Say Hello To Stringers Franklin Porath And Dave Slosson!
With the final days before the official start to EAA AirVenture
2008 counting down all too rapidly... and, not quickly enough...
ANN's senior staff is all-too-aware of the Herculean task ahead of
us in reporting EVERYTHING that's news at The World's Greatest
Aviation Celebration.
Fortunately, this year we'll have some help... and some really
GREAT help at that. Over the next several days, we thought we'd
take the time to introduce you to the staff members -- both
full-time, as well as our "stringers" -- who will be bringing our
readers and listeners all the news from Oshkosh that's fit to
pixilate, orate and videotape this year.
And now, without further ado...
Franklin Porath
Frank grew up flying. His first flight was on his father's lap
in a Piper Pacer and he started flight training when avgas was 25
cents a gallon. He also raced cars, directed opera, and rebuilt
cities.
He was the Mission Coordinator for the Ohio Wing of the CAP,
taught flying, and was the recipient of Red Cross and CAP awards
for emergency life-saving search and rescue missions. He was the
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (the astronaut's
professional society) 2001 featured convention speaker. This year
he will present his 14th forum at the EAA Oshkosh convention,
where he also appeared as a speaker in 2001.
Frank was part of the first US Department of Commerce trade
mission to the former Soviet Republic of Mongolia, where he
hand-carried information requested on the EAA and home-built
aircraft to Ulan Bator. He received the GE Outstanding Achievement
Award, the INC Magazine 500 Award, and was on the Underwriters
Laboratories Technical Standards Advisory Council.
Frank rebuilt and flew a Stinson Voyager (IFR!) assisted by his
uncle, a former Flying Tiger, and imported the 4th Partenavia P68C
to the US, perhaps his favorite aircraft. For ten years at
the Ohio Aerospace Institute he championed their General Aviation
programs.
He has managed NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts Mars and
Venus exploration projects, artificial heart, breast-cancer
detection, brain-surgery projects, and some other really
interesting stuff. He founded satellite paging and consumer
electronics companies and recently returned from Europe, where he
consulted for the Alp-Gotthard mega-tunnel railway project. Back in
the US, he consulted for Rutgers University.
Frank recently received a 50 year pin from AOPA... and will
probably be found camping at Oshkosh in the North 40 with his
"Sweet Little Wife" Mary, beneath the wing of their Cessna
Cardinal.
Dave Slosson
Born and raised in Indianapolis, Dave caught the aviation bug
from his Dad, a WWII Navy pilot who instructed in PBYs. Needless to
say, Dave came from a flying family, one that had several different
planes as he grew up.
He earned his private pilot's license, his Aeronautical and
Astronautical Engineering degree from Purdue, worked on helicopters
as an A&P aide for a while, then surveyed and drafted airport
improvements for an engineering firm. He was hired by -- and just
retired from -- the FAA after almost 31 years of Air Traffic
Control, having worked a center, a flight service station, a VFR
tower with nonradar approach control, and a tower/TRACON
combination.
Dave's worked as a controller, automation specialist,
supervisor, and acting manager over the years. He's been the
liaison to the Airport Authority, Air National Guard, and the
engineers building a new control tower, occupied in January 2007.
He worked the Oshkosh air show as a controller from 1994-1998, and
visited several other years besides.
Married to his wife, Vicki, for 32 years, Dave's lived in Fort
Wayne, IN since January 1984. The couple are the proud parents of
two boys -- Joshua is 26 and a computer engineer for a steel
manufacturing company, while Michael is 23 and studying physics at
Purdue.
Dave's owned half a 1966 Cessna 150 since December 17, 2003, and
says he's enjoyed "getting my wings unfurled again." Over the
years, he's been very lucky to get rides in a diverse selection of
aircraft... including a P-51, F-4, Stearman, T-6, Hawker 400,
Lockheed Lodestar, Bell JetRanger, RV-6A and a hot air balloon.
Each one offers a different perspective on the world of flight. He
says he's thoroughly looking forward to the challenge of passing
his aviation enthusiasm onto ANN's online audience during the
greatest general aviation air show, EAA AirVenture.