Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society

06/10/2026

Congrats to Tony Jannus Board Member Courtney Pittman on being voted in as the Executive Director of St. Augustine Airport!

06/08/2026

Thank you to Crawford, Murphy & Tilly for once again being a Fansler sponsor at our Nov 19th Tony Jannus Awards!

Find more information about the event here: https://tonyjannus.com/awards

06/02/2026

A big thank you to American Infrastructure Development, Inc. for being a Legacy Sponsor at our November 19th event honoring Steven Udvar-Hazy!

06/01/2026

Please welcome our two newest Board Members, Tricia DeCesare and Mike Shafer!

05/27/2026

05/27/2026

We received a great note from the father of one of our 2013 Tony Jannus Scholar Awardees, Air Force Captain Andrew Smith. We love

"I am reaching out to share a remarkable full-circle story regarding my son, Air Force Captain Andrew Smith, who was awarded the prestigious Tony Jannus Foundation scholarship in 2013 while an AFROTC student at the University of South Florida.

​That specific year was incredibly impactful for our family. It was the same ceremony where Richard Anderson CEO of Delta Air Lines was honored, and generously doubled the scholarship amount for the recipients. As parents who were actively struggling to pay for his education at the time, that gesture had a monumental impact on Andrew's path.

​During his selection board interview, another profound connection came to light: one of his interviewers was retired Marine Corps Brigadier General Martin (Marty) Post. Decades earlier, General Post was a Lieutenant assigned to Marine Corps squadron VMA-224—the exact same squadron where I served as an ejection seat mechanic (AME) from 1979 to 1981.

​I wanted to share a brief narrative detailing how that foundation interview bridged my past with Andrew's future, and to update the Foundation on the incredible trajectory Andrew has taken since receiving your honor. He is graduating from the Navy Test Pilot School (USNTPS) on June 12th—a milestone achieved by only 200 Air Force pilots in the school's history." - Jeffrey Lynn Smith

Below are photos of when Andrew received the Tony Jannus Scholar Award with his father Jeffrey, Andrew's current aircraft he is flying the CV-22B Osprey, a photo of his father when he was in the Marines and one of Andrew at training.

05/26/2026

Please welcome our newest Board Member Courtney Pittman, Interim Executive Director at St. Augustine Airport!

05/20/2026

Who's going to get one? TJDAS is available and would fit! :)

The Aerospace Center for Excellence and the SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo are thrilled to endorse a new, specialty license plate that celebrates general aviation. The specialty plate colorfully highlights airplanes and a helicopter with a beautiful Florida backdrop. The new Florida “Support General Aviation” specialty license plate is on sale now via presale vouchers at each Florida County Tax Collectors Office.

Proceeds from the sales will fund a new Florida scholarship program for training future pilots, air traffic controllers, aircraft mechanics, airport operations, airline and airport management personnel, aeronautical engineers, aviation meteorologists, aircraft and spacecraft manufacturers and other career positions related to aviation. These scholarship opportunities will help sustain the pipeline of aviation professionals.

Please visit the link for more info and helpful links or visit your local Tax Collectors Office - https://www.floridageneralaviation.com/

05/12/2026

Tony Jannus Board Members Alicia Vanderpool and Christopher Georges were at the FABA - Florida Aviation Business Association's annual conference today and attended a great presentation about the correlation of Tony Jannus' historic first scheduled commercial flight across Tampa Bay and the future eVTOL aircraft offering flights across and around Tampa Bay!

05/05/2026

Tony Jannus meet up at the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) Annual Conference! Thank you to David Graham Long, David Schmidgall,, Richard Strickland, Mark VanLoh, Autumn Ward, Mark Sprague and Bill McGrew for getting together.

Special thanks to Tony Jannus Scholar winner Noa Hollander for joining us!