Writer Can't Shake Fly-In Ban The FAA shut the door on Jim Campbell when it reversed a ruling. Friday, April 7, 2000 By BILLY TOWNSEND The Ledger LAKELAND -- Aviation reporter Jim Campbell continues to fire rocks at the closed gates of the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In one year after organizers banned him for life from the annual air show. But with the 2000 Fly-In set to begin Sunday, Campbell has yet to make a dent. And Sun 'n Fun officials have no plans to waver. They say Campbell, 43, brought the ban on himself by mistreating visitors and staff at the Fly-In. And a federal judge last year backed them up in court. "It's old news," said John Burton, Sun 'n Fun's executive director. "It's already been discussed and decided." Campbell may have lost the best stone in his slingshot last week when the Federal Aviation Administration backtracked and said Sun 'n Fun does have the right to ban Campbell, a licensed pilot, even from the federally funded buildings and runways within its zone of control. Only days before, FAA said Campbell must have access to those facilities. Failure to do so would have "raised questions about grant assurances" with the city of Lakeland, which has received nearly $10 million from FAA since 1995, said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. FAA now says that the ban does not run afoul of grant assurances. "That's a shock," Campbell said of the FAA reversal. "I didn't think they were that stupid." But Campbell said he remains hopeful that FAA will reverse itself again and provide him access. And he said he continues to be in regular contact with top FAA representatives. A LIGHTNING ROD Campbell once published the now defunct U.S. Aviator, a Winter Haven- based flight magazine. He now operates an aviation Web site, Aero-News Network, at www.aero-news.net. Much of his reporting has focused on the type of homebuilt kit aircraft sold by many vendors who attend the Fly-In. Campbell describes himself as an aviation consumer advocate, unafraid of exposing the safety problems or shady business practices of experimental aircraft manufacturers. He said that type of reporting has turned Sun 'n Fun organizers against him. "It's the old thing. If you can't fight the truth, shoot the messenger," said Campbell. But Campbell's critics call his reporting vindictive and unbalanced. At least two Web sites and an Internet forum have devoted substantial effort and space to denouncing him and discrediting his work. Links to those Web sites can be found on the homepage for Revolution Helicopter, a frequent target of Campbell's pen in recent years and a vendor at past Fly-Ins. The Web site is at www.revolutionhelicopter.com. The company's Mini 500 helicopter was involved in 44 accidents between 1995 and 1998, including four fatal accidents in 1998, according to its own Web site. Campbell repeatedly has written critical pieces about the safety record of Revolution Helicopter, which is listed as an exhibitor for the 2000 Fly-In on Sun 'N Fun's Web site, but not in its newly released print program. The company's phone number was disconnected, and officials could not be reached for comment. Campbell has also told in print the story of George Conn, of Eustis, who has a court judgment for $3,000 plus interest for an airplane bought at Sun 'n Fun, but never delivered by CGS Aviation of Broadview Heights, Ohio. A re-organized version of the company, still known as CGS, continues to exhibit products at Sun 'n Fun. Company officials could not be reached for comment. Conn says Fly-In officials have made no effort to help his cause. And he credits Campbell with being a strident advocate for consumers and safety. "Jim Campbell has saved lives in this place," said Conn. "I've never seen him betough on anybody who didn't deserve it." Warren Morningstar, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, which claims more than 355,000 members, said Campbell is a polarizing figure in the aviation community. "A lot of people have strong opinions about him one way or the other," said Morningstar. "The area he has staked out is very much that of an activist." Morningstar would not comment on the quality of Campbell's work or the merits of the Sun 'n Fun ban. But he did say Campbell is welcome at AOPA events and recognized by the group as a journalist. ERRATIC BEHAVIOR? Sun 'n Fun officials say their ban has nothing to do with Campbell's reporting. They say Campbell himself, before the ban, harassed vendors and staff within Sun 'n Fun on several occasions. He was ejected from the Fly-In's premises three times between 1994 and 1998, each time after a confrontation with a vendor or a security volunteer escalated into a confrontation with senior Sun 'n Fun staff. Alluding to the ejections, Sun 'n Fun banned Campbell for life from the Fly-In before its 1999 show. Organizers said reporters working for Campbell still could receive credentials and cover the event on site. But Campbell said correspondents using the U.S. Aviator name were told to register under a different name if they wanted to enter Sun 'n Fun. Campbell acknowledges asking hard questions, but denies that he ever acted in a threatening or excessively confrontational manner. "Not in my opinion," Campbell said, when asked if his behavior justified the ejections. Morningstar said his group has not had any conduct problems with Campbell at its events. And Phil Boyer, the president of AOPA, wrote as much in a letter to Campbell. Boyer wrote that Campbell is "always welcome" at AOPA events. "We value the coverage you have given AOPA and general aviation over the years," wrote Boyer. Even Sun 'N Fun's Burton said he knew of no other aviation event that had banned Campbell. When asked why Sun 'n Fun and Campbell seemed to mix so poorly, Burton declined to speculate. "I don't even want to venture a guess," said Burton. "That's something you need to talk to him about." JUDGE BACKS BAN Just before the 1999 Fly-In opened, Campbell sued for admission to the air show, calling the ban a violation of his First Amendment rights. But U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara upheld the ban. He said Sun 'n Fun is a private entity that can deny admission to anyone at anytime, despite the fact that much of the Fly-In takes place on property owned by the city of Lakeland. Lazzara found that Sun 'n Fun serves no government purpose. "Obviously, putting on air shows is not a function of the government, never has been," said Lazzara. "There's no evidence that the government has coerced or significantly encouraged the action alleged to violate the Constitution in this case," the judge said. The Fly-In owns about 60 acres adjacent to the city airport and leases about 27 more from the city for about $300,000 a year. It also has received $438,000 since 1988 from Polk County's Tourist Development Council, which is funded by a tax on hotel guests. The county funding was not addressed in court. The Florida Department of Transportation has given Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, site of the annual air show, about $17 million for improvements since 1995. In addition, the FAA operates a sort of flight clearinghouse at a permanent building within the property controlled by Sun 'n Fun. And since 1995, FAA has spent about $10 million on runways at the airport. That, said FAA spokes-woman Bergen early last week, meant Campbell would be welcome as a pilot on the airport's runways, taxiways and aprons and at the FAA's safety center maintained with-in the Fly-in zone of control, regardless of the federal judge's ruling. But she offered this caveat. How Campbell got from the airport's runways across Sun 'n Fun's infield and to the FAA pavilion was between him, Sun 'n Fun and Lazzara. "We don't have any role in the dispute between Mr. Campbell and Sun 'n Fun," said Bergen. But she added that failure to grant Campbell access to the pavilion and parts of the airport the FAA helped fund would "raise questions about grant assurances" of equal access to all citizens made by the city of Lakeland when it accepted federal money for the airport. Bergen added that FAA legal staff, fully aware of Lazzara's decision, had communicated that position to Sun 'n Fun lawyers. Later in the week, after a conversation with Sun 'n Fun lawyer John Wendel, and what Bergen termed further review of the Lazzara decision, FAA backed away from its first posi-tion. It now concedes that Lazzara's ruling permits the Fly-In to ban Campbell or anyone else not just from Sun 'n Fun's facilities, but also the federal facilities it uses during the Fly-In. Bergen would not comment on the merits of Lazzara's decision, except to say that FAA must abide by it.