The names you know at Expo--the writers speaks

The names you know at Expo - the writers speak

Rod Machado

Tom Haines

Tom Horne

Steve Ells

Barry Schiff. Tom Haines. Tom Horne. Steve Ells. Rod Machado.

You've seen their bylines and enjoyed their writing for years. Now get their very special aviation insights in person at AOPA Expo, from November 9 through 11 in the Palm Springs Convention Center.

Capt. Barry Schiff will be the featured speaker at the Expo luncheon on Thursday. The former TWA captain has some 27,000 hours logged in more than 300 aircraft. He's an award-winning journalist, whose work appears each month in AOPA Pilot magazine.

Barry has developed flying and training concepts, procedures, and techniques that have received international acclaim. And he was the first pilot ever allowed to fly from Israel to Jordan. In 1995, with the direct approval of the late Jordanian King Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister Itzhak Robin, he led a formation of 35 airplanes carrying 135 Americans, Israelis, and Jordanians from Jerusalem to Amman, and helped advance the Middle East peace process.

There's a reason why Rod Machado's catch phrase is "laugh and learn." If you follow the sound of guffaws at any aviation event, you'll find Rod at the front of the crowd. But you'll leave knowing a lot more about flying safely. Rod has more than 8,000 hours flight time earned the hard way - one CFI hour at a time. In more than 20 years of instructing, Rod's learned a thing or two about flying and human nature. The popular columnist in AOPA Pilot and AOPA Flight Training magazines will present two seminars at Expo.

Of course, there's plenty to learn from AOPA's own staff editors as well. AOPA Pilot Editor in Chief Tom Haines has flown just about every GA aircraft made, owned two different models, and supervised the refurbishment of multiple AOPA sweepstakes aircraft. So when he gives you tips on how to "Buy your first airplane" at an Expo seminar, you know he knows.

Somebody who knows the inner workings of airplanes and engines is AOPA's resident gear head, AOPA Pilot Associate Editor Steve Ells. A licensed A&P mechanic, his "Avoiding the prepurchase 'gotchas'" seminar is a must for any potential airplane owner.

Whenever any pilot here at AOPA has a weather question, we go to Tom Horne. The AOPA Pilot editor writes most of the weather articles for the magazine, and he's written a highly regarded aviation weather book, Flying America's Weather. So you won't want to miss his "Using Internet Weather" seminar.

But that's not all. With more than 70 hours of educational Expo seminars on the list, you're sure to find something to interest you.

October 26, 2006