Your Newsletter

2009 EVENT POSTER IS AVAILABLE

Sun ’n Fun 2009 event poster is available! The poster, themed “Spring break for Pilots” was a co-design by our own Melissa Rankin and a talented, new designer, Elisa Stillinger. The poster is available for free at the main office, or you may order from our online store for a nominal shipping fee. If you’d like to order in quantity for distribution at your favorite business or FBO’s, please contact Susan Highley at 863-644-2431, x. 225.

Get your 2009 Sun 'n Fun Poster NOW!

SUN 'N FUN VISITS SAN JOSE FOR THE AOPA EXPO

John Burton, Donna Gabriel and Kathryn McManus traveled to San Jose, CA, in early November to attend the “AOPA Expo”. They had an opportunity to meet the incoming AOPA president, Greg Fuller, who takes over from the retiring Phil Boyer in January. A most interesting general session was “The Day Before Yesterday” – a reflection on election day results and their implications for general aviation. AOPA is already actively engaged with the new presidential administration and congressional leadership to influence their decisions and appointments affecting our industry.

The three Sun ‘n Fun staff members also walked their feet off on the exhibit floor, talking with Sun ‘n Fun friends, exhibitors, sponsors, and prospects about plans for the 2009 Fly-In. Many companies reported a downturn in business with the current economic situation, and some may reduce or not expand their participation at Sun ‘n Fun. But all remain enthusiastic about the value of Sun ‘n Fun to their business.

SUN 'N FUN PARTICIPATES AT NBAA - OCTOBER 6-8 IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA

Sun ’n Fun staff and volunteers recently participated in the National Business Aviation Association convention (NBAA) held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL on October 6-8. Through a reciprocal trade arrangement with NBAA, Sun ’n Fun occupied a 20x20 exhibit space and introduced the 2009 event theme and poster, “Spring break for Pilots”. During the three-day show, we talked to hundreds of potential Sun ’n Fun guests and dozens of current and potential exhibitors and sponsors. Special thanks to Anne Hough and Dave Fuller who went above and beyond the call of duty to help set up our booth in an un-air conditioned, extremely hot convention center, and Warren Shoemaker, who drove to Orlando to deliver and pick up our show materials.

PRE-FLIGHT NIGHT 2009

Formally known as 'The Gala'

Join us for Pre-Flight Night 2009! Held on the eve of the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In, the Pre-Flight Night kick-off party brings together friends for an evening of great food, fun, and funding of our important mission. Proceeds of the dinner and silent auction support the year-round education programs and endowment of the Florida Air Museum, Florida’s official aviation museum and education center. Our mission is to be the premier showcase for Florida’s aviation history and to share the passion of flight with all ages. What could be more important to our future than that?

Pre-Flight Night 2009

Reception, Silent Auction & Dinner
Monday, April 20, 2009 - 5:30 p.m.
Florida Air Museum at Sun ‘n Fun
4175 Medulla Road, Lakeland, FL 33811

Purchase tickets online

For information on advertising and sponsorship opportunities please contact Gail Taylor at GTaylor@sun-n-fun.org or 863-644-2431.

IRA CHARITABLE ROLLOVER EXTENDED

Note: The following is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as legal or tax advice. For specific information about provisions of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 affecting charitable contributions, consult your tax adviser or attorney.

For older donors and nonprofit organizations, such as the Florida Air Museum at Sun ‘n Fun that rely on their support, a glimmer of good news emerged from last month's economic turmoil: Congress extended the IRA charitable rollover as part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

THE FINE PRINT

A charitable gift made directly from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) will not be taxed as income as long as:

•   the gift is made in 2008 or 2009;
•   the IRA holder is age 70½ or older;
•   the gift totals $100,000 or less each year;
•   the charity is eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions;
•   the charity is not a section 509(a)(3) supporting organization;
•   the withdrawal goes directly from the IRA to the charity.

The donor does not need to itemize his or her taxes to take advantage of the rollover. If the donor does itemize, however, he or she cannot also take the contribution as a deduction.

INTRODUCING FLORIDA AIR MUSEUM TRAVEL

That’s right! Now you can make a contribution to the Florida Air Museum each time you book your travel!

It’s simple!

Visit the new Florida Air Museum Travel website at:

http://www.floridaairmuseumtravel.org/

There you will find the same airlines, hotels, rental cars and cruises as on other popular travel websites.

You’ll get great prices on great travel deals but with an additional
benefit.

Each time you book travel a portion of the travel commissions will be donated directly to the Florida Air Museum.

So please bookmark http://www.floridaairmuseumtravel.org/ for all your
travel needs and help support our mission of sharing the passion
of flight with all ages.

For more information email, Museum@sun-n-fun.org or call

863-644-2431.

NEW HIGH SCHOOL OPENS AT SUN 'N FUN

The Central Florida Aerospace Academy officially opened in August 2008 on the Sun ’n Fun campus and has a current enrollment of approximately 70 students. The Academy was developed through a collaboration between Gulf Coast Avionics, Polk County Public Schools, Polk Community College, Traviss Career Center, the University of South Florida Polytechnic, Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In and the Florida Air Museum. Students are challenged to excel in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in preparation for careers in the fields of aviation and aerospace.

On Tuesday, October 21, 2008, the Academy hosted an Open House to welcome families of Academy students and showcase this innovative new educational facility. One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation of a one-year Florida Air Museum (FAM) family membership to each student. Memberships were made possible through a generous grant awarded to the Museum by an anonymous local donor and will provide each student and his or her family an array of educational opportunities including free or reduced admission to 300 national and international museums and science centers by way of FAM’s participation in the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) Passport Program.(http://www.astc.org/)

For more information...

NEW MAINTENANCE FACILITY CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY

Sun ’n Fun’s new maintenance facility has begun to take shape with the installation of the structural steel in early October. The 17,500 square foot slab was poured in March 2008 and includes “weld” plates that can accommodate a second floor structure of equal square footage. The sheet metal installation began November 24th and is almost complete. Hydra-Swing door company has graciously donated a hangar door similar to the Buehler center’s that will provide easy access.

Special thanks to David Waugh, Eugene Greenwood and Billy Pearson who, after almost a week and numerous gallons of red primer, finished repainting the structural steel after installation.

Photos

NEWS FROM THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Wings ‘n Things enjoyed perfect weather this year and 364 youth were flown by First Flight volunteers coordinated by Laura Vaughn. Over 1200 people registered for the camping weekend and, while it might have been nippy sleeping in the tents, no one complained once the sun heated things up. Two hundred plus volunteers outdid themselves in hosting this event. Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Royal Rangers and family groups attended from 15 different counties. Difficult economic times probably worked to decrease attendance from last year’s 1700 plus but we are working to expand the offerings for Wings ‘n Things to entice more repeat attendance and make it a must attend event.

Buehler Restoration housed 4 different craft activities with youth building rockets, balsa gliders, propellers and wings ribs. Hangar A and B were used for the balance of activities. Some great volunteer experts made the Friday night pavilion program and the Saturday badge classes a real learning experience for our youth. CFAA youth volunteers augmented our loyal WnT volunteers and it was great having the young people take part. We just can’t mention all the people who worked so hard to make WnT a success and for whom we feel such gratitude towards. We say often “we couldn't do it without you.,” but that doesn't begin to express the gratitude we feel when you pitch in to make things work. “We couldn't do it without you.” So there! Thank you!

CFAA (Central Florida Aerospace Academy) has kept your education staff busy this fall augmenting their curriculum and also directing their volunteer efforts. School begins here about 0720 which also gets us up early on occasion. Many academy students have joined the Future Eagles and have also formed a restoration club that is currently working on an ultralight aircraft. A lot of our restoration time is spent showing the kids how to do the basics. We look forward to the day when they will be teaching other students the restoration skills they don’t get in school or at home. We are pleased with the enthusiasm and dedication they have shown to date.

The Museum in the Schools program has increased our outreach requests and we have spent about 3 weeks total time in the schools since September. If any of you would like to join us in the classroom, we would be glad to give you the materials and training so you can work with the youth in Polk County schools.

Ernie & Joyce Sanborn

Education Coordinators

mailto:Educate@sun-n-fun.org

VOLUNTEER NEWS

The 2008 YearlyBird Awards Banquet was held here at Sun ‘n Fun for our year around volunteers. The staff and I made a wonderful appreciation DVD to honor our YearlyBird volunteers this year and what a huge hit!

The Level 6 Eagle Award was given to Gary Frey for his

1252.5 volunteer hours. (Picture Below: Gary Frey)

Level 5 awards went to Jerry Nenarella (898 hours), Gene Bellflower (786 hours), and Milt Voigt (762.5 hours).

Level 4 awards went to Bob Bass (448.5 hours), Karen Frey (580.5 hours), and Bruno Migliorini (724 hours).

Level 2 awards went to Mike Dunkle (99 hours), Dan Moscone (118.5 hours), Pat Quinn (160.5 hours), Jack Rhodes (153 hours), Duffy Thompson (216.5 hours), Duane Thrasher (98.5 hours), and Jessie Thrasher (97 hours).

Level 1 awards were given to Carole Bonacum (52.5 hours), Tony Bonacum (79.5 hours), Ray Daniels (40 hours), Bill Doty (40 hours), Allan Duncan 45 hours), David Dupuis (88.5 hours), Deborah Hawkins (42 hours), Jerry Hoffman (70.5 hours), Paul Hopkins (77), Debbie Payne (83 hours), Mark Rittermeyer (93.5 hours) and Jo Thompson (43 hours).

Please join me in cheering all our year-round volunteers on! Please remember that all volunteer hours whether you’re a YearlyBird, EarlyBird or Fly-In are very valuable when our Sun ‘n Fun fundraisers are applying for grant money. Please take the time to log your hours! Thanks!

Fall and winter are always a wonderful time of year for Sun ‘n Fun staff because it’s our annual family reunion time! The EarlyBirds start arriving and the Fly-In volunteers begin calling and making their plans to arrive on campus. It’s a time to catch up on each others lives and begin another year of great memories. I look forward to seeing all y’all again…that’s southern for all of you! If you know your volunteer needs for the Fly-In, please email them to me so we can start posting them on our website. Our website is a wonderful tool to advertise volunteer opportunities so start thinking about what positions need to be filled – it is never too early to start recruiting. Please remember volunteers are always welcome ALL year round. We promise the fun doesn’t stop at the Fly-In. I can’t wait to see all of you. Please keep in touch so we know how our extended family is doing! I look forward to another great Fly In!

Robin McFarland

Volunteer Coordinator

rmcfarland@sun-n-fun.org

SKINNY CAT TAKES A TRIP!

Well summer has ended and Fall is upon us and so the excitement begins once again! I start my article off with a great animal story about our maintenance cat, “Skinny Cat”. She is named after Skinny John, a former long-time Sun ‘n Fun maintenance volunteer.

While we were putting the 2008 Fly-In back in the box for another year, Skinny Cat was taking quite the journey! GES, the exposition service that assists our fly-in exhibitors, parked their tractor trailer at the maintenance loading dock for storage purpose. Well, Skinny Cat decided to check out the inside of the trailer and found out that, indeed, it made for a great napping place. On the final day of the Fly-In, GES packed up, closed and locked the trailer door and headed to Orlando…with guess who…Skinny Cat!

An hour and half or so later, the truck driver parked the truck at the GES loading dock in Orlando, opened the trailer door and to his BIG surprise, out came a screaming scared Skinny Cat! Well, not knowing that Sun ‘n Fun had a maintenance cat, the GES crew just thought some old cat got trapped in the truck. A couple of weeks passed at Sun ‘n Fun and no Skinny Cat was to be found. We spent days calling for her and looking in hangars and all over the site, but no Skinny Cat.

Finally, one day I took a chance and called Dan Carr at GES to see if she had been in the trailer and sure enough Dan called us back and confirmed that Skinny Cat had arrived in Orlando. It took three months for the GES crew to find her, and finally caught her in one of their crates. By this time, she was indeed a very, very skinny cat and glad to see David McQueary and me, when we arrived in Orlando to pick her up.

I can’t thank the GES family enough for the act of kindness they showed our Skinny Cat! She is now back to her old self and fat as a butter ball! I don’t think she will be napping in tractor trailer trucks anymore. Most businesses have a guard dog, well… Sun ‘n Fun maintenance has Skinny Cat, the guard cat! I’m glad the old saying didn’t come true this time curiosity didn’t kill our Skinny Cat!