StartSticks Donated to Support AirVenture, EAA
By Ti Windisch, EAA Staff Writer
July 22, 2018 - Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics donated roughly half a dozen StartStick ground power units to EAA to support both EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2018 and EAA’s year-round ventures.
David Copeland, Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics director of sales, said that the donation is intended to fulfil several goals at once.
“There’s three things: One, we want to keep people flying,” David, EAA 702331, said. “No. 2, we want to help the Young Eagles in their great adventure for helping people get educated about aviation. And then the other one is we just want to tell people about this great unit that is very proven and uses lithium-ion technology and cell technology.”
The donated StartSticks will go to Emergency Aircraft Repair, a facility staffed by volunteers from EAA Chapter 75 during AirVenture, the Kermit Weeks Hangar: EAA Flight Research Center, and Thursday The Gathering to be auctioned in support of EAA’s mission of spreading The Spirit of Aviation.
David came up with the idea when he ran into EAA CEO and Chairman of the Board Jack J. Pelton at AERO Friedrichshafen 2018 in Germany, and when David reached out Jack said he was excited about the initiative.
“David and I were talking about it, and he made the very generous offer of saying, ‘Hey, could you guys use some of these during AirVenture on the field?’” Jack explained. “I said, ‘That’s fantastic.’ I was very appreciative.”
Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics is uniquely positioned to support EAA with the StartSticks, as David said they’re the only company selling them in the country.
“We’re the exclusive distributor in the United States for StartSticks,” David said. “We’ve known the company and the owner for a long time, we’ve proven the technology.”
The StartStick is a portable GPU with no cables and a digital display that shows battery status and capacity at a glance. The 10 and 14 Ah StartSticks weigh 10.6 and 14.9 pounds, respectively.
