Drops 'EAA' From Event Name, New Web Address

Aero-News learned this week the 10-year-old Virginia Regional EAA Fly-in will now be known as the Virginia Regional Festival of Flight, to be held on June 14-15. Event organizers say the new name complies with a directive from the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh, WI "to better let the public know of the continuing independent status of the event."

In addition to the name change -- and a new website, at the FMI link below -- the 2008 Virginia Regional Festival of Flight is also notable in that it will be held at the Suffolk Executive Airport for the first time.

Organizers say the event outgrew its former location at Dinwiddie County Airport, and the move to the Suffolk Airport (SFQ, shown above right) will offer exciting possibilities for increasing the full range of Fly-In activities, including forums, workshops, aviation vendor displays, aircraft demonstration flights, activities for young people and acres of parking for attendees either flying or driving in. No 2007 event was held, as organizers coordinated the move to the larger facility.

As ANN reported, EAA officials recently directed regional fly-ins to drop references to the EAA in their names.

"These are not and have never been EAA-owned or -operated events, but rather grew from the efforts of local EAA members, chapters and aviation enthusiasts seeking to create a community that shares EAA's mission of promoting the spirit of aviation," the organization wrote in December, adding many attendees interpreted the group's support of the events, to mean the regional fly-ins were EAA-operated events -- similar in spirit to the association's annual AirVenture.

The change came after EAA was hit with the better part of a $10.5 million judgment last year, stemming from a July 1999 fatal takeoff crash at the Northwest Regional Fly-In in Arlington, WA -- despite significant evidence, including the NTSB's Probable Cause Report, the accident was the result of a departure stall, and was in no way due to any actions on the part of EAA, or fly-in organizers.

The EAA stressed it would continue to show support for such events, through promotional consideration and continuing to offer EAA forums and other programs at regional fly-ins.

FMI: www.virginiaflyin.org