Founder’s Innovation Prize submissions from the first four years of the competition ranged from technology to training and were evaluated based on effectiveness, ease of installation, and cost. Five finalists were chosen each year to present their solutions in front of a panel of expert judges. The judges awarded first-, second-, and third-place winners with prizes of $25,000, $10,000, and $5,000 respectively.
At AirVenture 2021, a Grand Champion was honored. The Grand Championship aimed to further the progress that has been made by finalists and honorable mentions in the competition in previous years, and encouraged the strongest entries from the first four years to continue to develop their existing ideas into real world loss-of-control solutions. The experienced judging panel consisted of Pat Anderson, professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Gregory Feith, former senior air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board; Dave Morss, renowned test pilot; Dick VanGrunsven, CEO of Van’s Aircraft, and Michael Goulian, EAA director and air show pilot.
After careful consideration, the judges awarded the grand prize of $50,000 to the developers of FlyONSPEED to further the production of their units. FlyONSPEED, submitted by the team of Mike Vaccaro, EAA 152409, Lenard Iszak, EAA 817999, Cecil Jones, EAA 255202, Bob Baggerman, EAA 1263294, Christopher Jones, EAA 670032, Philip Starbuck, EAA 1199535, Vern Little, EAA 1372675, and Brian Chesteen, EAA 641295, is a system that simplifies energy management. It provides tested and proven angle-of-attack (AOA), energy, and sideslip cues to the pilot to prevent loss of control. It also provides overload (g) and airspeed warning. Read more about the winning innovations.
