What's Oshkosh?

By Rob Finfrock

Rick Roberson was thrilled to earn a trip to Oshkosh for being the BE A PILOT program's 250,000th pilot prospect… once he learned how important that was.

"I called him and said 'you've been selected as the quarter-millionth, and we're going to take you all-expenses paid to Oshkosh,'" said BE A PILOT president Drew Steketee. "And he said back to me, 'What's Oshkosh?'"

He found out soon enough. Roberson, a 50 year-old dairy farmer from Locke, New York who took his first lesson three months ago, plans to complete his training in six months and purchase an airplane within a year. "I'm very excited about this flying business," said Roberson. "I really love flying."

BE A PILOT, a national educational program to help the public become more familiar with the world of general aviation, also announced the first-ever private donor in the program's eight-year history. He is Greg Sutliff, owner of a group of nine central Pennsylvania auto dealerships. Sutliff, who learned to fly in 1950 in a Piper Cub and now flies a TBM-700 turboprop, said that he had been trying to find a way to help general aviation grow for a long time.

"Aviation has had a big impact on my life; it's a license to adventure," said Sutliff. "When BE A PILOT came to my attention, I thought this was just the ticket. I'm delighted to help."

With famed air show pilot and spokesperson Patty Wagstaff in attendance, BE A PILOT also announced the creation of the "Friend of BE A PILOT" program that allows donors to contribute to the program online using a credit card.

"I'm thrilled to be a part of BE A PILOT, and I'm happy to help in any way I can," said Wagstaff. "Anybody in aviation, we're sort of religious about how we want to get other people in aviation, because we know how good it's been to us."

Jeppesen was also honored at the event, receiving a Legacy Sponsor Award for being a high-level, long-term sponsor of the program.

"Since the start of the program, Jeppesen has been a major source of funding and support," said Drew Steketee.

Jeppesen senior vice-president and general manager Kevin Collins accepted the award, saying "It's very easy for us to be a sponsor [of BE A PILOT] because there are 156,000 people that work with Jeppesen and the Boeing company that are very, very interested in aviation."

"With Elrey Jeppesen already being one of the early pioneers and historians of aviation, this was an easy decision."

FMI: www.beapilot.com