Diamond Flyers from various parts of the East Coast descended on Washington DC recently to enjoy one of our nation’s most prized jewels of the aviation industry… the National Air & Space Museum for a private guided tour.
The Stephen L. Udvar Hazy National Air & Space Museum is located adjacent to the Dulles International Airport and is named in honor the sizable donation from Mr. Hazy who made his fortune leasing aircraft.
The museum is simply the worlds greatest collection of famous aircraft. Visitors are greeted at the door by the SR71 “Blackbird”, the Concord SST, the Enola Gay B29, the Boeing 707, the space shuttle Discovery and hundreds more from the beginnings of flight to the dreams of space. It is truly remarkable and something that every aviation enthusiast, young person and of course pilot should visit. Dave Passmore, proud owner of the first Diamond DA42-VI to come to America as well as a member of the Dominion Aircraft Sales team was the groups private tour guide. Dave is a docent at the museum and provided a wealth of knowledge and added enjoyment for the group.
The Fly-In event was organized by the East Coast Diamond Flight Center Network, a growing group of flight centers that are banded together to create new potentials in modern flight training and access to modern aviation lifestyles and aircraft. The group includes flight training organizations from Boston to North Carolina and is sponsored by Dominion Aircraft Sales the Diamond Regional Distribution Center for the region. American Aviation, based at Manassas VA, hosted the group as the destination airport Flight Center arranging for their arrivals and transportation.
“Our Flight Center Network is truly remarkable” commented John Armstrong, President of Dominion Aircraft Sales “They are progressive thinking operators that are working together to create a different experience and potential for people coming into aviation. They have committed to using modern aircraft, modern training technics and tools such as our online learning management systems and simulators, and they are committed to helping their clients achieve the potential of the flying lifestyle.”
The group sponsors events to help pilots enjoy the potential of flight and encourage them to venture past their training routine. In fact, one of the participants of the DC Museum event that came from Blue Line Aviation soloed an aircraft for the first time ever on Friday and on Saturday he flew into the DC Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) for the event and then did IFR training on the flight home (all with his instructor of course!). Several of the participants for the Fly-In own leaseback aircraft and several owned 3 Diamonds! Leasebacks are the structure used for students and pilots to own aircraft with leverage tax advantage structure with the flight school leasing the aircraft for the owner to provide them a unique economic potential. The Flight Center Network represents excellent opportunities for acquiring and leasing aircraft. Mr. Hazy figured it out and the Diamond network helps people learn about the economic advantages of leaseback opportunities for personal aircraft.
A new flying Club, The Cape Fear Flyers from Wilmington NC, was represented and Blue Line Aviation of Raleigh NC had three of their Diamonds fly in for the event.
“As a group we are the gateway for people to access their dreams of flight. We want to help them achieve their goals and this involves providing effective training and modern equipment but also methods for them to acquire aircraft or gain access to them for their flying dreams. Our Leaseback and DiamondShare programs are powerful tools to help people achieve their dreams.” continued Armstrong.
The flight training organizations that are part of the growing and special Diamond Flight Center Development program are:
American Aviation – Manassas VA
SML Aviation – Roanoke and Lynchburg VA
Blue Line Aviation – Raleigh and Johnson County NC
Alpha One – Salisbury and Concord NC
Cargill Aeronautical Academy – Harrisburg PA
Dillon’s Aviation – Greenville NC
Don Davis Aviation – Henderson KY
Epix Aviation – Chesapeake and Newport News VA
Freeflight Aviation – Medford NJ
Nexgen Aviation – Lexington KY
Noble Airventures – Stow MA
Image Aviation – Oxford CT
Enjoy more photos of the fly-in event.
Dominion Aircraft Sales is the Regional Diamond Distribution Center (DRDC) for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast of the US that created and sponsors the Diamond Flight Center Development Program, the DiamondShare Program and the GlassPlane.com Network. Through its flight centers, partners and affiliates they provide an extensive and productive network for the sale of aircraft, training, brokerage services and membership access to aircraft. For more information or to gain access to the services of our member flight training organizations contact the company at 406-FLY-1NOW / 406-359-1669.