It's that time again, when organizers of the Tony Jannus Award reveal this year's recipient of the prize for contributions to commercial aviation.
Don't ask for the name yet. Officials guard the honoree's identity like Fort Knox and insist their lips are sealed until a news conference Tuesday morning at the St. Petersburg Museum of History.
For those who can't make it, here are some hints. Unlike the past six winners, the recipient does not come from an airline background, such as Virgin Atlantic Airways founder Sir Richard Branson (2000), Bob Crandall of American (2001) and Continental CEO Gordon Bethune (2003).
Instead, you'll find our mystery guest in the nation's capital. A person who could help out his boss with a visit to Florida shortly before the election in November. Someone familiar with aviation issues and policy.
Someone like . . . Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta? A former California congressman who chaired the House aviation subcommittee. President Clinton's commerce secretary and the only Democrat to serve on President Bush's cabinet.
A quick call to Washington confirmed it. Mineta is tentatively scheduled to be in the Tampa Bay area Oct. 20 to receive the award, his press office said last week.
