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Liz Swaine |
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| About the Author ... |
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Liz Swaine is
a member of the AVweb news writing team. A private instrument-rated
pilot, she owns and flies a 1966 Mooney M-20E affectionately known as "Mike" and
a Russian Yak-52 affectionately known as "Yak-52." Liz's love for aviation began
some years ago when, as a reporter at a TV station in Pensacola, Fla., she was
assigned the Blue Angels beat. From there, she moved to Shreveport, La. and, as
news anchor at the ABC affiliate, traveled the world covering the happenings at
Barksdale Air Force Base. She has traveled to Russia to cover the fall of
communism, to Saudi Arabia to report on the build up to Desert Storm, and to
Israel to look at the Arab-Israeli peace process up close. Her latest position
— as executive assistant to the dynamic mayor of Shreveport — is showing her
what the political world looks like from the inside, and she reports the sausage
analogy is right on ... you may enjoy what it tastes like, but you probably
don't want to see it being made. The fast pace of her life extends to her play
... she is a former triathlete and currently into high intensity weight
training. Liz recently married airshow pilot and airplane builder Steve Culp,
who likes airplanes as much as she does and can fix 'em, too. Their dark, hairy
daughter named "Mollie" looks suspiciously like a dog.
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It is 1300 on Wednesday, July 29, and Wittman Field
is officially closed to Oshkosh-bound pilots who had intended
on camping here. The inn is full, and the "No Vacancy"
sign has been hung out-overnighting aircraft are being diverted
to Appleton and Fon du Lac. EAA President Tom Poberezny never
likes to turn weary travelers away, but is happy at the early
show success. First day numbers aren't yet in, but advance arrivals
are heavier than last years', and last year was up 12% from the
year before. This is Poberezny & Company's party, and all
are invited. The EAA chief has no illusions, however. He knows
this party that's taken a year to plan will be fun-for a while.
"Just like when you hold a party-you get excited
about everybody coming,
and then when everybody leaves and you're doing the
dishes, the reality
sets in." The fatigue will set in, too. Poberezny
is making do on just 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night, and loving
it. Like children on Christmas Eve, neither he nor any of his
volunteers want to miss anything. "The hardest part is just
trying to GET to sleep. You're doing things you just want the
night to go by fast so you can be back out the next morning."
By the end of his day, Poberezny has worn most of
the tread from a pair of sneakers. He tries to check on everyone—often—and
has the walking
distances measured down to the tenth of a mile. From
the last row south of the antique classic area to the warbirds
and onto camping is 5.2 miles and that's if you don't deviate
an inch to buy an Italian Ice or an official EAA souvenir. "It
means you could walk easily 50 miles a day," says Poberezny
and he likely does, even after nine years as EAA President. Nervous
energy will do that to you, and every year is still an Air "adventure"
for Tom. Last year, he managed to wrangle an SR-71 Blackbird,
this year, the crowd of 800,000 will get to gawk at another member
of the mach club, the Concorde.
Poberezny tells AVweb the only plane he's
ever really wanted at OSH that he hasn't been able to get is the
747 carrying a space shuttle, and the
Wittman Field runway is too short for that. Hmmm.
It's almost possible to see his brain churning maybe NEXT year,
after all, it's ONLY concrete. The EAA AirVenture is definitely
an "aviation buffet" as he likes to call it, but also
much more. He sees it as one of the saviors of general aviation,
which has never "marketed itself well." "Instead
of what others might do, we need to take the initiative, to control
our destiny what it comes do to is the biggest danger is complacency,
or it is that we figure everyone who grows up with a passion for
flying will find us. We need to sell ourselves to people who have
the discretionary time and dollars, and if we don't, we'll find
ourselves a declining niche." With that, Poberezny's cellphone
rings, he waves at an old friend and walks away to his next appointment—to
continue selling aviation for another day.
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