J. MAC MCCLELLAN
BETTER PILOT / LEFT SEAT
It’s All About the Flying
What will I contribute?
ALTHOUGH I SPENT THE last 34 years on the editorial staffs of Flying
and Business & Commercial Aviation (B/CA) magazines, I have also
spent those decades admiring EAA. I first came to Oshkosh in 1976
and haven’t missed a year since.
While it is impossible for anything or anybody to be all things
to all people, EAA comes close to that elusive goal for pilots and
aviation enthusiasts. If you don’t believe me, you have never been
to AirVenture Oshkosh. For one show to have displayed the world’s
largest airliner—the Airbus 380—and one of the smallest homebuilts—the Sky Baby—is astonishing and proves the unmatched
breadth of aviation interest of EAA members.
What EAA does best is celebrate and
preserve all types of aircraft and the people who design, build, and restore them.
And that is vital because aviation, more
than any other activity, is evolutionary.
Airplane design evolved and improved as
expensive and often tragic events uncovered flaws in previous aircraft. The best of
the proven characteristics of past aircraft
designs are the basis for improvement
going forward.
