2008 SOAPA Fly-In.
 

Fellow Skymaster Afficionados:

The Executive Board is now deliberating where to have the 2008 Fly-In. We will keep you posted on our progress.

As a reminder to all who own, fly, or are interested in Skymasters, you may join the Skymaster Owners and Pilots Association, and the Executive Board, by notifying the Vice-President Secretary (Larry), as provided by the SOAPA By-Laws.

Paul S. Rooy
President, SOAPA

Where are the top 3 places the board is looking at?

Skymaster337B:

Speaking as proud owner of two Skymaster 337Cs, you fly a great airplane! Nominations for the 2008 SOAPA Fly-In occurred between 9/14/07 and 9/23/07. The result was a list of 7 destinations and three dates.

E-Board voting was called on 9/28/2007, and will close noon Friday 10/5/2007. Because the votes are currently in the process of being cast and tabulated, I can't comment on who the leading contendors are, but will advise ya'll as soon as this information is available.

Stay tuned, and hope to see you at the Fly-In.

337ers:

The votes are in! The 2008 SOAPA Fly-In will take place in Kalamazoo, MI, during the 2d week of June, 2008!

Stay tuned for developments.

So what's in Kalamazoo?

The Air Zoo is in Kalamazoo.

Kalamazoo
 

Tell me.... you never heard the song "I got a gal in Kalamazoo etc. "

Quite frankly, the base meeting will be in Kalamazoo and when we attend the meeting, we will all be in Kalamazoo. All kidding aside, there is really a lot to do and we, the Michigan Flyers will do our very best to make it a very memorable and enjoyable event.

Jerry
N34EC:D

Or will I have to wait for a meeting in Reno?

(just not appropriate. that's why I edited it.)

AZO
 

If that's your thing you better wait for Reno!

My bad.

Here's a question - has Canada ever been considered, eh?

I am particularly thinking of Qualicum Bay, out on the east coast of Vancouver Island. Absolutely breathtaking, the whole island. I was there in August, and during a low-n-slow up the Georgia Straights I saw positively over 100 whales!

Just my 2c.

I just saw on the news tonight that Homeland Security has finally totally gone bonkers. Not only are regulations being increased and tightened about 4-fold (again) for any air-entries into the US, but also for flights crossing OVER the US. I think this is going to deter a lot of us Candian folks from going to the States in future...

considered
 

To be honest...No! Canada was never mentioned. Why? Well, you have to understand who votes. The voting is done by the people that attend the flyin meeting. If you come to the meeting when we have the flyin, you not only have an opportunity to vote for the next meeting place but you also have the opportunity to run for one of the SOAPA board positions. That's right. The organization is set up to serve those that join in. Simply commenting on the web site does not entitle one to vote. So for all you folks that haven't attended a Skymaster flyin....come on down! We will love to have you.

Attend the Michigan flyin in June 2008. It is really going to be one heck of a flyin full of fun things to see and do. Oh yes! flying too!

Jerry
N34EC:D

Interesting point, I did not know that. It was just a suggestion though, not a vote.

Quallicum sounds great. A quick 15 minute flight for me.

2008 Flyin
 

I think Michigan will be great, hope to see everyone there in June. Wayne

ok !! it's at larry's house. plenty of grass
for camping. he's got six banos and an acre frontroom w/5 flat screens tv's.
two side by side fridges(fully stocked), a hangar for shop talk. what a guy!! think i'll show up a week early, just to ease into
this michigan lifestyle.

I look forward to MI, but wow, Canada may be a great adventure for 2009, eh?
________
BMW M73

Okay, some misconceptions are afoot.
Yes, I do have lots of grass for camping, but only 5 banos, the living room isn't THAT large. We also have some nice hotels in the area, in case you didn't really want to camp out. Rick, you forgot to mention the 18 hole golf course. It's across the street, not actually at my house. Should we plan a golf outing, as well?

If you show up a week early, you are more than welcome.

Keven, if we went to CA NA DA, we could fly over the Snake river on the way, eh?

The fly-in in Kalamazoo will be fabulous.
We are working hard to make it a memorable event.

We look forward to seeing lots of old friends and making lots of new friends.

2008 soapa fly-in
 

Great location. Jean and I will be there early if you need help
Walt

336
 

Walt, your 336 is sure going to look pretty on the Kalamazoo ramp. Looking forward to seeing you folks again. We think this meeting is really going to bring a lot of Skymasters to Michigan and those that come will surely have a great time. The Air Zoo at Kalamazoo airport is one of the best air museums in the country. Get to fly an F-14 full 3D simulator. Fly it off a carrier and if your good land back on it. As for my experience evertime I flew it off I can never find the carrier again.Can't wait to see how you guys do.

Jerry
:D

Registration is now open. It took a while to put it together, and get it on the web.
Please let us know as early as possible if you think you might be coming. If you think you would like to come, let us know so we can plan accordingly.

Skymaster Fly In and Convention
 

If you haven’t already registered please start the process so that we can see action from the members. It’s going to be a great event and you won’t want to miss it.



Our Keynote speaker, Thomas Van Hare, will knock your socks off. He has just finished his book about the real story of the “Brothers of Rescue” shot down over Cuban waters in Skymasters. This story that he has will raise the hair on your arms. It’s amazing!



We also have been in touch with the Director of the film “Shootdown”. This is the movie about the “Brothers of Rescue” and we will have the opportunity to have a special pre-release viewing of the film.

It’s all starting to come together, seminars and events like never before. SOAPA 2008, brought to you by your Michigan Flyers.

I really want to encourage folks to just relax about attending this event. For me the long distance to fly out to Las Vegas a few years ago for SOAPA just added stress to the agenda. Weather, fuel cost, etc. So I decided to just book a ticket on Northwest Airlines and forget about it. It made it so easy and I totally enjoyed the event without bringing the plane. This is completely OK. We all know what a Skymaster looks like but we don't know you as well as we could. That's the important part, getting to know each other. Learning together about our mutual interests. So don't be afraid to just book that flight and relax.



Sign Up Now!

Well as SOAPA 2008 continues to draw closer, the host Michigan Flyers have been hard working to bring you a great event. We have taken the 337 registration list and started to put phone numbers to each owner. I made over 20 calls last night to owners in WI and MN. I was really surprised that 8 of the calls, that I got through to someone without leaving a message, had not really heard of SOAPA and did not actively use the website. WOW! They were really excited about the idea of getting together with other 337 owners. I just assumed everyone was aware of the website and that we have completed 7 of the flyins.

So, if anyone wants to help in their area by finding phone numbers and calling these 337 owners please let me or Larry know. We really want to get the word out. Thanks

And if you are already joining us in Kzoo please send in your registration. It's going to be a blast!!!

The list of guest speakers is growing.
If you would like to talk about something, let us know. Adventures, maintenance, fuel management. Are you happy with your GAMI injectors?

This is who we tentatively have lined up to speak.
Don Nieser, Commodore Aerospace and The Prop Shop
Delta Hawk, diesel engine Skymaster.
L-3 will talk about StormScope and Skywatch.
Cristina Khuhly will show us the movie "The Shootdown".
Airwolf will talk about filters, air-oil seperators, and vacuum pumps.
SkyOx will talk about Oxygen systems.
C&D will talk about aircraft heaters
Thomas Van Hare

Our latest confirmed speaker is Grand Rapids Technologies, who, oddly enough are here in Michigan:)

They make stuff for experimental airplanes, but their equipment has been installed in certified aircraft as "Entertainment Systems". Now, personally, I'd rather have one of these in front of my wife to watch. She has quietly told me she doesn't like watching the fuel gages. This would help answer the age old question of "Where ARE WE".

And, incase my old wet vacuum pumps fail, it might also be handy. Of course, it's a bit more than a portable DVD player, but a lot more functional.

You know, we should have really made it for 3 days. Maurice Hovic, down at HovAir, wanted to show us his paint shop. They used to specialize in Piper Mirages, but now they are painting all kinds of things, including a Jet Ranger.

Anyway, the latest speaker to sign up, (boy the schedule is getting full), is Xerion. They make the Xerion AuRicle engine monitoring device. It's a fully electronic replacement for all the steam gages.

The attendee list is an excel file. I made one called attendee.xls, and one called attendees.xls. I have been updating attendees, while the website says attendee. :( It's fixed. I'll continue to update it.

Well with just 10 days until SOAPA 2008 starts, the Michigan Flyers are ready to host a fantastic meeting. If you haven't looked at the agenda recently you really should because we have a full menu of great information, entertainment and speakers like never before. Get your suitcases packed and we'll see you in Kalamazoo.

Come early and join us for the Mackinac Island (pre SOAPA event) on Wednesday morning June 11. We will be departing AZO promptly at 0800. If you want you can meet us in the air, Freq. 123.40.

Here is just a taste of the dynamic keynote speaker, Thomas Van Horn, scheduled for the 2008 SOAPA meeting in Kalamazoo next week. You can still register to come because you won't want to miss this great event. If you are close enough to KZoo and can come over for just the Friday night banquet please do join us at 6:00 PM Friday night at the Kalamazoo Air Museum "The AirZoo".


In the early afternoon hours of February 24th, 1996, three civilian, unarmed, twin-engine Cessna 337 aircraft from the group Brothers to the Rescue were flying what should have been just another search and rescue mission in international airspace off the coast of Cuba. It was a volunteer, humanitarian operation that had begun in 1991 and had averaged 450 flights a year. It was also a mission that had saved the lives of over 17,000 Cuban refugees, the so-called balseros or the Cuban rafters.



For years, the balseros had slipped away in the dead of night aboard tiny, makeshift rafts, rowing to liberty from Fidel Castro’s Cuba. It was a journey three out of four did not survive. Between Cuba and the United States, over 20,000 rafters have died trying to make it across to freedom in the USA. And for many years, their best hope was to be found by the Skymasters flown by the pilots of Brothers to the Rescue. For the Cessna 337, the mission of search and rescue over the Straits of Florida is probably the airplane’s finest hour, closely rivaled perhaps only by its extraordinary record as a Forward Air Controller over Vietnam.



That February day, however, no lives would be saved. Instead, Cuban Air Force MiGs shot two of the group’s Skymaster aircraft from the sky, killing four Americans. A third Brothers to the Rescue Skymaster, with four people aboard, fled northward and somehow escaped, despite being chased by two other Cuban MiG-23 fighters.



Many who watched the news of the day’s events unfold on CNN were shocked to see the video of a black smoke trail from the mid-air explosion of one of the planes, filmed by a tourist on board the cruise ship, Majesty of the Seas. On the decks of the ship people had been sunning themselves and enjoying afternoon cocktails in their deck chairs, and were now all unwitting witnesses to death.



The fiery wreckage of one plane crashed a few hundred yards from a small American fishing boat, Tri-Liner, whose captain quickly turned to search the last bits of wreckage on the sea for any survivors; then he watched as the other plane was struck by a missile and exploded nearby.



Yet the full story of what happened that day not only cost the lives of four Americans and the loss of two airplanes – it involved a tale of intrigue, at the highest levels of the governments on both sides of the Straits of Florida, and a ring of Cuban spies who had infiltrated not only Miami’s Cuban exile community, but even into the heart of the Defense Intelligence Agency where skewed intelligence reports carefully manipulated U.S. policies to Cuba’s benefit and, ultimately, set the stage for the shoot down itself.



Speaker Thomas Van Hare, a former SAR pilot with Brothers to the Rescue and its one-time director of operations, takes you from the pilot’s last meal in their hanger to their final seconds aloft. He dissects ten years of data from media coverage, court transcripts and testimony that bear witness to the infiltration by Cuban spies of U.S. military installations, the Brother’s flight organization and more – as new information is made available and released with every passing year.



Van Hare describes the inner workings of the Clinton Administration, as officials wrestled with the knowledge of what was coming in the days leading up to the shoot down – and yet issued no warning – a story that seems so incredible that it seems impossible, except that every conclusion is backed up by meticulous research, sworn testimony, radar plots and official records. He takes you behind the scenes into the planning of the shoot down itself and into the heart of Clinton Administration, detailing who knew, when they knew and what they knew at each critical juncture of the story, leading them to a choice that ultimately would be betrayal, death and a cover-up that has lasted 12 years.

SOAPA Mackinac Island Trip
 

http://www.chippewahotel.com/Pink-Pony-Bar--Grill-11/


Mackinac Island Venturers

We will plan to assemble for lunch at the Pink Pony Bar and Grill on the island at or around 11:00 AM Wednesday morning June 11. See link above. Those that are departing from AZO at 0800 on Wednesday morning will arrive Mac Island at or around 0930. It will take about 30-45 minutes to get down to the harbor and we should have a little time to shop, take in some touristy stuff before lunch. Those that are not leaving with the group from AZO, when you arrive at Mac Island call me (616-890-0854) when you arrive or try to be at the Pink Pony around 1100 for lunch with the group. We need to be back in the air with a southernly heading by no later 1530. This means be at the airport by 1500 so that we can all leave together by 1530. This should put us back in AZO by no later than 1700. After the lunch at Pink Pony we can mingle around the harbor and main street, go upto the fort and watch the cannon shoot or just relax at one of the many fudge shops. We should have a couple of hours before you need to head for the airport. It's about a 40 minute walk from town or catch a horse taxi up the hill. You may want to leave enough time on the trip back to the airport to just walk through the Grand Hotel. This is all depending on weather Wednesday as there are some thunder bumpers forcasted at this point. If the weather looks iffy we won't go. Although most of the time the fronts are moving from the southwest to the northeast and it may be that the northern routes will remain clear. If flying north looks questionable we can opt for a more local day trip for lunch.

Keep Michigan Green...................................Bring money :-)

Frequency 123.40

Herb Harney

Mac Iland
 

Hi Herb,
I got your message. I planned on arriving Tuesday 10th, but the weather you just had is coming east to Penna. which they predict will get here Tuesday to screw up my plans. We will probably not be able to leave until Wed AM. If we can get out real early say at 5AM maybe we can fly direct Mac. Island. We can only wait for weather to be right. Dale Campbell.

Sorry Dale, I did not see your message. Hope to see you tomorrow, looks like things are clearing up around here so I hope that is the case for your neck of the woods too. We will be having lunch at the Pink Pony @ 11:00 AM. My cell phone number is 616-890-0854.

Fly Safe.

People are on the move, headed for the great Skymaster Owners And Pilots Association in Kalamazoo.
This will be an entertaining event, and lots of information as well.

Soapa 2008
 

Here are some pictures of the SOAPA adventure to Mackinac Island in Michigan yesterday. Great flight, great company and wonderful event. We arrived just about as planned and flying over a gentle ceiling that abruptly ended when we found the shore of the Mackinac Straits. This is where Lake Huron meets Lake Michigan. The Mackinac bridge spans 5 miles across the staits to connect lower Michigan to the Upper Pennisula of Michigan. After a delightful day on the island we flew back down along the lake shore of Lake Michigan from the bridge to Holland, Michigan and then east to Kalamazoo. What a great trip.

1) Closing in on Lake Huron shoreline
2) Mackinac Bridge
3) The Famous Grand Hotel while on downwind for runway 26
4) 337's on the ramp @ MCD (Bill Taylor's '65)
5) Tom Van Hare flying N712JF (SAR training exercise)

Soapa 2008
 

It was an absolute beautiful morning today flying to RCR for pancakes. Just a extra bonus for those attending the 2008 SOAPA meeting. I don't think I can start to describe how great the entire event was but these pictures may help you understand the delight that the attendees had.

1) Twin Tails at AZO
2) Paul and Mary
3) Jack Dick
4) Webmaster LJ Bowdish

It was a wonderful time.
Herb, your pictures are incredible.

If anyone has pictures they would like to share, send them to me, and I'm going to work on a little page about this fly-in.

Thank you Michigan Flyers! Some elements of the meeting went better than others, with the featured speaker and the museum experience being the highlights, but throughout it all your enthusiasm and commitment to your guests was very evident and much appreciated by this participant. I was particularly impressed with your willingness to devote a day to greeting arrivals at both the airport and the hotel. No one could reasonably ask that anyone try harder to create a successful meeting than the effort you all put forth. Thanks again, for everything. Best wishes, Steve & Sandi

Steve and Sandi

Thank you so much for the kind words. Thanks for joining us this year, you helped make the successful event move forward. Hope to see you soon.

2008 Soap Meeting
 

My hat is off to the three Mich. fliers, Larry,Herb and Jerry. They hosted the finest meeting we could ever ask for. Those that attended would have to agree. They put a lot of time and effort to make us all feel welcome. Jerry was at the airport on our arrival while Herb was running the Mac.Island trip and Larry was at the Hotel to direct that end of the arrival. The Hotel was the greatest, looked new with great meeting rooms,food and bar. The museum film was great on the Brothers to the Resque. The meetings I attended where also great.
I wish I could have stayed for the whole 4 days. Maybe when I retire and have more free time. Dale Campbell