AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - July 2017 - 100

DETAILS

49,000

The number of visitors to AOPA
Fly-Ins in the past four years.

News & Notes
MEMBERSHIP

CAMARILLO DRAWS A CROWD
People, airplanes,
exhibitors land in
Southern California
BY THOMAS A. HORNE
NEARLY 5,000 VISITORS and
426 airplanes converged on
California's Camarillo Airport
in April to kick off this year's
round of AOPA Fly-Ins. The
crowd arrived to find 68
exhibitors and two full days of activities,
camaraderie, and just plain fun. AOPA's
Camarillo Fly-In, presented by California
Aeronautical University and hosted by
Channel Islands Aviation, was AOPA's seventeenth regional fly-in in four years, and
total all-time attendance hit 49,000.
New for this year was a two-day
schedule that included a series of Friday
workshops. These interactive, hands-on
sessions included discussions and demonstrations dealing with owner-guided
maintenance, mountain flying, ocean flying, getting back into IFR flying, and a
"Pilot Plus One" program aimed at activities designed to appeal to nonflying spouses
and partners. AOPA's popular Rusty Pilots
seminar was also held both days.
Clear skies and ideal temperatures prevailed over the two days, with occasionally
strong Santa Ana winds being the only
weather glitch. But campers and exhibit
airplanes alike descended on Camarillo.
Joe Davis, who cruised 2,229 nautical miles
from his home base at Chester, Connecticut
(SNC), in his 1970 Cessna Cardinal, won a
Stratus 2S ADS-B receiver for being the
pilot who ventured the farthest.
As usual at AOPA's fly-ins, there were
exhibit airplanes aplenty-58, to be precise.
Thanks to a wing of the Commemorative
Air Force being based at Camarillo, its staff
put a Grumman F6F Hellcat, a Mitchell
B-25J, an Aero Vodochody L-29, and a rare

100 | AOPA PILOT July 2017

PRESENTED BY

Mark XIV Supermarine Spitfire on display.
Also featured were the latest from general
aviation manufacturers, including the new
TBM 930 from Avex Inc.'s TBM service center, located at Camarillo.
There was even a vintage Cirrus VK-30
kitplane-in the Sellers Corral, a venue
where private sellers could put airplanes
up for sale.
Next stop on the fly-in trail: Norman,
Oklahoma (OUN), on September 8 and 9,
where we're all hoping to meet up again.
See you there!
EMAIL tom.horne@aopa.org

BY THE NUMBERS

Attendees 1,900 (Friday) 2,800 (Saturday)
Aircraft 426
Display Aircraft 58
Exhibitors 110
Barnstormers Party Attendees 733
Rusty Pilots 158
Friday Workshop Attendees 301

2017 FLY-INS

April 28-29 Camarillo, California (CMA)
September 8-9 Norman, Oklahoma (OUN)
October 6-7 Groton, Connecticut (GON)
October 27-28 Tampa, Florida (TPF)
www.aopa.org/fly-ins

SPECTACULAR CESSNA PILOTS SOCIETY'S FLY-OUT CAPS WEEKEND
Pilots joined up and headed out to
rugged, remote Catalina Island off
California's coast to cap off their
AOPA Fly-In weekend. Navion pilot Pat
Mullen summed up the experience as
"the perfect way to put an exclamation
mark on the AOPA Fly-In to Camarillo."
The fly-out was organized by the
Cessna Pilots Society and led by Mike
Jesch, a Cessna 182 owner. Many of the
participating pilots had attended the
Friday AOPA workshop on ocean and
mountain flying techniques. The trip
featured the 26-mile overwater hop to
the island, landing on the windswept
1,602-foot-elevation Airport in the Sky,
camping, and camaraderie.

"After camping last night, hiking this
morning, and experiencing the camaraderie between pilots, you can't ask for
anything more," added Mullen.
The Cessna Pilots Society will organize fly-outs at upcoming AOPA Fly-Ins
this fall (www.cessna-pilots.net).
-David Tulis
http://www.aopa.org/fly-ins http://www.cessna-pilots.net
AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - July 2017

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