Say Hello To Jeffrey Pierson And Matt Russell!

With the final days before the official start to EAA AirVenture 2007 counting down all too rapidly... and, not quickly enough... ANN's senior staff is all-too-aware of the Herculean task ahead of us in reporting EVERYTHING that's news at The World's Greatest Aviation Celebration.

Fortunately, this year we'll have some help... and some really GREAT help at that. As we've already told you, Aero-News is bringing its largest staff EVER to AirVenture this year, to not only increase our print and audio coverage of the greatest (air) show on Earth, but also to help us kick off Aero-TV. (Come to think of it... "Herculean" doesn't begin to cover it...)

Over the next several days, we thought we'd take the time to introduce you to the print stringers, video crews, and senior staffers who will be bringing our readers and listeners all the news that's fit to pixilate, modulate and videotape from Oshkosh this year.

And now, without further adieu...

Jeffrey Pierson

Jeffrey first flew straight and level at age 11 in a Aero Commander 560F... or, maybe the autopilot did it. His first EAA Convention was at Rockford about 1967; the school assignment about it that autumn was graded D+ -- "something about failures in style and references," he says.

Since then, Jeffrey has sweated through about 30 EAA conventions, concocted a Prescott Pusher, exploited a STOL SOCATA Rallye MS894A, thrilled 330 Young Eagles, and puzzled and cursed in the airworthiness/certification field for Cirrus Design and Apex Aircraft (Robin and CAP, France). Let's see if his writing has improved over the last 40 years...

Matt Russell

Matt Russell is a corporate business strategist originally from Huntsville, AL -- "Rocket City USA." Born into "...an active family with too many hobbies," he has been involved with general aviation for more than 20 years. The notorious aviation bug hit hardest when, at the age of 14, Matt's father taught him to fly the family Citabria... including aerobatics.

Matt holds an MBA from the Millsaps College Else School of Management. He is a founding partner of the popular motorsports-oriented web blog www.axisofoversteer.com. Non-aviation activities include auto racing, watersports, instructing at Street Survival driving schools, and a raft of "regular" hobbies.

Stay tuned as we introduce more of our stringers and staffers in days to come!

FMI: www.aero-news.net