COPA Flights NewsFlash
February 2005
COPA Welcomes Another Two New COPA
Flights!
We have added another two new COPA Flights – our first ones for 2005! Here is the information on these clubs:
COPA Flight 133
Contact Murray Jones Box 1477
Kindersley SK S0L 1S0 (306)463-3258 fax (366)463-4610. Meetings are the
first Monday of the month, 1900 hrs, at the clubhouse,
COPA Flight 134
Contact: Richard Wiskar,
COPA would
like to extend a warm welcome to the members of COPA Flight 133 and 134! We hope
to meet many of your members at the COPA Convention in
New or existing flying clubs interested in becoming COPA Flights should have a look at the COPA Guide to the COPA Flights. The Guide gives complete information on the COPA flights program including the free insurance coverage that comes with being a COPA Flight.
Spring Is At
Hand!
Spring time
is coming soon to
Of course one
of the easiest ways to meet that requirement and stay legal is to attend a
regional COPA Rust Remover fly-in and complete your recurrency training
there.
This year
COPA is offering seven spring Rust Removers, from BC to the Maritimes. Many of
the traditional locations from past years will be offering Rust Removers again
this year. These include
Plan to
attend a Rust Remover near you this year and stay current! Here are all the
details about the seven coast-to-coast COPA Rust Removers, from west to
east:
Dates and Times:
Location: Hampton Inn 19500 Langley By-pass,
Program: Transport
Contact: Dennis Popowich 7320 254
Street
Fax: 604-856-6539 Email: d-popowich@shaw.ca
Cost: $30 Flight 72/BCFA Members,
$40 Non Members Includes Hot Lunch, Coffee, Etc.
Other information: There will be a Barbecue & Product & Aircraft Displays at the Fort Langley Floatbase, Afternoon & Evening
Date:
Time: 0900-1300 hrs
Location:
Program: Southern Skies -
Emergency Maneuver Training & Impact Survival, Kevin Psutka COPA President –
Aviation in
Contact:
Tel/Fax: 250-497-6466 e-mail: kgwest@shaw.ca FLYING BC 2005 Event
Calendar: http://ca.calendar.yahoo.com/flyingbc_ca/ or 250-492-0074 Joan Halmes at Southern
Skies
Other information: Space limited
to 80 people – book in advance to guarantee space!
Date:
Time: Start-Up at Vernon Flying
Club - Coffee and Timbits at
Location:
Program: Presentations by Nav
Other information: A soup and
sandwich Lunch will be served at
Date:
Time:
Location: Lower Theatre Cardel
Custom Homes,
Topics: This COPA Rust Remover
will include topics aimed at owners and pilots of amateur-builts and ultralight
aircraft, although everyone is welcome.
Contact: Dave Procyshen (403)
257-8064 or dprocyshen@shaw.ca
Club
Website: www.cufc.ca
Date:
Time: 0900 – 1200 followed by
lunch
Location:
Program: New Regulations, Runway
Incursions, Flying VFR into IFR conditions, MF airport procedures (radio &
nordo), Log Book entries & requirements, ELT certifications
Contact: Wayne Runyon, 306
949-2727, grunyon@accesscomm.ca, 233
Hanley Cr.,
Other information:
Admission fee is $10.00 which includes lunch
Date:
Time: The whole day will run from
0700 to 1530. Morning session 0930 to 1200. Lunch 1200 to 1300.
Afternoon session 1300 to 1530
Location:
Program: "How to be a
Professional Pilot or How to be a Know it All Pilot" presented by Transport
Contact: Phil Englishman,
Other information: There will be
a fly/drive in breakfast and BBQ lunch available from the restaurant at a
reasonable price.
Date:
Time: 0900 hrs to 1500 hrs with a
one hour break for lunch
Location: The
Program: Transport
Contact: Barry Martin
902-569-3130, E-mail Bmartin@islandtelecom.com or check
the COPA Flight 57 web site http://www3.islandtelecom.com/~bmartin/peifa.html
Other information: We will have a fly-in breakfast if the weather co-operates.
Ultralight Passenger Carrying Rating Moves
Ahead
By Adam Hunt
The proposal to allow holders of the Pilot Permit – Ultra-light Aeroplanes to add a Passenger-Carrying Rating to their permit has moved one step closer to reality.
The rating, originally brought to
CARAC Part IV Technical Committee on
The
long-awaited amendment is now subject to public comments for 30 days, until
These changes
to the CARs will allow the holder of a Pilot Permit – Ultra-light Aeroplanes to
take additional training plus a flight test to receive the new rating. The
rating will allow them to carry a passenger in an aircraft that is permitted to
carry passengers. Aircraft that the holder of a Pilot Permit – Ultra-light
Aeroplanes can fly that can carry passengers include advanced ultralights and
certified, amateur-built and owner-maintenance aircraft that fit the ultralight
definition of 1200 lbs max gross weight and 45 mph stall speed. Passenger
carrying in basic ultralights will not be permitted with this rating as basic
ultralights are not permitted to carry passengers in
Earning the Passenger-Carrying rating will be voluntary. Any current holders of a Pilot Permit – Ultra-light Aeroplanes that do not wish to add the Passenger-Carrying rating will be able to keep flying with the new rating and without carrying passengers, as in the past.
The new rules for the Passenger-Carrying rating also include the requirement for new Ultralight Instructor candidates to pass a flight test, although existing holders of the Ultralight Flight instructor rating will be unaffected.
Gus Chisholm Addresses COPA Flight 45 Goderich
By Marilyn Bruinsma, Navigator,
COPA Flight 45
COPA Flight 45’s meeting on
COPA Flight Captain Owen Delve
introduced Chisholm, who was here in Goderich over 50 years ago when Keith
Hopkinson and he were working together and decided to continue a life filled
with aviation events. These two men made aviation history and this year in 2005
the town of Goderich is hosting an event in August to celebrate this
moment.
In 1943, Chisholm worked as a
mechanic in
Hopkinson had been to
Chisholm concluded his talk by
saying that his Baby Ace, which is called “Bits and Pieces” has been flying for
nearly 50 years and has been flown by more than 170 pilots, including several
airline pilots. It took 3 years to build the airplane and cost $625 for parts.
Parts were gathered from many airports and towns in both Ontario and Michigan.
Border crossings were no problem for bringing back aircraft parts. Thus, the
Baby Ace’s name aptly fits its construction. Don Fisher from Sky Harbour paint
shop painted his plane and 9 other aircraft copied his paint scheme. So
outstanding was the Goderich paint job that it was an award winner at many
aviation events. He said he owned 7
airplanes and had 7 forced landings. Chisholm reminisced by saying what more
could a person ask for in life than a life full of fun and
work.
“Hoppy” encouraged him and others
to build airplanes and often gave them parts to start the projects. Paul
Poberezny was in frequent communication with Hopkinson, Chisholm and others to
ask about the progress of their airplanes. Paul and Audrey Poberezny came to
Goderich when Chisholm first flew his Baby Ace.
When Keith Hopkinson was killed in
April of 1964, Chisholm was instrumental in planning his best friend’s funeral
in the hangar of Sky Harbour Air Services. Chisholm said that when “Hoppy” was
killed, there was no fun left in flying so he sold his Baby Ace. Hopkinson has
been sorrowfully missed in the world of aviation and will be very fondly
remembered by the many people he taught to fly. This celebration at Sky Harbour Airport
this August will commemorate the life of Keith Hopkinson and the capital of
Canadian aviation here in Goderich.
COPA Flight Co-Captain Fred
Bruinsma thanked Gus for his presentation and reminding us the grandeur of
Goderich airport over fifty years ago and how many of us tonight are unaware of
its greatness in years gone by. Flight Navigator Marilyn Bruinsma presented Gus
with a thank-you gift.
For more information on the
upcoming 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the first registered
home-built in
Nav
Nav
This fee review has been largely driven by the claims of the major
airlines that general aviation isn’t paying its fair share of running the system
and that small aircraft should pay a lot more in Nav
Nav Canada has recently released a discussion
paper that outlines all aspects of the issue and which will serve as a
starting point for this spring’s meetings on the subject. COPA members are
encouraged to read the discussion paper and let COPA know what you
think.
Kevin Psutka’s President’s column in the upcoming March issue of COPA Flight will address this issue.
Recently he sent this letter to Arthur Andreassen, Nav
Assistant Vice President, Revenue
and Commercial Relations:
Arthur:
Further to our recent exchange of
views regarding initial estimates for fees for private aircraft (your voicemail
to me disputing my report of NAVCAN estimates of $750 per aircraft), I am
preparing for an interview by the US Government Accounting Office tomorrow. They
are posing a number of questions regarding the privatization experience in
The following statement is
made:
"We do know that NAV CANADA's
initial estimates for operating revenues from private recreational users ranged
from $5 million to $15 million, or $250 to $750 per aircraft per year assuming
20,000 aircraft are still active. If only 15,000 aircraft remain active, the
numbers become $333 to $1000 per aircraft per year. We firmly believe that fees
in either of these ranges will be the "last straw" for many more private
pilots."
You would have to take this up with
Ken McNeill as to where he got the estimates but when I came to the helm at COPA
in September 1996, one of the first issues that I dealt with was to follow-up on
the submission and prepare for the negotiation on fees, and I was handed these
figures, as well as the double-taxation concept with the fuel excise tax, as my
start points for negotiation.
So, my article for the newspaper
highlights this start point in the history of the fees issues and prepares our
members to provide feedback as the rate structure review unfolds. It may be that
one of the first things NAVCAN did was to realize the cost-sensitivity of our
sector, but I believe it is important to point our to our members where we
started from, including some very unrealistic estimates of what our sector could
contribute. There are some in the industry that are retracing these steps as
they estimate what they say our sector consumes of NAVCAN's resources.
Kevin Psutka
President and
CEO
COPA members will hear more about this critical issue in the upcoming
months of 2005.
COPA and Airport Fees
Here at COPA we get lots of requests for information about airports,
especially on airport fees.
Most airports in
In recent years COPA has tried to
pursue court cases to force airports to publish their fees, but the airports are
reluctant to go to court over these cases. COPA is still pursuing legal action
to force airports to publish fees so consumers can make informed choices where
to fly to.
COPA is also looking at ways to
provide this information directly as well. We have long looked at creating a
database of airport information, including user fees and even fuel prices. The
main deterrent to doing this has been the need for lots of dedicated staff time
to keep this sort of database up to date.
We currently have COPA’s “Places to
Fly”, which contains lots of useful information, but nothing on fees and
fuel prices. “Places to Fly” also requires that COPA members or airport
operators send in info, COPA’s webmaster check it, format it and then post it –
it is fairly labour-intensive for everyone. Needless to say “Places to Fly” gets
out of date quickly.
COPA is looking at new ways to
deliver this information to its members so that it is more up-to-date and
useful. This may include a web-based “wiki” database of airport
information including fees and fuel costs. This would be instantly updatable by
anyone and therefore contain more up to the minute information.
COPA is also seeking thoughts from
members who have designed or worked with this sort of application, so we can
make it work optimally out of the starting gate. Contact ahunt@copanational.org.
Meet The President?
COPA President Kevin Psutka
travels widely representing COPA members at many events and meetings. He also
gives many presentations to local COPA Flights and other organizations.
To help you figure out when he
might be speaking in your area, the COPA website now includes a new feature
called Meet
The President. Have a look and then plan to have your COPA Flight attend an
event near you – it is you chance to ask Kevin questions
directly!
Did You Know…About NOTAMs?
By Adam Hunt
Recently I have had a few questions from COPA members about NOTAMs. The most often asked question is “just how far do I have to be flying before I need to check NOTAMs?” or “I don’t really need to check NOTAMs on a local flight, do I?”
Those are easy questions to answer from two perspectives – from the CARs and also from flying safely and managing your flying risks. In both cases you must check NOTAMS before every flight!!
The CARs are pretty straightforward – they say:
CAR
602.71 Pre-flight Information
The pilot-in-command of an aircraft shall, before commencing a flight, be familiar with the available information that is appropriate to the intended flight.
So that means that if you fly into new restricted airspace or something similar you can expect to be charged with the airspace violation (CAR 601.04) and with CAR 602.71 as well. The maximum penalty for breaking CAR 602.71 is currently $500 for individuals and $2500 for corporations. You can expect the same fines for violating a restricted area you didn’t know about, too.
Aside from the rules, is there any real reason to bother checking NOTAMs on a local flight when you know the area well and have been flying there for years?
The answer is “yes” and I will give you three examples to show you why:
The simple fact is that even if you live in a remote part of Canada you may find something unexpected happening in your local area that will affect your safety if you don’t check the NOTAMs. These can include forest fires, military exercises, natural and man-made disasters (I have seen NOTAMs for train wrecks in the past), chemical spills, mine disasters, short-notice blasting events, new towers, rocket launches, scientific balloon flights, VIP visits, aircraft accident sites and dozens of other unusual events that TC thought were better to keep aircraft away from for their own safety.
There are only two ways to get NOTAMs at the present – via phone or fax from your regional Nav Canada Flight Information Centre (FIC) or from the Nav Canada Aviation Weather Website. NOTAM service is one thing that we all pay our annual Nav Canada ANS fee to have available. Even those aircraft that are exempt the annual fee, like gliders, balloons, ultralights and other aircraft under 1328 lbs, still have access to the NOTAMs from those two Nav Canada sources and need to check them before flying.
Flying without checking the NOTAMs is not only a violation of the CARs, it isn’t a good way to manage the risks on your flight.
COPA Flight 70 Oshawa Has New Home Base
Café
By Doug Raine
The Oshawa Airport Cafe is open under new ownership and is now called The Refueling Station. It features an all new menu and catering service is available too. You can also call ahead to place an order for pickup.
COPA members are encouraged to stop in and support the new owners Kathleen Denyer & Trina Singleton!
Winter Hours: 8:00am to 5:00pm everyday
Email Address: refuelingstation@yahoo.com Phone Number: 905-433-0065
COPA Flight 85 Collingwood Flies Young
Eagles
By George Daniels
15 enthusiastic
and curious 8 to 15 year olds, and their six guidance leaders from the Christian
Service Brigade --Unit 4244,
The keen would-be aviators learned about the
The Wasaga Beach
Group Leader, Erman Fontanna, and his fellow Counselors Chuck Talbot, Mark &
Andrew Tollefson, Joe Stanley and Dave Bates helped the hungry teens "chow
down", after their two hour educational experience, in the airport’s “Above the
Clouds” Café, for a pleasant lunch.
Erman Fontanna
said, "You COPA Flt. 85 folks certainly gave our unit and Counselors a positive
new perspective on the world of aviation and your Young Eagles program. We
enjoyed it!"
For more information on the Collingwood COPA Flt.85 Young Eagles program
and associated CCAF Heritage Flying Museum Tours please call Bud at (705) 446 –
2227.
COPA Flight 8 News
For the
January meeting of COPA Flight 8 Ottawa, Flight Captain Mike Shaw invited
Transport
Lowrey gave an interesting talk about how TC deals with noise complaints at those airports that do not have noise management committees set up. He went into some depth on the history of this issue including the development of CAR 601.18, which allows the Minister of Transport to make restrictions on aerodromes and aircraft for “public interest” reasons not related to aviation safety. This CAR came about as a result of a situation at Lac St Augustin near Quebec City several years ago that required the personal intervention of the Minister of Transport at the time.
Lowrey covered the current TC process for resolving noise complaints and how it replaces the need for the Minister of Transport to get personally involved in the resolution of these issues. Instead the current TC process involves seven steps that result is a complete definition of the problem and facilitates local solutions. The current process is set up to achieve a balance for the legitimate needs of aviation against the complaints of the local residents.
Lowrey’s talk
also delved into federal zoning regulations and how they work in
All in all it was an interesting presentation that provided a lot of new information to members of Flight 8.
COPA Flight 8
meets in
COPA
Flight 72/BCFA Holds Their Annual Nimpo Meeting
Every
July COPA Flight 72 holds their main floatplane event of the summer – a
gathering of their members at
Date:
Time:
Location:
Northwest end of
Other
motels and resorts are located around the lake. GUESTS VERY
WELCOME!
There
is lots of docking space for your floatplanes as well as a dirt strip located
next to the Resort. Paved strip at
Elections
for BCFA executive
will be held. We urge you to attend and vote for the next year’s
executive.
SOCIAL: Evening dinner (BBQ) and hanger
dance.
Did You Know…About Changing the
CARs?
By Adam Hunt
COPA represents its members at the Canadian Aviation Regulatory Advisory Council (CARAC) and its nine Technical Committees. There is one Technical Committee for each part of the CARs (and two for Part V – one for Maintenance and Manufacturing and one for Aircraft Certification).
TC presents Notices of Proposed Amendments (NPAs) to the CARs for consultation with the aviation industry during these meetings. The meetings are well attended and TC does often accept requests from industry, including COPA, for changes to NPAs before they become CARs.
While most of the proposed changes to the CARs come from TC itself, some are requested by industry representatives. Until recently if changes were proposed to the CARs from either TC or industry, they were considered by TC and, if accepted by TC, NPAs were drawn up and they were presented at CARAC for consultation.
Last year that process changed due to a new policy at TC. The changes are going to have a big effect on future changes to the CARs and the representation work done by COPA and other industry associations.
In the past many proposed CAR amendments were presented by TC or requested by industry because someone simply believed the amendment would be a good idea. The NPA was then debated at CARAC and passed or sent back to be reconsidered. CARAC is an advisory body only, so even if it rejects NPAs TC has the power to pass them anyway and make them CARs. In many cases opinions, informed or otherwise, prevailed.
TC’s Flight Safety initiative, Flight 2005, adopted in 1999, committed TC to “adopting a data-driven approach in developing strategies to enhance safety”. Furthermore the Government of Canada Regulatory Policy 1998 requires that “When regulating, regulatory authorities must ensure that:
1. Canadians are consulted, and that they have an opportunity to participate in developing or modifying regulations and regulatory programs;
2. They can demonstrate that a problem or risk exists, federal government intervention is justified and regulation is the best alternative;
3. The benefits outweigh the costs to Canadians, their governments and businesses. In particular, when managing risks on behalf of Canadians, regulatory authorities must ensure that the limited resources available to government are used where they do the most good.
All of this has lead TC to require that a Risk Analysis (RA) be completed before any NPAs are drafted to amend CARs. This policy applies for all proposed changes to the CARs with a few exceptions, such as for simple administrative changes and for harmonization with international agreements.
On the surface the requirement to complete an RA before proposing a change to a regulation seems simple enough, but the implications are far-reaching.
The first implication is that an RA cannot be carried out without data. That means that research has to be done to find existing data on the subject or else original research must be conducted.
Once the information needed is collected and analyzed, the RA can be done. TC has adopted a modified version of the Canadian Standards Association’s CSA Q850 Risk Assessment process. This is a good process that ensures that nothing is missed in considering all the factors involved. It also requires consultation with those people who may be affected. TC has a booklet available on their website Risk Management & Decision-Making in Civil Aviation (TP 13095) that explains the basics of this process. TC has also trained its own staff in the preparation of these RAs and, after a few early RAs that were sub-standard, are now producing credible assessments of the risks involved in passing amendments to the CARs.
As a companion to the TP 13095 booklet, an example of the best RA done by TC in 2004 is available on the COPA website.
The advantages of this new system are twofold. First this means that TC has to produce good data and a complete analysis of that data to pass changes to the CARs – no more opinion-driven changes to the CARs!
Secondly the RA process itself means that TC staff has to look very carefully at whether an amendment is justified by this relatively objective process. In some cases they are finding that the RA process shows that the amendment isn’t justified and therefore the project stops there. This means that TC is spending more time on worthwhile changes and less time on less useful or lower priority changes. The end result should be to apply TC staff to the areas where changes are objectively needed.
The main disadvantage of the RA process is that it takes time. In theory this is actually an advantage because it should save efforts where they aren’t needed, but the net effect will be far fewer NPAs coming to CARAC for consideration.
All of this applies if TC wants to make a change to the CARs, but it also applies if industry associations, like COPA, want changes to the CARs, too.
TC staff has made it clear that associations can ask TC under the CARAC Charter rules to consider amending the CARs. If that means that TC has to gather the data and do the RA as well as drafting the NPAs, then it might take a while for it to come to the CARAC table for consultation. What would speed up the process would be if the organization requesting the change gathered its own data, carried out its own RA and then suggested changes to the CARs based on that process.
This does have a one great advantage – presenting TC with complete data and a thorough RA will make it hard for them to ignore the well-supported case for change that will result. The process removes a lot of the conflicting opinions that used to result from this situation and replaces them with data and a careful assessment of the risks to be managed.
The disadvantage is that anyone who wants a change to the CARs now has to be prepared to do the work to make that happen. This means that they will have to gather the data available or do the original research to find appropriate data and then complete the RA process. Along the way this will automatically answer questions such as:
Who wants this and why?
How many people and aircraft will be affected?
Who will benefit from this and who will be disadvantaged, if anyone?
What impact will this have on those affected, on jobs and the economy?
What costs will there be and who will pay?
How would this affect our international obligations, such as to ICAO?
What other risks are there in doing this and how could they be controlled?
What other alternatives are available?
Overall this
shift in focus at TC to a “risk-based and data-driven approach” is a good thing
for aviation in
COPA Flight 68 Wiarton Hosts Winter Safety
Seminar
By Harold Fry, Newsletter Editor, COPA Flight 68
January 19, a typical cold, windy snow day in our part of the country found 42 aviation-minded folks at AME Guy Doherty's 5th Annual Winter Service Seminar.
Upon arrival
everyone was greeted and registered by Jack Doherty, Guy's #1 Dad. Guy
kicked off the afternoon with a warm welcome to all, then introduced the
speakers. Wayne Juniper of Transport
Will Kalyn,
AME and Eastern Sales Manager for Leavens Aviation, outlined the history of his
company which was started in 1927 at the airport on Dufferin St.,
Will described the type of work that their family-owned business deals in, from engine and propeller overhauls to maintaining a huge inventory of parts needed for general aviation aircraft.
After a
coffee break, Wayne Juniper returned to the "spotlight" to discuss ramp
checks.
A couple of
weeks prior to the seminar, Guy sent out a questionnaire that was prepared by
Transport
1700hrs found
us upstairs, where Guy conducted his lucky draw program. Most seminar
participants won something! Promptly at 1730hrs the day was over and everyone
left clutching their 2-year Transport
A big THANK YOU to Guy Doherty and his speakers for a fine educational and fun afternoon ... all for FREE!
Air Safari in
In November
2004, Clare McEwan, President of Air Safaris International, took a group of
Canadians to
This, the
inaugural tour for Air Safaris International, started in
The aircraft, lead pilot and logistical support were provided by Royal Queensland Aero Club [RQAC], the oldest flying club in the southern hemisphere and partners with Air Safaris International in providing these tours.
The tour was all-inclusive and included accommodation, meals, a variety of interesting ground tours, evening events, the services of a lead pilot and a tour director. All aviation materials needed on the trip were provided and arrangements are made for pilots to pick up their temporary Australian licences (SPECPL) upon arrival.
The November
tour combined extensive Outback flying and finished with several days in the
Participants experienced a wide variety of weather and flying conditions, from clear, smooth air to marginal VFR conditions due to wind-borne desert dust from ground to over 9000 feet. The group even had the unusual experience of having planned departure times, at desert air strips, delayed due to rain.
Approximately 1/3 of the route was over designated remote areas, so all aircraft were required to carry emergency water and food in the event of forced landing. The sparsely populated country created an unusual opportunity to meet the locals, while at the same time solving a very real fuel problem. On one leg, there were no public airstrips for refueling so special arrangements were made, with the help of a former Royal Flying Doctor Service pilot now with RQAC, who arranged a drum of fuel to be brought into a remote cattle station, thereby allowing the group to complete the leg without fuel concerns.
Ground tours and events gave everyone a wide range of experiences, from fine dining in the desert under the rich southern night sky, to sailing tours to white sand beaches on an uninhabited island to visiting the opal mining capital of the world, which was a great place to buy an opal for someone special.
Accommodation ranged from 5-Star hotels in major centres to typical inns with clean but modest rooms in small country towns.
As shown in the following quote, from November 2004, the tour participants saw a great deal of the country in a short period of time
“... a great way to see a lot of
If you are interested in learning more about this tour, Clare McEwan has put together a presentation which is suitable for your next COPA flight meeting. Please contact him directly if you are interested in having Clare attend an upcoming meeting and he will be happy to share the experience with you. He can also provide you with information on future tours.
In case you have a non-flying partner, you can reassure her or him that Air Safari International tours have been designed to be enjoyed by non-pilots as well.
For more information contact: Clare McEwan Tel: 416-407-6904 Email: cwmcewan@sympatico.ca
Don’t See News From Your COPA Flight
Here?
That might just be because you haven’t sent in any recently!
We are always
interested in your COPA Flight news – what has your flight been up to? What are
you planning? Have any of your members flown any interesting trips recently or
had a first flight on a new aircraft? Send us you stories and photos! ahunt@copanational.org