Aircraft Electronics Association President Paula Derks will serve as the featured speaker at the Wichita Aero Club’s monthly luncheon scheduled for 11:45 a.m. CST on Feb. 17 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Wichita, Kansas. During her remarks, Derks is expected to discuss the ADS-B Out equipment mandate and the industry’s readiness to meet the Jan. 1, 2020, deadline set by the Federal Aviation Administration several years ago.
The Wichita Aero Club was established to foster and promote interest in aviation, to provide a forum that focuses on the industry’s issues and achievements, and to bring together those with a passion for flight in an environment that expands and enhances professional relationships and furthers cooperation and understanding. The organization hosts monthly luncheons featuring prominent speakers from aviation, government, industry and the media. The Wichita Aero Club also provides a regular platform for the discussion of aviation issues and accomplishments, promotes aviation training and career development, and offers scholarships and financial assistance to aviation-related institutions.
In 1915, when Wichita was still identified more with the Great Plains than great planes, the Wichita Aero Club was founded. According to the club’s website, the appropriate paperwork was filed in the state capital of Topeka, and the new group took the initiative to sponsor a balloon race in the fall of that year. It then promptly disappeared. No evidence of its continued operation could be found. No members were identified, and no financial statements were filed. The original Wichita Aero Club apparently made one takeoff, one landing and never flew again. In 2008, however, a new Wichita Aero Club took off. After nearly a century of history that has included the manufacture of more airplanes in Wichita than in any other city on Earth, Wichita’s aviation community has come together to revive the Wichita Aero Club in “The Air Capital of the World.”
Tickets for the Feb. 17 luncheon may be purchased online via the Wichita Aero Club website at www.wichitaaeroclub.org.