4/14/99 -- 12:43 AM

Publisher banned from Sun 'n Fun Fly-In 
By STEVE NEWBORN of The Tampa Tribune


LAKELAND - A lawyer for the Sun 'n Fun EAA Fly-In denies the event 
banned a publisher for writing negative articles. 

The publisher of an aviation magazine who was banned from this week's 
Sun 'n Fun EAA Fly-In said he is being made a scapegoat for writing 
about companies that he claims market unsafe airplanes at the event. 

"It's the shoot the messenger syndrome," said James R. Campbell of US 
Aviator magazine. "And it feels like I'm looking like Swiss cheese out 
there." 

Campbell said he has been vilified by the nation's second-largest 
airplane convention because he has written articles about companies he 
claims have sold aircraft that have killed several pilots. 

"I'm afraid I'm going to set a precedent for every journalist out 
there," he said during a news conference Tuesday at the Lakeland Linder 
Regional Airport terminal. 

Campbell said Fly-In officials have a moral duty to regulate those 
companies or prevent them from marketing unsafe aircraft during the 
weeklong air show. 

But the Fly-In's lawyer said such regulation should fall under the 
domain of federal regulators. 

"In my view, that's the regulatory purpose of the Federal Aviation 
Administration," said John Wendel of Lakeland. "Sun 'n Fun does not 
have the ability or authority - or if it wanted to, the staff - to 
perform any of those functions." 

Wendel said it's not a question of freedom of the press, but whether a 
private corporation is allowed to control access to property it leases. 

``He's trying to portray this as a First Amendment freedom issue, and 
weaves in there safety," he said. 

Thursday, a federal judge refused to lift the ban on Campbell, saying 
the court did not have authority to require a private corporation to 
allow someone onto its leased property. Attorneys for the event told 
the judge last week that the ban was based on Campbell's conduct, not 
his articles. 

The Fly-In grounds are leased from the city of Lakeland. 

Campbell said he has written negative articles about several other air 
shows, without being banned - including the Experimental Aircraft 
Association's annual Oshkosh, Wis., show. 

``I'm just trying to do my job," he said of the Winter Haven-based 
magazine, which prints about 30,000 issues every month. ``We're the 
only ones who are blowing the whistle on planes we think are 
dangerous."