Dates set for Aviator Showcase
Two great events for aircraft owners and buyers
The Aviator Showcases will be held in Manassas, Virginia, on August 27 and Fort Worth, Texas on October 1. The events will be an opportunity for pilots to explore exhibits and new aircraft displays, and a chance for aviation companies to showcase their latest gear.
“As has been the case with our past events, the AOPA Aviator Showcases will provide an excellent value and opportunity for aviation companies to interact with uniquely qualified audiences of the most engaged pilots,” said Chris Eads, AOPA senior director of events and outreach. “These events offer the chance to be in front of aircraft owners and pilots looking to buy.”
AOPA’s new Aviator Showcase events are designed to connect pilots and aircraft owners with the aviation industry’s vast array of products, services, aircraft, and equipment. These events will be one-day gatherings in an exhibit hall, with an aircraft sales display and technology-related seminars. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with industry leaders in avionics and cockpit technology, flight planning, weather resources, aircraft manufacturing, and more.
Aircraft owners and prospective owners will be able to find anything they need for an airplane from gadgets and gear, to oil and anticorrosives, lights, batteries, propellers, engines, flight bags, and other aircraft accessories and components. Local services such as paint shops, avionics shops, and aircraft detailing will be available to help pilots put a finishing touch on their aircraft. Looking to purchase an airplane? Owners can meet with aircraft financiers, insurers, and aircraft manufacturers and dealers on-site as well.
To be sure we are in alignment with current CDC guidelines at the time of the event, AOPA will open registration for each event approximately 12 weeks prior. Attendance will be limited according to CDC restrictions, and advance registration is required. Registration information will be available through AOPA’s website. Tickets to the event are $20. Food service will be available on site.
AOPA News
AOPA top flying songs now on Pandora, Spotify
The AOPA Top 100 Flying Songs playlist on Pandora and Spotify includes dozens of tunes, thanks to pilots, aviation enthusiasts, singers, and songwriters—with an assist from session musicians and others. Enjoy more than five hours and 30 minutes of music in the air, in your car, or at home. How far can you fly with 100 aviation songs? Pilots departing from Nashville, Tennessee, in a typical four-place training aircraft would have enough music to accompany them every minute of the 474-nautical-mile journey to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with more than an hour’s worth of tunes in reserve.
Best of all, you can access the aviation playlist through Pandora, a SiriusXM partner, so it’s easier than ever to share the feeling of flight through music wherever it takes you. The AOPA Top 100 Flying Songs is now available as a Pandora playlist, and you can register for this service at no charge to enjoy these and thousands of other great songs.
Spotify aficionados can also access the AOPA Top 100 Flying Songs, minus a few “deep cuts” that are not currently available on that platform.
If iTunes is your music platform of choice, you’ll need to search for the individual songs listed online and assemble your own playlist. —David Tulis
On the screen
PBY rescue in new film
‘Last voices of the Greatest Generation’
Now available on Blu-ray and video on demand, Journey to Royal: A World War II Rescue Mission tells the true story of Lt. Royal Stratton, a 22-year-old pilot with the U.S. Army Air Corps’ 4th Emergency Rescue Squadron. Stratton led a mission in May 1945 to save the lives of nine downed airmen adrift in the waters of a war-torn South Pacific. Filmed and directed by Chris Johnson, a relative of Stratton’s, the documentary features interviews with surviving members of the mission. Stratton was killed in the rescue attempt. Major portions of the movie were filmed at the Palm Springs Air Museum and March Field Air Museum, featuring the PBY Catalina Harriet’s Chariot and the B–29 Three Feathers.
“We painstakingly refitted the interior of the PBY to reflect its wartime outfitting and built exacting models of both planes for in-flight sequences to show audiences what vintage warbirds looked like in service,” said producer Mariana Tosca.
The interviews with the surviving servicemen are the “last voices of the Greatest Generation,” Tosca added.
Journey to Royal is available on streaming and cable platforms worldwide, including: Amazon, iTunes, GooglePlay, Vudu, Vimeo, and across hundreds of cable providers including Comcast, Spectrum, Charter, Cox, Dish, and DirecTV. DVD and Blu-ray retailers will include Amazon and all other major online retailers. —Julie Summers Walker
Aviation History
100 years ago
April 1, 1921
Women fly
French pilot Adrienne Bolland takes off from Mendoza, Argentina, in a Caudron biplane to become the first woman to fly over the Andes. She completes the historic Andean crossing to the Chilean capital, Santiago, in four hours. Women have been making their mark in aviation as far back as 1798 when Jeanne Labrosse soloed a hot air balloon. Great accomplishments have included (and are not limited to) Baroness Raymonde de la Roche, the first woman to earn a pilot’s license (1910); Harriet Quimby, the first American woman to earn a pilot’s license (1911) and fly over the English Channel (1912); Marjorie Stinson, the first female airmail pilot (1915); Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to earn a pilot’s license (1921); Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic (1932); Jackie Cochran, the first woman to break the sound barrier (1953); Louise Thaden, the first woman to win the Bendix Trophy (1936); the first women to pilot U.S. military aircraft (the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II); Jerrie Mock, the first woman to fly solo around the globe in a single-engine airplane (1964); Emily Howell Warner, the first female U.S. airline captain (1976); Lynn Rippelmeyer, the first woman to pilot a Boeing 747 (1980). The WASP were finally recognized by the U.S. government for their service with the Congressional Gold Medal in 2012. You’ve come a long way, baby. —Julie Summers Walker
