Participants Include Harrison Ford, Randy Babbitt, Sean Tucker,
Gene Cernan, Bob Hoover, Fig Newton
An all-star lineup of distinguished pilots representing the
highest levels of professional achievement will be featured
speakers at the second-day Opening Session of the 64th Annual
Meeting & Convention of the National Business Aviation
Association (NBAA2011), when NBAA bestows its highest honor on
aviation legend Clay Lacy (pictured).
A “pilots roundtable” will follow the presentation
of NBAA’s highest award, the Meritorious Service to Aviation
Award, to Lacy for his extraordinary contributions to aviation,
which include experience as an Air Force pilot and airline pilot,
notoriety as a national air racer, and international success as a
director and videographer specializing in air-to-air sequences for
Hollywood blockbuster movies and television commercials.
The roundtable, which will be moderated by famed air show
performer Sean D. Tucker, will include the following panelists, all
of whom will provide their perspectives on the remarkable breadth
of Lacy’s career:
- Harrison Ford, actor, aviator and 2010 recipient of the Wright
Brothers Memorial Trophy, the highest individual award in
aviation.
- Federal Aviation Administrator Randolph "Randy" Babbitt, former
Eastern Airlines pilot and former Air Line Pilots Association
president.
- Gene Cernan, retired U.S. Navy captain, Apollo XVII commander
and the last person to walk on the moon.
- R.A. "Bob" Hoover, former air show pilot and U.S. Air Force
test pilot, who is considered by many to be the greatest pilot of
all time.
- Lloyd "Fig" Newton, retired U.S. Air Force general and former
lead pilot for the U.S. Air Force Demonstration Team,
"Thunderbirds."
“We look forward to welcoming this extraordinary group of
aviators to NBAA2011, as every one of them represents the highest
level of achievement in his chosen field,” said NBAA
President and CEO Ed Bolen.
The Meritorious Service Award presentation and the pilots
roundtable discussion to follow will cap the Opening Session on Day
2 of NBAA2011. Preceding the roundtable will be a general aviation
(GA) association presidents panel focusing on the challenges and
opportunities confronting the industry, and the presentation of the
annual Combs Gates Award by the National Aviation Hall of Fame.
The presidents panel, moderated by Bolen, will feature Aircraft
Owners and Pilots Association President and CEO Craig Fuller,
Experimental Aircraft Association President and CEO Rod Hightower,
General Aviation Manufacturers Association President and CEO Pete
Bunce, Helicopter Association International President Matt Zuccaro
and National Air Transportation Association President and CEO Jim
Coyne.
Following the presidents panel, National Aviation Hall of Fame
President Phil Roberts will present the annual Combs Gates Award to
filmmaker Heather Taylor, of Columbia, MD, in recognition of a
documentary she directed and produced, entitled “Breaking
Through the Clouds: The First Women’s National Air
Derby.” Accompanying Roberts for the presentation will be
Hall of Fame enshrinees Cernan, Lacy, Hoover and Tucker. The Combs
Gates award is named for business aviation pioneers Harry Combs and
John Gates.
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