by Mark Baker
Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine February/March 2024 Digital Issue
Right about this time, as I am sure many of you do, I take a step back and wonder where my travels will take me over the coming year. And true to form, I spent some time over the holidays pondering the airports, events, and people I will see in 2024.
Now if you are someone who flies as much as I do for professional and personal reasons, you may think that I am close to running out of destinations. Sometimes it seems like that, but there is always so much new to see and experience in this great country and the thousands of general aviation airports we get to visit as part of this amazing passion we share.
But one thing that is great about flying is that we can visit the same airports and still have a totally new experience – meeting new members, those new to the GA community and even some new and amazing restaurants. You don’t have to ask me twice to share a great meal.
So back to the question: what’s on my radar for the coming year?
I’m excited to see so many of you at first-class aviation events and shows in 2024. The season will kick off with a return visit to Arizona and the Buckeye Air Fair. I’ve been to Buckeye a few times and the city and people (led by my friend, AOPA member and mayor Eric Orsborn) just never disappoint. You probably have read in these pages that our approach to AOPA events has evolved over the past few years, as work toward AOPA’s goal of bringing AOPA’s resources, aviation expertise, and benefits to members across the country by partnering with established aviation events. Like Buckeye.
We hope to see you in The Grand Canyon State on February 16-18 – why not make your President’s Day a long aviation weekend?
The event season won’t have a chance to cool off (literally) when we head to Florida for Sun n Fun in April. Can’t tell you how many trips to Lakeland this will be for me (yes, I can, but I’ll leave you guessing!) for a week of warmth – warm temperatures, warm friendships and warm, well hot, aerial displays and airshows. Sun ‘n Fun is always a highlight of the year, and we can’t wait to see you there.
Late July always brings the grandaddy of aviation events, EAA AirVenture. If you think I’ve been to Sun ‘n Fun many times, I certainly have lost count of my trips to Oshkosh. Every trip to Wisconsin brings something new, something unexpected, something exciting, but also something I can count on – a great time at a great show with great friends.
Let’s not forget landing on arguably the best grass strip in America come September. AOPA will be at the Triple Tree Fly-in with full force and celebrate everything that wonderful event has come to mean to me, our staff, and our members.
Then there’s this little thing we are doing in May that you may have heard of. And we could not be more excited! What a spectacle it will be for those in-person, the those watching online across the country and those actually taking part (like me!) with the General Aviation Flyover.
More than 60 aircraft, tracing the full history of general aviation, will fly down the National Mall in Washington on May 11, and provide spectators and viewers a true picture of what GA has meant to this country in so many ways since 1939. You’ll see everything from a Staggerwing from the Golden Age to aircraft representing GA around World War II, the trainer era, vertical flight, backcountry flying, seaplanes, business aviation, homebuilts, airshow performers, and other examples of GA aircraft that support public service missions.
It’s also no small surprise that the GA Flyover will coincide with AOPA’s 85th anniversary (stay tuned for more info on this special year!). So much is going into this event to truly make GA history.
Another special aircraft that I and some colleagues will continue to fly will be our special AOPA Baron that we will use to showcase the 100-octane unleaded fuel that the FAA approved via STC in 2022. We’ll continue to take to the skies with unleaded in the left tank and 100LL in the right, to show that the new fuel works just fine and is safe.
In between all of these happenings, I’m looking forward to a host of regional airshows and aviation events, type-club gatherings, pilot events and many other opportunities to see our members and GA community where they live and fly.
If this seems like a lot of all work and no play, fear not. Whether it’s The Bahamas, the Great Northwest, Alaska, Minnesota and frankly anywhere there’s smooth water, you’ll find me exercising this amazing right to fly. We work very hard at protecting your freedom to fly so that we can all, including me, take full advantage.
Here’s to 12 months of blue skies!
