Officials with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) announced at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2026 that Ashley Almquist is the winner of AOPA’s Sweepstakes aircraft, a 2024 Aviat Husky A-1C-200.
Almquist graduated from the University of North Dakota in 2026 with a degree in commercial aviation and aviation safety, and she is now a flight instructor at the school.
“We always try to surprise the winners and give our sweepstakes airplanes away in person,” said AOPA Senior Vice President of Media Kollin Stagnito. “In Ashley’s case, we wanted to hand over the keys at EAA AirVenture, but our first two ruses to convince her to attend AirVenture that day unawares didn’t work. After that, we worked with Ashley’s sister Ava to get the entire family to the show on Wednesday.”
After AOPA’s Pilot Town Hall, AOPA Acting Co-President Katie Pribyl encouraged attendees to gather around the Husky and played a game of elimination to surprise the winner. After six questions, Almquist’s hand was the only one raised.
While in a state of disbelief, Almquist was handed the keys to her new airplane by AOPA Board Chairman Luke Wippler.
“I’ve always really wanted to try taildraggers,” said Almquist. “Back at UND they had the aerobatics program, but by the time I kind of I realized it, I was already working on my flight instructor certificate and I never really had the time to get into it. So, I’m really excited to try this out and fly it around.”
Almquist’s father is a pilot at United Airlines, and her sister flies for a regional airline. Almquist hopes to one day join them both at United.
The winner of each AOPA sweepstakes airplane is picked by an independent sweepstakes administrator, Ventura Associates International. To learn more about this process, click here.
The next sweepstakes airplane is a 1977 Piper Archer II.
For more information: AOPA.org/Sweeps
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