DeLand wins out

With Sebring out of the running, the war of the Florida events is over and DeLand becomes the Sport Aviation Showcase

- Marino Boric

The DeLand Sport Aviation Showcase is now over for another year, but its victory in what you might call the battle of LSA fly-in events in Florida was a bitter one. This year DeLand was not blessed by the usual sunny Florida weather but punished with three days of solid grey clouds overhead and an ever-present threat of rain. Unusually cold weather, with temperatures of around 10°C, felt even chillier due to the steady winds−the kind of weather I thought I had left behind in Northern Europe on departure. And when I arrived in Orlando the day before the event, they were talking on the morning news about seventy per cent of the USA seeing temperatures below freezing−not the best prospect for an outdoor aviation exhibition.

The exhibitor booking numbers were excellent, and this fourth edition of the show was supposed to be a triumph−but the weather and the cold wind denied any opportunity of record attendance. The Champagne will have to remained unopened until next year.