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| Cassutt Racer at the Midland Fly-in 10 July 2004 |
This page was last updated on Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Flight 8 News
COPA Flight 8's photographers, Michael Dixon and Nathalie Huard, made it to Maurice Prudhomme's Ottawa River Fly-in, despite the poor weather. They said:
Mo’s 24th fly-in on the Ottawa river was again a magical gathering place for pilots. Again this year the weather did not entirely cooperate. Visibility was poor and only a few brave souls made it by air. A testimony to Mo’s great hospitality, many pilots gathered anyway to exchange stories and taste the famous chili.
COPA Flight 8's photographers, Michael Dixon and Nathalie Huard, were recently at the Sainte-Anne-du-Lac Ski Fly-in and sent this report:
We finally made it to a fly-in: Sainte-Anne-du-Lac situated north of Mont-Laurier, Quebec. Perfect weather and many snowmobiles were present in this typical Northern village. Pilots were welcomed by local members offering coffee next to a bonfire. The return flight was just as scenic, flying over reservoir Baskatong, Barrage Mercier and down the Gatineau River.
COPA Flight 8's intrepid photographic team of Michael Dixon and Nathalie Huard travelled all the way down to Reno, Nevada for the annual air races that were held 12-16 September 2012.
This year the races went off without an incident and Nathalie took some great photos of the event!
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Flight 8 member André Durocher has recently fitted a set of Datum skis on his homebuilt Veebee (Corvette powered Seabee), which on skis he refers to as a SkeeBee. The Datum 3500 skis are made from polyester resin and stitched 45° rove matting. He flew it to the Montebello fly-in on 2 February 2013 and will also take it to Mo's Ottawa River fly-in on 23 February 2013.
In reporting on the Montebello fly-in André said:
I test flew it yesterday. Perfect flights! I landed on the lake on skis but the lake was like an ice ring. I flew from Lac-à-la-Tortue to Montebello this morning. Again, the surface was like an ice rink. I landed on wheels! Not too many airplanes because of bad weather but lots of nice and warm people!!
Thanks also go to photographer Jean-Pierre Bonin for contributing some photos of the Veebee at Montebello!
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Flight 8 member André Durocher travelled down to Fredericksburg, Texas for the Questair Venture and Swearingen SX-300 Fly-in and sent this report and some photos as well.
Here are a few pictures from my trip last weekend to Fredericksburg, Texas.
It was all great!! The Hangar Hotel is located directly on the tarmac!! It is a great place to stop on your westerly trips.
The event was a Questair Venture and SX-300 fly in. Four Ventures and Six SX-300s attending. To add up to the excitement Mr Ed Swearingen (the designer of the Metroliner, Merlin and SX-300) showed up at the meeting. I also met Mr Derrel Lowrance from the Lowrance GPS company.
One of the topics of our meeting was a reflection on the 2010 NTSB report showing a higher accident rate for amateur built compared to certified aircraft. In an effort to improve safety and be proactive, we (the Venture group and the SX-300 group) will work on an inspection sheet, maintenance sheet, POH, training manual, improvements and modification lists.
We (the Venture group) are meeting every 6 months and we discuss improvements to the Venture design.
Last weekend was also the Oktoberfest in Fredericksburg and so the 10,000 people from the village were very busy. The area has lots of German people, descendants of those who immigrated here in the 1840s, and of course wines and beer!!
I also flew in a Venture left seat for 30 minutes and reached 300 mph which was exciting!!
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COPA Flight 8 members Michael Dixon and Nathalie Huard travelled up the Gatineau River on 18 August 2012 to arrive at the fly-in at Bouchette, Quebec, which is 6 miles south of Maniwaki.
Michael and Nathalie sent the following photos and also credits for the event's success, "thanks to Diane and Bernard who made the event possible. We had a great day! Special thanks to Denise and Michel owners of the golf course on Patry island."
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The Webster Trophy Competition for 2012 was decided at Rockcliffe Airport and this year's winner is Andrew Woods of Confederation College in Thunder Bay, representing the Western Ontario region.
The Webster Trophy is awarded annually to the top amateur pilot in Canada, chosen after a series of regional and national competitions. Kevin Psutka of COPA produced a video of the event that outlines the whole competition.
COPA Flight 8 Captain Mike Shaw, along with his wife Gail, volunteered at the event and contributed the photos below:
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The Webster group touring Vintage Wings.
Louis Rousseau from Quebec inspecting the Vintage Wings Corsair's cockpit.
The Webster group touring the North Star.
Kevin Psutka (COPA) and Arlo Speer (Transport Canada) trying to choose the winner.
Honorary Col. Michael Potter representing the Snowbirds presents a Snowbird signed picture to Andrea Lane Marrocco from Eastern Ontario, Ottawa Flying Club.
The Webster banquet at Canadian Aviation and Space Museum.
Felicity McKendry (1952 Webster competitor) making presentation to 2012 winner Andrew Curtis Woods.
Peter McKenzie Heron on behalf of the finalist thanking the Webster organizers, Wayne and Amy Foy.
The trip was really well done. Bill Tate, VP Project North Star, organized tours and tasting at Jackson-Triggs and Marynissen Wineries. The latter is not sold in LCBOs only restaurants or by phone/online orders. It was quite good. We dined on the patio at the Epicurean Restaurant in Niagara on the Lake Friday evening. Saturday we arrived at Hamilton's Air Show about 9:00 am and staked out our table and chairs by the flight line. We had Canadian War Plane Heritage VIP seats kindly provided by Project North Star supporter Mr Bill Hough. Thanks Bill for such great seats which included food and drinks, and beer. As well we could get out of the sun under tents. Dennis and I toured the apron area and spoke to many exhibitors. We toured Canada's newest Hercules and saw other interesting aircraft. The Air Show was well done and it was a rare treat to see both Fifi the Commemorative Air Force's B29 and Canadian Warplane Heritage's Mynarski's Lancaster in formation.
Sunday we left our hotel in east Hamilton and drove straight to the distillery district of Toronto. We ate brunch at the Mill Street Brew Pub (too early for the beer) and shopped till noon. We arrived at Air Canada's Pilot Training Centre where we toured the flight simulators and procedure trainers. From there we visited the brains of Air Canada, its Operations Centre, where everything from passenger tracking to ensure successful connections, to dispatchers handling all flights all the time. Behind the scenes at Air Canada there are some very dedicated people.
We arrived back at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum's parking lot at 10 pm Sunday to collect our cars and head home.
Flight 8 participants Dennis Pharoah, Allan Bowes, Gail and I thank Bill Tate and Richard Lodge for offering Flight 8 members the opportunity to join in. We had a great time!
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COPA Flight 8 Captain Mike Shaw attended the Wings and Wheels show that was held on 09 June 2012 at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum at Rockcliffe Airport. He reports:
The show was quite good and the weather was great. Unfortunately there were not too many attendees. I think a combination of limited advertising and the cost of admission negatively impacted attendance. There were more cars than airplanes. The Ford Mustang crowd were quite busy getting shots of their cars with the North American P-51 Mustangs.
Mike took some great photos of the event.
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COPA Flight 8 Members & Planes
Date & Time:
Wednesday 22 May 2013, 1930 hrs (7:30 pm for non-pilots)
Location:
Ottawa Flying Club Lounge
(map)
Topic:
Meeting is cancelled!
See Upcoming events for more details
