AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2021 - 12

LETTERS

FROM OUR DECEMBER 2020 ISSUE

Santa is a GA pilot
Readers caught the warm and fuzzies from this giving-back holiday story
Julie Summers Walker's article
on Michigan's Operation Good
Cheer brought back many fond
memories. I lived in southeast
Michigan from 1986 to 2001 and
did quite a lot of flying out of
Oakland County International
Airport (PTK); my own airplane was based there. I knew
many pilots who participated
in Operation Good Cheer, and
every year at least one-and
sometimes all three-of our
club airplanes were pressed into
Good Cheer service! But I must
admit that I never flew in any of
the missions myself. 
Also, I knew Taki Kortidis
well, initially through the
aviation safety counselor program (forerunner to today's
FAASTeam) at the Detroit
FSDO. Taki was our lead
counselor (analogous to a
FAASTeam lead rep today)
through much of that time.
Those were my early years as
a CFI, and Taki was a genuine
mentor to me. Taki never said
no to any request, and always
seemed to have time for a worthy cause. Some years later
I heard that Taki had passed
away. But only through your
article did I learn that he died
in a car accident. 

For 50 years, pilots in Michigan have delivered
Christmas joy to needy kids
B Y J U L I E S U M M E R S WA L K E R | P H OTO G R A P H Y B Y M I K E F I Z E R

You say you don't believe in Santa Claus? In Michigan you'd be proven wrong. Very wrong.
58 | AOPA PILOT December 2020

aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 59

With all the sad, angry, and worrisome news in
the media, this is a story that should be shared
on PBS, all the news channels nationwide, and
the public in general, not just pilots.
Kenneth Bayles
AOPA 577013
Dallas, Texas

With age I am realizing
more and more that GA is
really about people. (Well, yes,
there are airplanes and flight
adventures, too.) Thanks again
for your wonderful article, and
for briefly returning me to such
a good place.
Fred I. Stahl
AOPA 899593
Frederick, Maryland

What is your routine regarding military operating areas
6%
(MOAs)?
I fly VFR through MOAs	
I avoid flying through MOAs	
I file an IFR flight plan	
Other	
Aviation eBrief poll

12 | AOPA PILOT February 2021

46%
26%
22%
6%

22%
26%

46%

All-terrain vehicle

As a long-time proponent and
flight instructor in gyroplanes,
I am gratified to see the article
featuring a gyro operating an
exciting commercial enterprise
in Costa Rica. This new generation of gyroplanes offers unique
capabilities and the thrill of
freedom of flight our youthful
dreams inspired-in a machine
that makes surfing the wind
and flying like a bird safely fun.
I have one important critique of the article. The article
refers to these aircraft as gyrocopters. " Gyrocopter " is a
brand name of the original
Bensen Gyrocopter. The term
gyrocopter elicits images of the

frightening accident reputation
of their early amateur derivations. For decades, the gyro
sport faced headwinds within
the FAA and the aviation community at large because of the
fear factor the term gyrocopter
had and continues to instill.
The term gyroplane is
now recognized to represent the new generation of
the much safer and easier-tofly gyroplanes, with adequate
horizontal stabilizers and
flight pitch stability. They are
quickly becoming more and
more recognized as part of the
acceptable community of aircraft. The term gyrocopter,
and the negative safety connotation that term images,
has hindered general acceptance and support among the
FAA and aviation community
for decades.
Greg Gremminger
AOPA 2645439
Sainte Genevieve, Missouri

Listen up!

Did you miss any of my favorites? You sure did! May I draw
your attention to Podcasting
on a Plane (podcastingonaplane.com/), by Brandon
Gonzales, who is a pilot, CFI,
ATC tower controller, and airplane crash survivor. So many
great episodes and interesting
guests, but particularly worth
checking out are Concorde
Week (episodes 33-36), Spy
Week (61-65), and his ongoing
coverage of the Boeing 737
Max saga.
Daniel Sternbergh
AOPA 10799406
Palo Alto, California
http://www.aopa.org/pilot http://www.podcastingonaplane.com/ http://www.podcastingonaplane.com/
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2021
