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Scholarship fund established for fallen pilot, IAC Director

Funeral services for Erica Simpson, IAC director and commercial pilot, will be held Saturday, September 13, in her hometown of Port Wing, Wisconsin. Simpson, 32, died September 6 in an aircraft accident during a practice flight at Reno’s Stead Field where she was preparing to compete in this week’s annual National Championship Air Races & Air Show. According to the FAA spokesman Ian Gregor, her aircraft, a Cassutt IIIM Little Lynn, suffered a catastrophic structural failure as she was performing a roll during…

Suzanne Chance, of Aurora, Colorado, (Greater Metro Denver area) is the new editor of Sport Aerobatics magazine, official publication of the International Aerobatic Club (IAC). She comes to the IAC with experience in aviation technical writing and editing, as well as a recently found love for aerobatic flight.

“I have been a writer/editor for 30 years, writing newspaper articles, copywriting marketing and press releases, serving as an acquisitions editor for a major reference book publisher, technical writing, a novelist, and many more things,” Chance said.

Chance was…

After a disappointing “wind-out” that grounded pilots on Saturday, Kirby Chambliss, EAA 261512, of Flying Crown Ranch, Arizona, scored a thrilling first-place finish during the Red Bull Air Races’ first visit to Detroit, Michigan/Windsor, Ontario, Canada last weekend. A crowd estimated at 750,000 turned out to watch the high-performance flying and aerobatic competition from both sides of the Detroit River.

Saturday’s scheduled qualifying races for the 12 competitors had to be canceled due to sustained high winds. The race’s…

The FAA is reportedly in the final stages of extending the required parachute re-packing interval from 120 days to 180 days. EAA and the International Aerobatic Club (IAC) were part of the widespread effort led by the Parachute Industry Association and the United States Parachute Association in favor of the change.

“We’re very pleased that this change is going through,” said Lisa Popp, IAC executive director. “Obviously, the change will benefit our members whom we require to wear a parachute during any of the 45-plus aerobatic competitions we sanction annually in the United States…

Over the past few weeks you've had a chance to visit the web and preview Oshkosh: The Spirit of Aviation, EAA's beautiful new video about AirVenture Oshkosh. Now you can see the complete, 17-minute version, which is available for viewing or download through the AirVenture website. Stream it online through EAA's embedded video player or download to your own system and view whenever you'd like. Several resolutions are available, allowing you to choose the most compatible version for your system, including portable players…

The 2007 Collegiate National Champion in the IAC Collegiate Program is Andrew Bochnovic from Southern Illinois University (SIU) with a three-contest percentage of 86.87%.

The race for the second and third place individual awards was close with Jacob Allen from the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) claiming second with 79.744% and Greg Gilmer of the University of North Dakota (UND) coming in third with 79.743%. Winners receive Eagle Individual Collegiate Awards sponsored by American Champion Aircraft Corporation.

The 2007 Collegiate National Championship Team Award once…

The final results are in for the 2007 regional series competition. Forty-two (42) competitors out of 65 total series participants received awards. Fifty-two (52) pilots successfully competed at the 3 or more contests needed to qualify for the series in their respective region.

The regional series began in 2002. To be eligible, a pilot must fly at least three contests during the year (two for the Northwest Region due to unavailability of contest sites) and one contest may include the U.S. Nationals. If more than three contests are flown, the highest scores are used to arrive at each…

Joe Haycraft of Naples, Florida, is the winner of the 2007 L. Paul Soucy Award with a three-contest score of 89.87%. The next closest challenger received 86.71%.

To be eligible for the trophy, a pilot must have flown at least three contests during the season, one of which is the U.S. National Aerobatic Championships. The best two contests flown plus the pilot’s U.S. Nationals scores are used to determine the ranking.

The award was conceived and donated by L. Paul Soucy of Louisville, Kentucky, one of the IAC’s first members and a board director who passed away in 1971. The…

The International Aerobatic Club and EAA are working directly with FAA to obtain a categorical exclusion from overly burdensome environmental impact requirements that are currently proposed when pilots apply for an aerobatic practice area box. This development came during the annual EAA/FAA Recreational Aviation Summit on Jan. 23 at the EAA Aviation Center in Oshkosh.

Vicki Cruse, IAC president, represented the organization during the session. This annual meeting, unmatched anywhere else in the aviation community, included key aviation issues such as general aviation safety,…

Though aviation authorities in many countries have established formal certification criteria for aerobatic instructors, the U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) contain no provisions for a specific “aerobatic instructor” rating or certification. Given the success of industry-based programs such as the NAFI Master Instructor Program and the ICAS Aerobatic Competency Evaluation (ACE) Program, the National Association of Flight Instructors and the International Aerobatic Club (IAC) have jointly developed a broad — and strictly voluntary — aerobatic instruction designation program.