Sturgell Makes His First Oshkosh Appearance As Administrator One of the more interesting events (most years) that takes places at each rendition of the annual Oshkosh aerial get-together is the chance to listen to, and then grill/question/cajole info from the current FAA Boss. This year was no different... In his opening remarks, FAA's Acting Admin, Bobby Sturgell's low-key, affable nature played well to the middling crowd at the 2008 forum... which was a far cry from the packed houses Blakey drew during her tenure, with several rows of seating in the Honda Pavilion left empty. But Sturgell -- himself an accomplished military and commercial pilot, another difference from his former boss -- knew how to appeal to that audience. After allowing other FAA personnel in attendance to introduce themselves (which led to a good-natured game of "whose ties to GA are strongest?" during their intros) Sturgell paid heed to the four winners of the FAA's General Aviation Awards Program for 2008: CFI Max Trescott, FAAST Team Member John Teipen, Maintenance Technician Mike Busch, and Avionics Technician Tim Adkison, who received their honors Wednesday night at a Theater in the Woods presentation. Sturgell then got down to business, giving EAA members some insight into his position on the so-called "51 percent" rule, and the FAA's efforts to modify it. "As you know, we've got a proposed policy change for homebuilts," Sturgell said. "It's come to our attention that some companies may be skirting the letter of the law by selling a kit that requires nothing more than two turns of a screwdriver. For safety's sake, we just can't allow that. It's not right, and it circumvents the very safeguards that are put in place to protect everyone in the system. Sturgell also addressed proposed changes to the light-sport aircraft rule, and implored anyone with comments on the current NPRM to weigh in. "Your feedback is vital to keeping the Light Sport rule on course," he said. "We want to hear from you before the comment ...
