EAA Sport Aviation

MARY JONES

Vol. 59 No.6 | June 2010

EAA Moments...
Making connections

TODAY, MAY 6, WAS AN INTERESTING EAA
day. I had the pleasure of having lunch with
Michael and Michelle Combs, the couple
flying a REMOS GX to all 5 0 states on the
“Flight of the Human Spirit” adventure, and
I’m drooling with envy. They’re living my
dream, and probably yours, too. Who doesn’t
want to fly around the country, visiting
places at their heart’s whim? I’ll have to live
vicariously through the Combs for the next
couple of months as they travel to all 50
states, but it’s a dream that will remain on
my “bucket list.”
Michael’s a sport pilot, so in order to make
all 50 states they’ll have to trailer the aircraft
to Alaska (Canada doesn’t recognize a sport
pilot certificate). From there they’ll transport
the aircraft by boat (or maybe a big airplane?)
to Hawaii, and then it’s back to the mainland,
where they plan to visit with fellow EAA
members at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2010.

Michael, 53, faced a life-threatening heart condition some years ago. When he recovered, he decided to live life to its fullest. He’d always wanted to learn to fly, so he decided to stop putting that dream off and took advantage of the sport pilot opportunity. He’s making this flight to encourage others to follow their dreams. Along the way, he’s promoting recreational flying to the masses. You can learn more about Michael and Michelle’s adventure at www.FlightHS.com. And, you can follow them on Facebook, too. By the way, they’d love to visit with your EAA chapter if they’re in your area. Check their flight plan for a stop near you.

Here’s my next EAA connections story. At the Sun ’n Fun Fly-In at Lakeland, Florida, a friend told me about two pilots who’d flown a Mooney from Point Barrow, Alaska, to Key West, Florida—the two most distant points in the continental United States. They stopped at Sun ’n Fun briefly on their way back to Alaska. Sounded like a story we might be interested in for the magazine.

Jody, EAA 1010327, one of the pilots, called me, and we exchanged e-mail addresses. A week later, she e-mailed me information about their flight and mentioned that she was a Wisconsinite by birth, having grown up outside of Lancaster, Wisconsin. When I e-mailed back that I grew up about 25 miles south of Lancaster…well…it turns out her mother has the same maiden name as me (though we’re only distantly related) and her mom’s family farm adjoined my family’s farm. I remember visiting her mom’s family as a child. Small world! EAA is about connections… with friends, kindred spirits…and sometimes distant cousins.

But without the technology of cell phones and e-mail, Jody, who’s building time to become a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pilot, and I would never have connected so quickly. Might we have exchanged letters? Perhaps, but in one month we’ve gone from complete strangers to newly connected distant cousins.

That’s the positive effect of “new technology.” As I’ve said many times, a printed magazine is only one way of sharing information. I hope you’ve been noticing our references to www.SportAviation.org in various articles each month and visiting that website. You’ll find more interesting information related to the stories in the magazine, including extended photo galleries, related videos, links to websites to provide you more detailed information, and audio interviews to let you hear the voice of the person whom the story featured.

Most articles have more information to share than we can fit into the content of one magazine article. For example, there are PDFs of all of our Build It projects that you can print out and take to the hardware store with you.

At the risk of repeating myself, it’s not just
about print any more. We encourage you to
explore all that EAA offers online. Visit www.
EAA.org and www.SportAviation.org often!

EDITORIAL

Publisher: Tom Poberezny Vice President-Membership: Adam Smith Director of Publications & Editor: Mary Jones Associate Editor: Kelly Nelson Assistant Editor: Rose Dorcey Senior Art Director: Phil Norton Art Director: Michael Annino, Olivia Trabbold News Editor: Ric Reynolds Copy Editor: Colleen Walsh Proofreader: Rachel Krubsack Editorial Assistant: Dana Heimos Multimedia Journalist: Brady Lane Webmaster: Sue Delrow Photography Staff: Jim Koepnick, Bonnie Kratz Production/Special Projects: Kathleen Witman Contributing Writers: Mike Busch, Dave Matheny, Lauran Paine, Jr., Robert Rossier, Max Trescott, Ron Wanttaja

ADVERTISING Manager/Domestic: Sue Anderson Phone: 920-426-6127 Fax: 920-426-4828 Coordinator/Classified: Lesley Poberezny

REPRESENTATIVE: Manager/European-Asian: Willi Tacke Phone: +498841/487515 FAX: +498841/496012 E-mail: willi@flying-pages.com

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 3086, Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086 Phone: 920-426-4800 Fax: 920-426-4828 E-mail: Editorial@EAA.org Website: www.EAA.org

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