By Jerry Rosie (USUA #A86096)

Hello again, Aviators!

Here in the mid-Atlantic region the snows have gone, the rains have abated and more days of low wind conditions are available. Pilots are getting in some flying at long last. And the same seems to be the case throughout the country, as more and more announcements of events and fly ins are arriving at USUA headquarters. We are impatiently awaiting the reports from the event organizers so we can share with our membership the fun times they had.

And speaking of fun times, the folks in the North Coast Lite Flyers of Akron, Ohio are planning their third attempt at a multi-plane flight to Kitty Hawk. This flight was originally planned in commemoration of the Wright Brothers first flight one hundred years ago (soon to be 101 years), but the weather has not cooperated on the two previous occasions. Let's all burn tail feathers (or whatever seems appropriate) in sacrifice to the weather gods so they will be kind to them during the week of July 11th.

We are gratified to hear that two members of the Mountaineer Fun Flyers of Pence Springs, West Virginia have complete all the requirements and now can proudly wear the Pilot Patch, designating them as registered USUA Ultralight Pilots. Congrats to Russell Cook and Scott McComas! Well done guys! And our congrats also go to Virgil Shrewbury, of the same club, on his decision to register his ultralight with USUA. In addition to the other benefits, this now makes him eligible to insure his airplane with First Flight Insurance Group.

While recent news of the Sport Pilot/Light Sport Aircraft regulation has been decidedly sparse, rumor, hope and conjecture are rampant. The best (not necessarily the most accurate) that we have heard, to date, is that an announcement is expected at Oshkosh (haven't we heard that before?). (I'm not really in much of a hurry, personally, since I'm still waiting mechanic's time to complete the annual on my Aeronca Chief - this has been since December!) In the mean time I am keeping as current as I can in the MiniMax and looking forward to a number of fly in's scheduled in the next couple of months.

Blue sky, and favorable winds to all. Fly safe!