Dan
Johnson receives LAMA award
By Barbara A. Schmitz
Dan Johnson says he’s
just the lucky messenger.
"I go to a lot of
air shows and fly a lot of airplanes, and a lot of people don’t have
that privilege," says Johnson, a leading reviewer of light-sport
airplanes and ultralights. "But I couldn’t do that without a
legion of people who are busy developing new planes."
In his 30 years of
aviation writing, Johnson has flown and evaluated more than 300 models
of airplanes and written more than 600 flight reports for such
publications as EAA Sport Pilot & Light Sport Aircraft, Kitplanes,
Ultralight Flying!, General Aviation News, Experimenter, Hang Gliding
& Paragliding, and others.
His contribution to
light-sport aircraft hasn’t gone unnoticed. He received the Light
Aircraft Manufacturers Association President’s Award Monday. The LAMA
award was established 14 years ago for individual achievement within the
industry; industry leaders vote for the winner.
Johnson said his love
affair with airplanes began when he was 9 and had the chance to
"play with the wheel" of a DC-3.
Then, his parents gave
him 10 hours of flying lessons for a graduation present. "They
thought it would be a positive influence in my life," he said.
In 1966 he received his
private pilot certificate and he later earned a commercial ticcket with
instrument, multi-engine, and flight instructor ratings.
He left Chicago for the
Chattanooga mountains where he began his writing career, publishing his
first article in the premier February 1976 issue of Glider Rider
(now Ultralight Flying!).
As the hang-gliding
market matured, Johnson turned to writing about ultralights. And as that
market matured, he again shifted to LSA.
Today he owns Dan Johnson
Media Corp. and is president of the LSA Marketing Group. His
ByDanJohnson.com website, launched in 2004, is the Internet’s largest
source of pilot reports and aircraft information. The website also
includes a blog of his LSA observations.
Johnson said he is honored to receive the
LAMA award. But the award isn’t his first. He has also received the
Moody Award in 1999, the Spirit of Flight Award from the Society of
Experimental Test Pilots in 2001, and the Outstanding Leadership Award
from ASTM International in 2003.
