Say Hello To The Newest Owner Of A C-172, Thanks To Sporty's

James Ford’s 32nd birthday is one he will never forget. That’s the day he became the winner of Sporty’s 2003 Skyhawk Sweepstakes. A private pilot with approximately 100 hours, Ford lives in Poteau (AR), and is assistant vice president of the First National Bank of Fort Smith.

Ford had told his coworkers that he didn’t want anybody to make a big deal about his birthday. He says, "I came to work and my colleagues had given me some cards and a bottle of scotch. Later that day, when Mr. Shevers called, I thought he was an insurance salesman so I wasn’t really listening very well. When I realized what he was saying, the first thing that popped into my mind is which of my friends is playing a joke on me."

Ford sits in an open area at work with eight other people, and when they saw his reaction on the phone, they thought something was wrong. He says, "I was standing up and sitting down and standing up again. I was shaking and very excited. I got loud."

It was another birthday -- Ford’s 16th -- that started him off in flying. His father gave him 10 hours of flying time for his birthday. Over the years, he would start and stop but didn’t get his certificate until recently. He says, "My flight instructor thought I’d do better if I learned in my own airplane so I bought a Piper Cherokee 140." That airplane is now for sale, and he hopes it stays at his home airport and used for flight training.

Ford used Sporty’s Complete Private Pilot Course on DVD to prepare for his written test. He says, "I put it off and put it off. I didn’t want to take the test, but I scored in the 90s, and I credit the Sporty’s course for that score. I reviewed the DVDs prior to my flight test, too, and plan to get Sporty’s Instrument Rating DVDs." On his birthday, Ford waited until he got home to tell his son, Patrick, age 9, about the Sweepstakes airplane. Ford brought up Sporty’s Web site on his home computer where he was identified as the winner and asked Patrick to read what it said. Ford says, "I pointed to the airplane, and said ‘That’s our plane’ and his eyes lit up."

Patrick enjoys flying, and Ford has used the airplane to take him on weekend visitations to his mother in Oklahoma; a four-hour drive is a 45-minute flight. Ford says, "He can spend more time with his mother that way." The 2003 Sweepstakes is the eighteenth year for Sporty’s Aircraft Sweepstakes and the twenty-first aircraft awarded. In the past 17 years, Sporty’s has awarded 20 airplanes, with the value exceeding $2.8 million. The 2003 Sweepstakes aircraft is the ninth brand-new Skyhawk that Sporty’s has awarded. The 2004 Sweepstakes will also award a brand-new Cessna Skyhawk SP with a complete Bendix/King avionics suite, including the KMD 550 Multifunction display and data link weather.

FMI: www.sportys.com/newhome2.cfm