Dr. Marina Ruggles-Wrenn, a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology, received the 2015 Katherine and

Mary Miller (left) and Paula Hochstetler (center) present Dr. Marina Ruggles-Wrenn (right) with the Stinson Trophy

Marjorie Stinson Trophy for  "...dedicating over 27 years of her professional life to advancing the state-of-the-art in aerospace structures, design, and materials."

The Stinson Trophy was created in 1997 by NAA to honor the accomplishments of two sisters - Katherine and Marjorie Stinson. These sisters were among the first 11 American women to be certified as airplane pilots through the Aero Club of America (the predecessor of NAA). Their flying school helped numerous U.S. and foreign pilots to earn their Aero Club licenses, the precursor to FAA pilot certificates. 

The trophy recognizes a living person for "...an outstanding and enduring contribution to the role of women in the field of aviation, aeronautics, space, or related sciences."

Two Eagles balloon pilots Leonid Tiukhtyaev and Troy Bradley landed safely just outside Baja, Mexico on Saturday, January 31, 2015, after completing their successful attempt to capture the world gas balloon distance and duration records.

 The records are pending approval by NAA and FAI, but it appears the Two Eagles team has surpassed both the distance and duration records for gas balloons. The team's distance of 6,646 miles (10,696 km) surpassed the existing record of 5,208 miles (8,383 km), set by Double Eagle V pilots Ben Abruzzo, Larry Newman, Ron Clark, and Rocky Aoki in 1981, by 27%.

 The team stayed aloft for 160 hours, 38 minutes (6 days, 16 hours, 38 minutes), besting by 17% the previous record of 137 hours, 5 minutes, 50 seconds set in 1978 by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman aboard the Double Eagle II.

Photo by Niklas Daniel

For the third year in a row, the U.S. Parachute Association (USPA) is reporting record-high growth, indicating that more and more people are not only jumping for the first time, but are taking up the sport as a hobby and a passion.

Throughout 2014, USPA membership continued to set record highs, ending the year with 36,770 members, the highest in the association's 68-year history.

Last year, more than a half million people experienced the thrill of a lifetime, taking the leap for the first time. These first-timers and USPA members combined to make roughly 3.2 million skydives at more than 240 USPA-affiliated skydiving schools and centers across the country.

USPA also welcomed nearly 8,000 new members, the most ever added in a single year, and issued more than 4,100 basic skydiving licenses. These record-high numbers prove that more first-timers are coming back to pursue the sport and become certified solo jumpers.

For more information on making a first jump or to find a skydiving center near you, visit the USPA website or call 800.371.USPA.

The Aero Club of New England (ACONE) will present the Godfrey L. Cabot Award to Abe Karem on Friday, June 5, 2015 in Boston.

The Godfrey L. Cabot Award will be presented to Karem to honor his lifetime of innovation creating remotely piloted, unmanned aerial vehicles (RPA). His designs have fundamentally defined the basic configuration for the majority of fixed-wing and single-rotor RPAs, according to club officials.

Karem has developed more than 30 aircraft designs, half of which have been built and flown, since emigrating from Israel in 1977. He is best known for the achievements of Leading Systems, which created the Predator family of RPAs.  Karem is founder, president, and chief designer of Karem Aircraft located in Lake Forest, Calif.

The Cabot Award, made in commemoration of Dr. Godfrey L. Cabot (now deceased), is presented each year by ACONE to an individual or team who have made a unique and unparalleled contribution to encourage and advance aviation and space flight.  

Reid Dennis speaking at the Aero Club of Northern California Luncheon on February 24, 2015

The March 17 to May 21, 1997 flight followed the route of Amelia Earhart's 1937 final flight, on which her Lockheed Electra disappeared over the Pacific. Starting from Oakland, California, Dennis' flight included 38 stops in 21 countries in 195 hours of flight time.

The 1955 Grumman G-64 Albatross can operate on water and land. Dennis' 1997 globe-circling flight escorted Texas aviator Linda Finch on her re-creation of Earhart's last flight. Finch's journey was filmed from Dennis' twin-engine Albatross, which accompanied Finch's Electra in case she needed help in an emergency.

Dennis bought the Albatross, sitting derelict with no engines in the 

Arizona desert, in 1989. It took seven years for mechanics to rebuild the former U.S. Navy seaplane. In 2013, Dennis donated the Albatross to the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California.