AOPA Hands Out Hardware

A CFI who went to the ends of the earth to promote general aviation is the winner of this year’s Let’s Go Flying Award from AOPA. As we reported late last year, Marine Corps Capt. Gabriel Glinsky, a V-22 Osprey pilot, gathered materials and voluntarily taught ground school to more than a dozen fellow Marines deployed in Afghanistan. “We will do our best to keep GA strong, even halfway around the world,” Glinsky said at the time. AOPA also handed out the hardware for awards honoring advocacy and service to GA at its Long Beach convention, which wrapped up Saturday.

A CFI who went to the ends of the earth to promote general aviation is the winner of this year's Let's Go Flying Award from AOPA. As we reported late last year, Marine Corps Capt. Gabriel Glinsky, a V-22 Osprey pilot, gathered materials and voluntarily taught ground school to more than a dozen fellow Marines deployed in Afghanistan. "We will do our best to keep GA strong, even halfway around the world," Glinsky said at the time. AOPA also handed out the hardware for awards honoring advocacy and service to GA at its Long Beach convention, which wrapped up Saturday.

Jolie Lucas won the Joseph Crotti Award for service to aviation for her work in blocking a developer from putting houses where Oceano Airport (L52) now is in San Luis Obispo County in California. The Laurence P. Sharples Perpetual Award for service to GA went to Marjy Leggett for her work in convincing local officials in Kennewick, Wash., of the value of preserving the local airport. The Joseph B. "Doc" Hartranft Jr. Award for government officials who work on behalf of GA went to Victor Bird, director of the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission for his wide-ranging efforts to promote and facilitate GA in the state.