AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2013 - 40

BRIEFING

AOPA FOUNDATION

Aircraft donations fuel future of GA
A tale of two donors
BY JIM MOORE AND SARAH BROWN J. LLOYD HUCK HAD A DILEMMA. A day after promising his American Champion Champ to AOPA, the second aircraft he was to donate, the veteran pilot got an unexpected call. A buyer had come forward, and placed a deposit—Huck made short work of that situation, closing the deal and donating the proceeds to the AOPA Foundation. The very generous donation (about $75,000) will go a long way toward supporting the freedom to fly that Huck fought for, in more ways than one, during an aviation career that began during World War II flying the B–17 and B–29. Huck’s general aviation career spanned decades, but time and health finally caught up with him this year, just short of his goal of flying until he celebrated 90 years in July. Huck had already donated one of his personal aircraft: the AOPA 2009 Let’s Go Flying Sweepstakes Cirrus SR22. He bought the Champ, which he was able to fly under Light Sport rules and extended his time in the cockpit by about three years. He believes that his latest donation also will serve an important purpose by supporting the foundation. Jack Williams bought his 1988 Mooney PFM from the factory in 1989, a month after he earned his private pilot certificate in a Cessna 152. He and his wife, Ellyn, who

WHY DONATE
The AOPA Foundation’s airplane donation program, like many organizations’ car donation programs, allows a donor to bypass the hassle of selling and gain a tax benefit, while contributing to a cause. “The AOPA Foundation is in an ideal position to work with aircraft owners because we know the market,” said Stephanie Kenyon, AOPA Foundation vice president of strategic philanthropy. When the AOPA Foundation receives an airplane, it may choose to keep it for staff transportation or training, or in the case of the 2009 Cirrus SR22 that Lloyd Huck donated, give it away as a sweepstakes airplane. The organization could also sell the airplane; in those cases, the proceeds go toward supporting the AOPA Foundation’s goals of improving GA’s safety, preserving and improving community airports, growing the pilot population, and supporting the good work being done through GA. Owners can start the process of donating an airplane on the AOPA Foundation website (www.aopafoundation. org/aircraft). “It’s always special when someone like Lloyd or Jack and Ellyn gives us an important part of their lives,” said AOPA Foundation President Bruce Landsberg. “Pilots form a bond with our aircraft, and the AOPA Foundation is most appreciative.”

earned her private pilot certificate a couple years later, flew the Porsche-powered airplane across the country so many times that Williams said he’s lost count. “She’s efficient, she’s fast, we’ve really enjoyed her,” Williams said of the Mooney, which was reengined with a 280-horsepower Continental 520 in 2004. After 23 years and almost 3,700 flying hours, they considered selling the Mooney, and opting for an airplane that would allow them to slow down and fly a little lower. As they began the search for a new airplane, the couple considered their options for selling the Mooney. “It’s not an airplane that wants to be parked sitting with a ‘For Sale’ sign on its propeller,” he said. Then, when Williams was looking on the AOPA Foundation website at ways to give to the organization, he noticed a mention that one could donate an airplane. “It just seemed to me it was a good way to optimize its value all around,” he explained. “If the AOPA Foundation could put it to good use actually using the airplane, that could be great.” And if the organization decides to sell it, he added, it is in a much better position to optimize the yield of the sale.

“It just seemed to me it was a good way to optimize its value all around.”
IN THE NEWS

FUEL FROM PLASTICS TO BE USED ON INTERCONTINENTAL FLIGHT
AUSTRALIA BUSINESSMAN Jeremy Rowsell hopes to fly a diesel-powered Cessna 182 from Australia to London on “Wings of Waste” using fuel made from plastics that can no longer be recycled (www.cynarplc. com). The fuel, which meets car and truck specifications, has never been tested on an aircraft. The fuel will be made by Cynar in

Portlaoise, Ireland. It will be positioned along a 10,000-mile route from Sydney to London by his crew. Cynar CEO Michael Murray said his company sells the technology to make the fuel to corporations wanting to rid themselves of plastics that are at the end of their lives and can no longer be recycled. The plastic is heated and

the fumes are then distilled into fuel. It takes one ton of end-of-life plastics to make 185 gallons of diesel fuel plus 53 gallons of gasoline and 26 gallons of kerosene. Murray said he has a quarter-billion dollars’ worth of orders for the technology over the next five years. The cost of the fuel is 10 percent less than fuel costs in the market. —AKM

40 | AOPA PILOT January 2013

http://www.aopafoundation.org/aircraft http://www.aopafoundation.org/aircraft http://www.cynarplc.com http://www.cynarplc.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2013