• 2003
• 2004
• 2005
• 2006
• 2007
• 2008
• 2009
• 2010
• 2011
• 2012
• 2013
• 2014
• 2015
• 2016
• 2017
• 2018
• 2019
• 2020
• 2021
• 2022
• 2023
• 2024

• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16
• 17
• 18
• 19
• 20
• 21
• 22
• 23
• 24
• 25
• 26
• 27
• 28
• 29
• 30

All News

April 26, 2004

Looking Back At Lakeland: Is This Fly-In In Its Death Throes?

This Year's Fly-In Improved In Some Ways, But Attendance Was Mostly Miserable

The EAA Warbirds Association makes arrangements every year to have all their members who are coming to SNF to stay at the same hotel in Winter Haven, home of Cypress Gardens. At one time Cypress Gardens was -the- attraction to see in Florida. On the day SNF 2004 closed, a developer who had bought the property with local and state government assistance was presenting his plans to try to revive the park with a $35 million investment over the next 18 months. Winter Haven is but a few miles and a buck-fifty in ever-present Florida tolls from Lakeland.

Read More

EAA Airventure Museum To Open New 'Kidventure Gallery' On May 15

A totally interactive flight experience for young people, unlike any other in Wisconsin or the Midwest, will open to the public on May 15, as the EAA AirVenture Museum unveils its new "KidVenture Gallery" at its facility in Oshkosh.

Read More

The Sights of Lakeland 2004: Express Update

Can a kit aircraft builder come back from the brink of oblivion?

In July 2003, Express Aircraft LLC had to answer the question after the disastrous loss of co-founder, owner and President Larry Olson in an accident. It was the worst kind of accident for a kit airplane company: the key man was killed, an important prototype was destroyed, and it all happened in the days before the sport's most visible trade show, EAA Airventure at Oshkosh. Yet, at this Spring's S-n-F, Express had a large presence with two aircraft in the booth, new owners, key personnel on hand, and looking for all intents like a seamless continuation of he old company - because it was.

Read More

The Sights of Lakeland 2004: Use Every Minute…

On my last run around the S-n-F grounds, using my last minutes of the show to say goodbye for now to friends and glean any last-minute information, I got an object lesson in using every minute. At the very end of the airshow, on the last full day, the New Kolb Aircraft Company sold their patriotic-themed Firestar demo plane. They were happy, they got a good price, and a new customer. The customer also got a good buy, in my humble opinion.

Read More

Volando el Sur -- Flying the South

Omar Contreras is one of those guys you just like the instant you see him. Full of fun, energy and humour, Omar could put a grin on the face of the crotchety old guy - you know, the one that had that all the kids in the neighbourhood terrified. Omar was last seen flying a trike on the Blue Expedition which took him around the Caribbean and to a number of US states in 2002. (See www.bluexpedition.com for information in Spanish or English). So when he showed up at Sun-n-Fun this year, he had to be up to something interesting - and you had to ask him what it was pretty quickly before he bounced off in a new direction.

Read More

Dynon Avionics Announces New Engine Monitor Product

Uses Same Form Factor As EFIS And Can Back It Up If EFIS Fails

Avionics manufacturer Dynon Avionics has announced a new product at S-n-F 2004, an engine monitor that uses the same form factor and display as their EFIS product.

Read More

The Sights of Lakeland 2004: Juxtaposition - Homebuilt Style

Homebuilt Camping is always great fun to visit; you are guaranteed to meet interesting people and see, and hear about, their interesting planes. While like types (in both senses of the word) often cluster together, it's also possible to find some interesting juxtapositions. I thought that this was one of those.

Read More

The Sights of Lakeland 2004: Homebuilder Humor

The homebuilding community has a sense of humor, clearly including these two kids - and the builder of this colorful RANS homebuilt, whose work these kids are admiring. A close-up shows what the kids are admiring. They must be Warner Brothers fans. Actually lots of somebodies are WB toon fans. But… what's that naughty Tweety Bird up to? I tought I taw…

Read More