By Bill Stansbeary
L to R: Jeff Hathorn, Roger Humiston, Chandra Stewart and Steve Woolstenhulme, of Best Jets, Ltd. and Best AeroNet Aviation, Ltd., show their Century 21 Learjet 25 next to a Porsche 356 highly modified for racing.
The 2005 West Palm Beach Business Aircraft & Jet Preview, held on May 26, attracted business aviators to a wide screening of business aircraft, including a Sikorsky S-38B flown in the movie “The Aviator,” based on the life of Howard Hughes. Now owned by real estate developer Tom Schrade, there’s plans for the flying yacht, “Osa’s Ark,” to fly on “The Flying Safari,” an exploration up the Amazon River in Africa.
Those fortunate enough to attend this gathering of people, planes and vehicles at Galaxy Aviation, West Palm Beach International Airport (PBI), were treated to a full day of business aviation show time in the Florida sunshine, plus a late afternoon, awesome rain shower complete with a sunset rainbow.
On the Galaxy Aviation ramp for static display were business aircraft by Beechcraft, Bombardier, Cessna, Cirrus, Diamond, Dassault Falcon Jet, Gulfstream, Mooney, Piaggio, Raytheon, Sikorsky and Socata.
The exhibitors inside the large Galaxy Aviation hanger included an Eclipse 500 model next to a Gulfstream 500. The catered event was a showcase for serious buyers/sellers to engage in the business aviation marketplace.
Unlike the imaginary pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, these Business Aircraft & Jet Previews produced by Airport Journals have become a real world link to the sky for many business aviators. For future events, check [http://www.JetPreview.com].
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- Laurie Lips meets with Maxie Nameth, PrivatAir, base manager, Palm Beach International Airport, in a Global Express business jet.
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- Rick Steelman, president of Atlanta Jet, shows a Cessna Citation X, which is still the fastest business jet in the sky with a high speed cruise speed of 505 knots true air speed.
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- Nicoletta Roselli, manager of marketing and sales support for Piaggio America, Inc., based at West Palm Beach, shows the Piaggio Avanti twin turboprop business aircraft.
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- L to R: Tony Van Deusen, director of business development, TAG Aviation, and Raymond Santa, TAG Aviation regional vice president of aircraft acquisition and sales, showed a Global Express.
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- A Diamond Star single-engine airplane drew attention.
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- Captain Len Curreti, retired managing director of aviation, AirMargaritaville, shows the Sikorsky S-38B owned by real estate developer Tom Schrade that was flown in the movie, “The Aviator.”