A Journal, with Pictures

COPA mem­bers from across the coun­try and around the world start­ed to arrive Sep­tem­ber 7th, with the major­i­ty on Thurs­day the 8th. Reg­is­tra­tion opened noon on the 8th. and our amaz­ing reg­is­tra­tion vol­un­teers, Don­na, Kim, Justin and Stan made check­ing in effort­less. The first evening wel­come par­ty the “COPA cabana” was a very jol­ly event held over look­ing Lake Supe­ri­or in front of the host hotel the Inn on Lake Supe­ri­or. Pat Wadick Cir­rus Pres­i­dent with oth­er Cir­rus man­age­ment  min­gled with COPA mem­bers.  Friend­ships were renewed and made as always at this kick off party.

The next two days were packed with activ­i­ties, includ­ing the annu­al meet­ing, in which Andy gave us a update on the incred­i­ble progress that has been made, Mem­ber­ship grew 31% since 2012, Train­ing is up 50% year over year, fatal acci­dent rate down dra­mat­i­cal­ly and much low­er than gen­er­al GA, over 30 Region­al Events in last 12 months and much fun stuff going on. There were lots of sem­i­nars, the exhibitor hall was full with many new exhibitors and all of the reg­u­lars, Fri­day, evening Cir­rus host­ed a great hangar par­ty at their facil­i­ty with enter­tain­ment, a few com­mer­cials and Dale Klap­meier giv­ing an update and rec­og­niz­ing the COPA and Cir­rus peo­ple con­tribut­ing to the train­ing that has helped improve safe­ty. It was a great evening appre­ci­at­ed by COPA atten­dees. Thanks Cir­rus! Dur­ing the cock­tail par­ty many walked out to look at the flight line, Over 100 Cir­rus parked togeth­er is a impres­sive site.

Sat­ur­day Sem­i­nars and Exhibits con­tin­ued and the day end­ed with the annu­al Migra­tion COPA Gala din­ner. Anoth­er great evening, with COPA Vol­un­teers, out­go­ing board mem­bers receiv­ing recog­ni­tion, Rick Beach receiv­ing a award for his work on safe­ty, John Yli­nen accord­ed Vol­un­teer emer­i­tus sta­tus, the key note speech by AOPA pres­i­dent Mark Bak­er end­ing with Andy turn­ing the gav­el over to Roger. A very fine evening, and a great Migra­tion orga­nized by Craig Albright and the incom­ing Migra­tion chair Bill Mey­er. Thanks Migra­tion com­mit­tee. Sun­day the flock took off for their home bases in glo­ri­ous weath­er. See you all next year in Nashville, TN.