Brand-New Florida Sport Aviation Gathering

For starters, since it's the first thing that people ask, why does Florida need another sport aviation show? It already has the mammoth (by comparison) Sun ’n Fun fly-in in Lakeland in April, and there's also the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring (a little farther down the peninsula) in late January. Why DeLand?

There are a couple of good reasons. For one, it looks to have legs, and that's not wishful thinking: There are actual signs that this is so. The city of DeLand, realizing that aviation is a great economic stimulator (please give your colleagues in Santa Monica a call), has invested in both the airport---putting up a new business development with hangars and office space on the northeastern side of the airport---and what it's calling the Sport Aviation Village, which is currently under development. The latter will be developed over the next three years, and it will be the permanent home for the Sport Aviation Showcase.

Another great reason is that, at least based on the initial response, the industry is ready to support the event; Florida is, after all, one of the best sport flying areas in the country.

How much interest are they showing? The Showcase's head, Jana Filip, who ran the Sebring show for the past five years, says that the inaugural DeLand event as of August was 85 percent sold out to exhibitors, which guarantees a lot of good things for attendees to do while they're there.

Plane & Pilot, as a sponsoring partner, will be there, too, spreading the word about how much fun and how affordable sport flying can be.

To get more details about the show, including info on housing and admissions, visit sportaviationvillage.com.