“Hang onto your hat’s boys”… is a fun sound bite that comes across the television screen lately if you’re watching a certain show on a certain channel. From where I am sitting these days, it couldn’t be truer. Patiently monitoring the weather as of late can be quite a pastime if you are looking for that “perfect day” to head out to the hangar and fire your airplane up. It’s true that the weather has been up and down (pardon the pun) but like anything else it’s bound to improve.

The month of February is looking to be a busy one for us here at the CRUFC as we anticipate our annual banquet being held on the 26th. I would urge you to come out and support our function if you can and have some fun as well. Don’t forget to bring the other half as well (if you have one). I’d like to remind everyone that we would appreciate donations for the silent auction that will be held at the dinner and in saying that we might want to bring some items that would be of interest to the ladies.

Also, let me mention that the 2011 raffle tickets will go on sale at the February meeting. Only 60 tickets will be available at a price of $25 each. This year’s prize will be $500, the second prize will be $200, and third prize will be a $50 gift certificate for Calgary Pilot Supply. Please buy your tickets soon as your odds of winning are quite good at 1 in 20. The raffle helps support the club in offsetting our meeting costs and other expenses.

One of the things that we will be kicking off, starting at the next meeting, is “mini” refresher topics that pertain to flying. We hope to help refresh current pilots covering various topics and to mentor less experienced pilots and those who may simply be interested. So if you like, bring your E6B (remember what that is?) and a pencil to this month’s meeting.

Also, this month, I am looking forward to our guest speaker, Jim Corner. Jim will be giving a presentation based upon his career in the Air Force, and you can bet, this will be interesting as Jim had a very specialized job.

Due to last month’s elections, we now have some new faces on the executive. Guy Christie has taken on the role of Vice President replacing Stu Simpson; who will now replace Andy Gustafson as Director. Ron Anderson is replacing Ed D’Antoni as Secretary. A big “Thank you” goes out to Ed D’Antoni, Andy Gustafson and Stu Simpson for their service to the club.

I hope to see you all at our various activities over the next little while and in the meantime have fun, be safe… and take along a friend.