is 9 AM on Sunday, the first hour of the first morning of the show. You are cordially invited. In any event, I hope you will drop by the Airsport booth in the center of building "A" and say hello.
Sun'n Fun may have growing pains, but many flyers think it's still the best event of the year. It's certainly a great place to take the family, with Disney World and a host of other Orlando attractions less than an hour's driving time to the east, and Busch Gardens and gulf coast beaches an equal distance to the west. Plus the Kennedy Space Center, and lots more.
That's in case you get tired of looking at airplanes. Fat chance!