Sun Lakes Aero Club members and guests attending the field trip to MD Helicopters on March 23: Steve Perkins, Dick Simmons, Gary Vacin, Dorothy Vacin, JR Scheidereiter, Vincent Sciberras, Walt Gromada, Steve Horowitz, Wayne Zander, Jim Haytas, Gerald Hoak, Len Knecht, Bill Pennings, Ken Carpenter, John Philp, Gene Evans, Paul Beeks, Jack Leininger, Wallace Amundson and George Bliss
Twenty Sun Lakes Aero Club members and guests participated in a field trip to the MD Helicopers facility at Falcon Field on March 23. Ten members of the group then convened for an enjoyable lunch at nearby Monestery Restaurant.
MD Helicopters is often called “The House that Hughes built,” referring to legendary aviator Howard Hughes, who started designing and building helicopters in 1955. Hughes Aviation sold the company to McDonnell Douglas, which sold the company to Boeing. Boeing then sold its helicopter lines to MD Helicopters. The company now builds five different helicopter lines. Customers include armed forces of Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Turkey, Argentina, Finland and Italy, in addition to the United States.
This was the Aero Club’s final field trip of the year. Activities pick up again in November, with monthly gatherings featuring interesting aviation-related speakers at the Sun Lakes Country Club, field trips and fly-in breakfasts at restaurants located at nearby airports. For additional information, contact Cannon Hill at 509-539-7857, Gary Vacin at 480-298-7017 or visit the club’s website, SunLakesAeroClub.org.