For this month CAVU Dreams, I’ll turn the mic over to Bernie Kespie and his letter to the editor:

Here’s my two cents’ worth and why.

Let’s get away from the type of aircraft we fly; there are just too many.

Today, as mentioned at the last meeting, there is such a varied list of aircraft types that the club members fly. Since the club wishes to attract pilots who may fly anything from ultralights to high-performance planes and do so only for the sheer enjoyment of flight, I would like to suggest:

“The Calgary Recreational Pilots Association”

Or

“The Calgary Association of Recreational Pilots”

The following is my opinion on attracting new members and the path the CUFC should steer.

I think that first and foremost the club needs to determine in what direction it wishes to go. This must be put forth by the executive to the membership; give us a direction you think we should be headed, and for goodness’ sake, don’t leave it to the members; otherwise, you’ll have 20 different ideas, and nothing will get resolved. You’ll never please everyone.

For most of us, we still fly at 100 knots or less and still under the banner of ultralight, as indicated by the ‘I’ registration on many of our aircraft. Some of us fly homebuilts, basically heavier ultralights that have been built to a standard no different than some advanced ultralights, with the exception that they have been inspected at various stages of construction and require at minimum a recreational pilot permit to operate. Some of these aircraft can still be flown with an ultralight permit. Some members fly certified aircraft, many of which still fly at or near 100 knots. As far as I know, all CUFC pilots only fly VFR. For the most part, we rarely wander more than an hour from our home base and occasionally a bit further, and once a year, some of us take off for a week or so on a cross-country tour. As a long-standing member, I’ve seen our club evolve to this.

As for new members, who are you looking to attract? Ask yourself, are we looking for want-a-bees who want a bit of entertainment one evening once a month, or people serious about flying? If you look at our current members, most are pilots, and many fly on a regular basis. Is it about the numbers?

The CUFC has been involved at the grassroots of aviation – ultralights, in other words getting into flying at minimal cost, flying for the fun of flying, nothing else. I think we should continue to stay at the grassroots level, promoting safety and education; otherwise, we become just another flying club, like the Calgary Flying Club (CFC), vying for the same people and losing out on those looking for basic entry-level flying. The CFC has had Saturday flights throughout the summer to destinations that would take many of us a day to get to, while they fly there in a matter of an hour or two at altitudes that would make my nose bleed and in planes that I can only dream of owning. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that they do this, but is this the direction the club wants to head in? If these pilots choose to join us, that’s great, but let’s not make the guy who wants to get in on the entry level feel out of place and left out.

On a personal note, I think those that fly slowly and together as a group and take a bit longer to get to the destination have much more fun and more to talk about than those that get there in a short time and fly alone. Prime examples are the annual Air Venture tours (thanks to Stu) and the flight to Oshkosh this past year. The flight was three days out, five days at Oshkosh, three days back, eight pilots, five planes, and an adventure I’ll never forget. For those that could get there in a day, they are missing out on a lot of fun.

Ranting over—bye.