Observations From AOPA's Fly-In On St. Simons Island, GA

By David Juwel

I had the opportunity to attend the recent AOPA Fly-in on St. Simons Island, Georgia. I had never attended one of their regional fly-in’s before and I was very pleased with the broadness of the event. The food, the speakers, the aircraft, and the camaraderie made it well worth the trip. Here are some of the things that made it very interesting:

The B-17 Backseat Driver
The heroic deeds of these B-17 crews were even more notable when you see the tight and claustrophobic tail and ball turret gunner’s space. Both men had to be small in stature with a huge backbone of courage, and both were operationally isolated from the rest of the crew during the milieu of battle. Fortunately, they could shoot back.

Pedaling faster than the Wright Brothers
Just 34 years after the Wright Brothers made their first flight, this is what more American ingenuity developed. A 1937 Spartan Executive (see image below), which the Triple Tree Aerodrome calls “Sparky.” This was the corporate plane of its day. Not many were made (this is #13 of 34). In it, 4-5 souls can enjoy a 186 Kt cruise. Both Hughes & Getty owned one.

Open Air Hauling
It was interesting to observe an AirCam when it parked on the ramp. The 2-place, tandem seat, open cockpit, twin engine aircraft flew up from Sebring, Fl., with a pilot and a co-pilot. With most 2-place aircraft you might expect a couple of small flight bags as baggage, but not the AirCam. They filled up the “open air” baggage compartment with all the materials needed to set-up and operate their booth at the fly-in (excluding the table), PLUS their overnight flight bags. In spite of full seats and a stacked up load in the back, the pilot told me that they were still under gross, and it didn’t affect them aerodynamically.

Since it’s one of the safest aircraft in the sky, if they ever change the 3rd class medical, it would be nice to make an exception for the AirCam. Eliminating an aircraft that is a pure example of a safe aircraft is simply a case of ignoring the spirit of the law to satisfy the letter of the law.

A Fully Aerobatic 1425 hp RV
Walt Kuemmerle and his wife Debbie, love to travel, but he hates to drive! Since he is a retired F-16 pilot, and a current airline pilot, and she is an RN, they decided to forgo the classic route of buying a Class-A RV, and they bought a T-28 Trojan instead.

The aircraft holds 177 gallons of fuel, so they get treated pretty well wherever they land. A typical leg is 2-hrs at 200 kts, burning 60 gph. That puts them more than 400 miles down the road. They stop, see the sights, eat, spend the night, and then fly the next leg the next day. They never tire of the aerial views they encounter as they travel to many different places in a quick, comfortable and easy manner.

The aircraft takes minimal maintenance because it’s constantly in use. Nothing dries up or starts to corrode from infrequent use. He says it’s also easy to fly because it was designed as a training aircraft. To keep his wife comfortable (she’s not a pilot), he never fly’s IFR or in deteriorating weather. He flies the aircraft for her comfort, not his. Because they have the time, they can stay put for another day or two if the weather isn’t acceptable to them.

On occasion, when his fighter pilot spirit cries out, he simply leaves his wife behind and then he flies around inverted for a while, or he does ACM (responsibly of course). Try that in your Class A RV!

With over 2,000 lbs of useful load – 1062 lbs for fuel, that leaves you with 938 lbs for the owners, their baggage, and ancillary equipment. Sweet!

Big Boy Super Toys Announcement
If you’re interested in RC aircraft, you won’t want to miss Joe Nall Week at the Triple Tree Aerodrome (SC00) on May 9-16, in Woodruff, South Carolina. Joe Nall Week is the largest RC event in the world. Rob Traynham of Triple Tree, stated that based on past events, they’re expecting 10,000-15,000 people, and 1200-1400 RC pilots flying six different styles of RC aircraft. In their last event, 45 states were represented, along with 10 foreign countries, plus 94 vendors.

Speaker Extraordinaire
I had the opportunity to listen to Cmdr. Kirk Lippold (Ret), former Captain of the U.S.S. Cole. He was the Captain of the U.S.S. Cole when it was attacked with a water borne improvised explosive device in Yemen. He is a speaker and an author, and his speech was very compelling, keeping you on the edge of your seat as he took you minute-by-minute through the event. As he spoke, he showed before & after slides in parallel with his story. He was so verbally graphic, you could almost smell and feel the atmosphere after the brisant exploded.

Rejuvenating The Youth
One way to introduce new people into aviation is to offer Young Eagle rides through your Flying Club. Encourage them to take up flying, and have an instructor available to instruct in one of your club aircraft. Everyone wins. Aviation gets a new member, you get a new club member and greater utilization of your club aircraft, and the student enters the door into a new realm of life. Just remember, the cheaper the aircraft, the cheaper the flight training, and the more probability that people will join in.

Aviation Marketing 101: A novel idea
One aviation insurance company had a novel idea for developing a list of prospective clients. They put on a raffle for a free hour of piloting a DC-3. You had to be a licensed pilot to qualify. All you had to do was enter your personal information into their iPad database. The plane was open for interior inspection to encourage you to do it.

(Images provided by the author)

FMI: www.aopa.org