A newly refurbished Reimagined Cessna 150 will go to the Nate AbelFlying Club in Texas, which won AOPA’s latest airplane giveaway. The Nate Abel club, based in Fort Worth, won the prize Thursday over a total of 57 eligible clubs that applied. Club officers received a Skype call from AOPA President Mark Baker, who told them they were the winners. “That’s awesome,” said James Smith, vice president of the club.“The family is going to be floored, they will not believe it.”This year’s giveaway promotes AOPA’s flying club initiative, which encourages pilots to share the costs of flying and aircraft ownership as part of the You Can Fly program. The eye-catching yellow Cessna is among a fleet of Reimagined 150s that underwent restorations by Aviat Aircraft to help promote affordable flying and flight training.
The Nate Abel club plans to bring more younger pilots into the fold by having older pilots serve as mentors. Promoting safety, fun and low-cost flying, and bringing pilots together, all helped the club stand out among the applicants, said Les Smith, AOPA senior director of pilot community development.“Their application scored vey highly in terms of hitting all the key points we were looking for,” Smith said.Meanwhile, the association will continue to support the other clubs in reaching their goals. “Those other 56 clubs have done everything thing there is to do short of obtaining an aircraft, and we want to work with them on that next step,” Smith said.
