A Vienna father and his twin children recently joined an exclusive aviation club, becoming new gold-level members of the Virginia Aviation Ambassador Program.
Coordinated by the Virginia Department of Aviation (DOAV), membership is limited to those who have visited all of the commonwealth’s 65 public-use airports and participated in a fly-in and a safety seminar.
Among the 33 new members welcomed into the fraternity on Sept. 14 at Williamsburg Jamestown Airport were Vienna resident Anand Mohan and his children, Ajay and Aditi Anand. They now are counted among the 700 people from across the nation who have visited all public-use airports in Virginia.
Others from the GazetteLeader coverage area who earned the achievement were Carmel Haas and James Hart of Arlington.
The DOAV is so proud of its system of airports that it initiated the program for pilots and non-pilots to see them. An additional benefit of the program is as an economic driver, according to the director of the DOAV, Greg Campbell.
“When you’re visiting these airports, you are also visiting the local sites, eating at restaurants, staying at hotels and filling up on fuel,” he said.
Identifying ambassadors who have reached gold-level status is easy – they’re wearing a customized leather flight jacket. These unique jackets cannot be purchased, only earned, when the DOAV verifies that a participant has completed the requirements.
New members come from 22 communities across Virginia, along with Maryland, the District of Columbia and Illinois. Among them is Audrey Plum of Williamsburg, who reached gold-level status at just 8 years old.
Campbell doesn’t want people to think of Virginia airports as merely places where airplanes take off and land. “Airports are local gateways to the rest of the world,” he said.
For information on the Virginia Aviation Ambassador Program, see the Website at doav.virginia.gov.
