"Is This For Real?"

Despite his wife's original suspicions to the contrary, Bob Meadows had a feeling a message left on his answering machine was legitimate... and his feeling proved to be true. Meadows is the winner of Sporty’s 2006 Sweepstakes Aircraft, a new Garmin G1000-equipped Cessna Skyhawk SP.

The Douglasville, GA-based pilot lives at Pinewood Airport, a private field with a 2000-foot grass strip. He has commercial, IFR and A&P licenses, and had 5700 hours of flight time.

"I’ve looked at that airplane in every catalog I get and thought how much I would like to have it," said Meadows . It never dawned on me that I could win. It was such a shock.”

When Sporty’s President Michael Wolf tried to reach Meadows by telephone to notify him of the news he was the owner of a brand-new airplane, Wolf left a voice mail message. When Meadows returned home, he played the message once and then sat down. While he was playing the message a second time, Wolf called him again.

"Is this for real?" Meadows asked. Wolf assured him it was.

Meadows then called his wife Ellen at work. She was a little wary... advising her husband, "That’s some kind of scam. Don’t give them your social security number!"

Their son Joe, age 19, is a private pilot working on his instrument rating. He is enrolled in Georgia Aviation Academy studying to be an air traffic controller. Meadows didn’t tell his son he had won, but rather suggested casually that Joe check sportys.com to see who won the Sweepstakes airplane.

His son did as asked and said with a big grin, "Dad, I can’t believe it. Is it really true?"

Meadows’ winning customer order number was selected using lottery-style numbered balls. On hand to draw the numbers were Cessna Chairman, President and CEO Jack Pelton, Garmin Director of Marketing Gary Kelley and Frank Coster, the 2005 Sweepstakes winner.

Plans for the 2007 Sporty's Sweepstakes are underway. A Garmin G1000-equipped Skyhawk SP will be awarded on September 12, 2007 to a lucky Sporty’s customer. The brand-new Skyhawk will also mark the 25th aircraft of Sporty’s annual Sweepstakes.

FMI: www.sportys.com