Say Hello To Rob Finfrock!

With the final days before the official start to EAA AirVenture 2006 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. As we've already told you, Aero-News is bringing its largest staff EVER to AirVenture this year... and 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 that's fit to pixilate from Oshkosh this year.

And now, without further adieu...

Rob Finfrock

Something of a fluke introduced Associate Editor Rob Finfrock to the world of flight. Four years ago, Rob was working for an Albuquerque courier service when the company sent him up to Farmington to cover a route. To get there, he caught a lift on one of the company’s small Cessna twins... and Rob, who before that day had never flown on a plane smaller than a 737, was "hooked the moment the wheels lifted off Runway 3."

Turns out the pilot he flew with on that fateful day had a friend who’d just earned his CFI rating... and soon, Rob was looping across the skies in a 172 as a student pilot. He loved it... and he also loved writing about it, and all matters of flying.

That led Rob to respond last year to ANN’s call for stringers for Oshkosh – which gave him the chance to exercise his journalistic chops, as well as an opportunity to learn more about several aircraft... including the B-17s his grandfather flew on in the final days of WWII. Last November, Rob decided to forego a 'promising career' in the building materials industry and cast his lot with the Aero-News staff full-time.

Now based in Dallas, TX -- though he still calls New Mexico home —- Rob writes and edits the majority of material found on ANN throughout the week. During his return to AirVenture ("where it all began") this year, he’s hoping to break away from the news desk long enough to gain some stick time in several emerging players in the light-sport category.

Stay tuned as we introduce more of our stringers and staffers in days to come!

Special E-I-C Note: We kid you not when we say that our lives would be a lot more difficult without the assistance of Rob Finfrock... while Pete and I get most of the glory (???!!!) for the ANN gig, we can not emphasize enough how hard this kid has worked for ANN and how seriously he takes his responsibility to all of you. We're REALLY proud to have him on our team. -- Jim Campbell, ANN Editor-In-Chief

FMI: www.aero-news.net