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 | | | Bill “Tiger” Destefani receives the Unlimited Gold Trophy. This was the seventh time Destefani won the National Championship. | |
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During the 45th Annual National Championship Air Races, held Sept. 10-14 at Stead Airport (K4SD) in Reno, Nev., Bill "Tiger" Destefani created the perfect end for his long racing career—his seventh championship. Destefani, from Bakersfield, Calif., flew his highly modified P-51 Mustang, Strega, to victory in Sunday's Breitling Unlimited Gold Class race, with an average speed of 483 mph. This was Destefani's first Gold Championship since 1997; he previously won the title in 1987, 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1996.
"It's been a long time coming," Destefani said Sunday as he was surrounded by a large group of media and racing fans. "It was just a great ride."
Destefani said this was the last year he will be racing, but Strega will return with a new pilot at the controls. |
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The 23rd Gathering of Eagles fundraising event, held July 31, during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, drew more than 1,000 people to the EAA Museum's Eagle Hangar for dinner and auctions to raise money for the Young Eagles program. The traditional live and silent auctions collected $2.88 million, almost twice last year's sum.
The Gathering of Eagles attracts some of the most prestigious and influential people in general aviation. This year's guests included Cliff Robertson, former Young Eagles chairman and Academy Award winner, and Harrison Ford, current chairman and Academy Award nominee. Other notable guests included Academy Award nominee John Travolta, actor and accomplished aerobatic pilot David Ellison, golf champion Arnold Palmer, aerobatic pilot and author Kermit Weeks and Edsel Ford II.
EAA President Tom Poberezny noted the importance of the Young Eagles programs.
"The children and youth we introduce to aviation today are the members, engineers and innovators of tomorrow," he said. More than 1.4 million young people have become Young Eagles.
For the fourth consecutive year, Cessna Aircraft Company served as the hosting sponsor of the gala. CEO Jack Pelton expressed the company's pride in supporting Young Eagles. |
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 | | | DayJet ceased operations on Sept. 19. An observer photographed the operator’s fleet of Eclipse VLJs parked at Eclipse Aviation Corp.’s Gainesville, Fla. maintenance facility on Sept. 24. | |
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| Without notice, on Sept. 19, Boca Raton, Fla.-based DayJet Services LLC closed its doors. DayJet, with a fleet of 28 three-passenger Eclipse 500 very light jets, was forced to discontinue service after being unable to raise funding. Although the per-seat, on-demand air taxi operator listed 28 VLJs, it wasn't fully utilizing more than seven to 10 aircraft on a regular basis. |
 | | | The V-22 Osprey, one of the more unique aircraft flown by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, made an appearance at AirVenture this year for the first time. | |
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| The EAA AirVenture's 56th annual weeklong fly-in opened on July 28. This year's show welcomed more than 10,000 aircraft into Wisconsin's Oshkosh-Wittman Regional Airport (OSH); 2,516 show airplanes, including homebuilt, ultralights and vintage models, were on exhibit. |
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