Spirit of Flight Award Recipient Selected

July 21, 2016 - Each year, EAA selects a member who best exemplifies the spirit of research, development, or flight test to receive the Spirit of Flight Award; sponsored by Scaled Composites and presented by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP).

Joe Sobczak, The SETP Liaison to EAA, said the relationship between EAA and SETP began after Paul Poberezny, EAA’s founder, was named an honorary SETP fellow and visited the SETP symposium in Los Angeles, California.

“He had the idea that a bunch of experimental test pilots had a lot to offer the amateur-built aircraft community, especially in the area of flight test,” Sobczak said. “So he wanted to form a somewhat informal partnership between SETP and EAA. The Spirit of Flight Award is one of the things to come out of that.”

This year’s recipients are Jeff Edwards, EAA 396867, and Bob Pastusek, EAA 496695, two founding members of the Lancair Owners and Builders Organization (LOBO). Through their work with LOBO, both Pastusek and Edwards have put an enormous amount of effort into improving the safety of Lancair builders and pilots.

The award will be presented during the Homebuilder’s Dinner on Thursday, July 28, at 6 p.m. in the Nature Center Pavilion.