The National Aeronautic Association has announced the winners of the 2010 Wesley L. McDonald Elder Statesman Awards and the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy. Ceremonies for the Elder Statesman Awards take place on November 8 in Arlington, Va., to honor recipients Gene Kranz; Maj. Gen. Charles D. Metcalf, USAF (Ret.); Robert L. Taylor and Barry Valentine. This year’s winner of the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy is Harrison Ford, who will receive the award at a banquet held December 17 at the Wright Memorial Dinner in Washington, D.C.
Ford was chosen for the Wright Trophy for “outstanding and significant contributions,” which include serving as chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Young Eagles program from 2004 to 2009; flying relief missions to Haiti in his Cessna Caravan; his work as honorary chairman of the Special Olympics Airlift this year and flying Special Olympics competitors in his Cessna Citation; educating the public about the benefits of general aviation through the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s GA Serves America campaign; and his many years of assisting the Teton County and Lincoln County (Wyoming) search-and-rescue units by flying missions in his Bell helicopter, including two that resulted in rescues.
