2008 SOAPA Fly-In.

[hharney]

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

[Dale Campbell]

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.

[hharney]

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.

[WebMaster]

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.

[hharney]

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)

[hharney]

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

[WebMaster]

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.

[SteveG]

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

[hharney]

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.

[Dale Campbell]

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

[billsheila]

I just wanted to post on behalf of Ken and myself...we had a super time in Michigan and it was really great to put a face to some of the names on this web board. I have a new appreciation for the state of Michigan and found Mackinaw Island to be just wonderful. I want to take my wife and kids back there sometime. We were sorry we missed the museum day and banquet but the weather really was getting nasty so it was the right decision to get ahead of it when we scurried out after day 2 of the festivities. This is the longest trip I have taken in my new (old) '65 Skymaster and she proved to be a capable cross-country machine. Many thanks to Larry, Herb and Jerry for all their efforts putting this together, it was really an excellent time.

Hope to see you all again soon.

Bill Taylor
N2131X

[hharney]

The videos of the Skymaster History were given out at the SOAPA meeting are sour. Please let me know if you desire a replacement. You can private e mail me through the site and leave me your mailing address. Sorry about the problem.