Aero-TV: COPA M7 Reflections -- Weathering The Times

2009-07-15 38

Aero-TV Conducts Its Annual Three Question Survey Of COPA Members (Part 3) Opinions! We love them... especially when they come from folks with something interesting to say! Aero-TV engaged in one of its favorite exercises during the 2009 Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association's Annual Convention -- that of surveying a dozen or so people at an event with three questions targeted toward the interest group that we're visiting. So, we came up with three good question for the thousands of folks who populated this year's convention... we started with a pretty good conversation starter, namely, what do you think of Cirrus Chairman Alan Klapmeier's announcement of his intent to buy out the SF50 Vision program? The second of the three questions dealt with the source of no small amount of controversy in the Cirrus community (as well as the rest of GA), namely... is the legal system dealing a fair hand to aviation? In the light of a recent judgement against Cirrus after a VFR pilot blundered into IFR conditions (an accident labeled as pilot error by the NTSB), one wonders how aviation can survive in the face of such ridiculous decisions. Our final question addresses the complexities of GA in a down economy. In other words... with all the (expletives deleted) surrounding us these days, how are you making out and what are you doing to survive? We look forward to asking similar questions of the Columbia/Corvalis community in a few weeks at their annual meeting out West... The annual COPA Migration is obviously THE biggest event of the year for Cirrus pilots. In late June of 2009, hundreds of Cirrus aircraft flew in from all over the country (and beyond) to return to the "nest" to take advantage of an extensive and varied roster of activities for the pilots AND their families. Migration events include a number of unique and highly-anticipated evening social events, numerous seminars and presentations, and an extensive trade exhibition. The Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) is a not-for profit membership ...