Sweepstakes roundup
Which airplane would you keep? Which one would you kick to the curb?
“Are you taking care of my airplane?”
“You’re not letting anybody mess with my airplane, are you?”
“Oh wow, here it is! I’m gonna win it this year!”
Anybody who’s wrangled a sweepstakes aircraft at an airshow has heard these comments and many variations thereof. It’s fun to come back at them with something like “Now do you have room in your hangar for this airplane?” They do a double take. “Well yeah!” or “I don’t have a hangar! But I’d sure get one if I won it.”
Less fun are the snoots. “I’ll keep my Cirrus,” a dude told me the year I was babysitting the Remos LSA sweepstakes airplane for AOPA.
Fortunately, the snoots are rare. Most people are excited to think about winning an airplane and happy to engage in a fanciful exchange about the possibilities.
So what’s on the sweepstakes roster for 2024-2025? Let’s run down the major players in alphabetical order.
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AOPA: After giving away a revitalized Cessna 180 earlier this year in February 2024, AOPA came out of the gate hot with its next project: a Cessna 182 that is undergoing a “resto-mod.” “Resto-mod” is marketing for “We are taking an old airplane, fixing it up, loading it up with cool new stuff, but also retaining some of the classic design features that make it so beloved.” Pilots love following the resto-mod process, sometimes because they want to do similar upgrades to their airplanes, and sometimes just because it sparks their imaginations.
Anyway, the Sweepstakes 182 made its debut at AirVenture last month. Unlike many sweepstakes projects in the early stages of retro-modification, this one already sports its fabulous new paint scheme, designed to emulate a Cessna Skylane that was on the cover of AOPA Pilot magazine in 1959.
How do I win this? If you’re an AOPA member you’re automatically entered to win. However, you don’t need to be a member to enter! You can also download an entry form from the website, fill it out BY HAND, and mail it in. You’d be surprised how many people do this.
When will the sweepstakes end? June 30, 2025. That date suggests—but doesn’t necessarily mean—that it will be given away at a high-profile event such as AirVenture. The devil’s in the details. Can the winning entry be validated by then? Can they put together a workable scheme to get the winner to the event?
Keep it, or kick to the curb? Honestly I don’t know many people who would kick a Cessna 182 to the curb. Even if they already had one, let’s say model years 1965 to 2015, and it wasn’t turbocharged, the new paint/glass instruments/interior would probably cause them to want to sell their current airplane and keep this one. Aside from the resto-modding, these airplanes get a lot of attention wherever they go, and that has some appeal for some folks.
EAA: EAA’s sweepstakes airplane this year is a gorgeous little Ercoupe 415-C.
When will the sweepstakes end? It has, as of August 1. The drawing will be held August 31. Good luck everybody!
Keep it, or kick it to the curb? This one’s a draw. I myself would keep it in a red-hot minute, but for lots of folks, LSAs simply aren’t desirable or practical. The person who won this same airplane in 2023 opted to keep a cash prize of $25,000 instead. It’s not clear from the language of the sweepstakes page whether that’s an option this year.
FLYING: Now here’s a twist: Rather than present you with an airplane, FLYING is just gonna give you a $100,000 credit that you can use toward the purchase of an airplane featured on their Aircraft for Sale page.
On the one hand, this is a novel idea. As the marketing copy says, you have the flexibility to buy whatever airplane suits your needs, whether that be an LSA or a twin or a I dunno.
On the other hand, will $100,000 actually buy you something you’d want and wouldn’t have to spend a lot more money to fix up? Well, let’s take a quick peek at their sales page.
For $60,000, you can purchase a 1978 Piper Tomahawk. Add on a fabulous Quicksilver ultralight for $11,900 and you haven’t even gotten to $100K. Whoa, here’s a 1941 Stearman for $71,500!
How do I enter? From the official rules: All subscribers of FLYING Magazine or one of the other participating aviation publications: Plane & Pilot Magazine, KITPLANES Magazine, Aviation Consumer Magazine, Aviation Safety Magazine, or IFR Magazine are automatically entered. As with the AOPA sweepstakes, you can also mail in a free entry option.
When will the sweepstakes end? May 31, 2025. You have an entire year to shop.
Keep it or kick it to the curb? I mean, it’s kind of hard to resist a $100,000 credit. I suspect the winner will use the credit but may have to supplement it to buy what they really want.
A couple raffle options
There are instances where you can buy a raffle ticket in the hopes that the limited number of tickets they typically sell will improve your odds of winning. Here are two:
Ranger Airfield Foundation is raffling off a 1946 Piper J-3 Cub that was restored in 2008. Tickets are on sale until Oct. 2 or they sell 2,500 tickets, whichever comes first (they say they’ve already sold 79%).
Wings of the North has this Cessna 140 (or $30,000 cash) with tickets available and a drawing set for Sept. 28, 2024.
Thanks and a tip o’ the hat to Fly With Pat, which has this nicely updated list of airplane raffles ending in 2024.