The Folks Who Made This Year So.... "Interesting" (Part Three,
of Four)
Each year ANN selects the person(s) who, for good or bad
reasons, made the most tangible impact on the aviation world in the
past year.
Once again, we tackle this task with a mixture of enthusiasm and
trepidation.
Presented in alphabetical order, we offer up a dozen of the
most prominent newsmakers we covered over the past year and
why we think so…
Vern Raburn
Another repeat presence
in this list, Aero-Entrepreneur Vern Raburn is one of those guys
that walks into an area and shakes it up in ways that alter the
landscape immeasurably and permanently. He has defined a whole new
class of aircraft, changed the rules for future aircraft
development, shaken the aero-world to its very core and he's FAR
from done. He's also had his behind kicked a few times and nearly
had his hat handed to him in several others, but Vern
"Never-Say-Die" Raburn is destined to shake up personal air
transport more than anyone since Bill Lear.
Mark our words…
As we have previously noted, Very Raburn continues to fight,
tooth and nail it seems, to see his dream of a cost-effective
biz-jet come to reality. While the realities of research and
development have taken a big bite out of his backside, this guy
soldiers on and has even weathered through what would otherwise
have been THE colossal killer-blow to this efforts… the loss
of an engine contractor. However; he so defined the future market
for entry-level biz-av that when Williams was found wanting, a
number of prominent suitors came to call… even high and
mighty Pratt & Whitney, now the Eclipse 500's engine
provider.
We DO realize that he still has a Herculean task ahead of
him… but we also think that he's going to succeed…
while a whole new paradigm for personal aviation has already come
into being… long before he even ships his first bird.
Amazing. Very, VERY cool.
Burt Rutan
Aviation's Mojave
Desert genius continues to establish himself as an amazing
figurehead. As a former Long-EZ owner, ANN's Jim Campbell can well
testify to the abilities of this talented designer (and how cool
his birds fly). But more than his skills as an Engineer, it's his
sense of vision for the future of aviation and aerospace that
impresses us all to blazes. The guy simply has a knack for making
the most amazing things work… and work well.
Mind you; every few years, we hear that Burt has bitten off more
than he can chew and someday that may come true… but it's
people who take such big bites out of life and are willing to
attempt what all others say is not possible that makes the aviation
world so fascinating and assures that our future is going to be
more interesting than we can imagine.
Now, with his work on the X-Prize competition starting to show
some startling progress, Burt's gifts are being watched
closely, while his achievements are measured across a wide
universe of exploration that started in sport aviation and is now
firmly ensconced in aerospace. He's got huge challenges ahead of
him, he's probably got some excruciating difficulties, he may even
fail… but just the attempts, alone, are proof that the true
spirit of exploration is alive and well in Mojave, CA, and
epitomized by a quiet genius with sideburns. As always (where Burt
is concerned) we are impressed. Go, Burt, GO!
Sun 'n Fun/William Eickoff
The so-called leader of
the fading Sun 'n Fun Fly-In seems to lack in leadership
skills and personal integrity, what AOPA's Boyer has in abundance.
While a few folks may think we're riding this horse too hard, we
must disagree. In the past year; the final proof of what ANN
has been saying for years (even though the SnF organization has
tried mightily to silence us) was finally proven… long after
we noted our concerns/conclusions. While being proven right (again
and again and again) would normally be quite satisfying, we find no
pleasure in it -- because the problems (by and large) are still not
getting fixed. The Airshow/Fly-In community is struggling with the
burden of lost credibility with the revelation of Sun 'n Fun's lies
and deceit after spewing forth false attendance figures -- for
years. WE kid you not… there are some major problems
out there as a result of SnF's lies, and the aviation world is NOT
enjoying a positive response. The recent ICAS Convention was awash
in concern over this matter, and what it means to them,
collectively.
Aviation is under a microscope… it has been for a long
while… so BS-ing the world about something so important and
so demonstrably false has created a major crisis of
confidence in many things aeronautical. Mind you, this wasn't just
fudging a few percentage points… it was a bald-faced lie by
several orders of magnitude. Fly-Ins and airshows will have (and
ARE having) some issues in attracting major sponsor dollars and
vendors who thought they were getting something in excess of what
they actually got are tired of being lied to and cheated.
SnF is led by a guy by the name of Bill Eickoff… someone
whom we have observed, at close range, doing things that do
NOT (in our opinion) help the plight of aviation. We have watched
him ignore complaints from people who have been harmed by
disreputable vendors at Sun 'n Fun. We have watched him deny, under
oath, questions about public funding of the Sun 'n Fun event, in
front of a Federal Judge… statements that sure seem to be
contradicted now by their statements of admission of receipt of
public funds/benefits (some might call this perjury). And Jim
Campbell has reportedly had him (and several others, including
former SnF Press Flak Bonnie Higbie) tell him that if he didn't
treat Sun 'n Fun more favorably, that there would be
"consequences."
This is the kind of un-American, foolish crap that makes
aviation look stupid and disreputable. This is the kind of nonsense
that we should rid ourselves of -- immediately. This kind of
behavior has no place in an industry already under the gun for all
manner of problems (real and imagined)… many of them
critical and capable of snuffing out a large portion of all we hold
dear. With behavior like that exhibited by Eickoff and Sun 'n Fun,
it's only a matter of time before their dishonesty and fraudulent
conduct does the kind of damage that will leave a permanent and
lasting scar across the flying world (if it hasn't already). We
agree with the 80+% of surveyed ANN Reeders who think that those
responsible for the above frauds should either go to jail (50%) or
be forced to resign (over 30%). It's time that Eickoff and his
cronies resign (at the very least) and that Sun 'n Fun get
it's act together… while they still can, and before they do
more damage to us all.
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.15.24)
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