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"Magnificent!" "Marvellous!"
These were the adjectives most often heard at the Challenger Owners Association
8th Annual Ski Fly-in. Some 80 people enjoyed a wonderful weekend
of flying and camaraderie at the renowned Chateau Montebello on the Ottawa
River midway between Ottawa and Montreal.
Low ceilings and 30 mph winds laced with turbulence from the mountains to the north could not prevent 18 owners from arriving in their Challengers. The well-winterized Ottawa River served as an endless runway for the skiplanes and secure tie-downs were located in the protected harbor in front of the hotel.
Ray McBain flew his Challenger "El Tortugas" 600 km out and return from Quebec City, stopping at Three Rivers to join up with Patrice Imbeau and his wife Sylvie in their Challenger. Maurice Vinet, Over two dozen additional owners, as well as numerous aspiring owners and dignitaries, braved the much more hazardous public roads in their motor cars.
On Saturday afternoon everyone moved into the chateau to enjoy some
highly interesting forums. The F-18 and the Challenger are very much alike: both carry two people; both have excellent visibility from front and back seats; and both can land on the snow-covered Ottawa River, although the F-18 can only do it once. Okay, so the F-18 is faster than the Challenger - but then the Challenger doesn't need an aircraft carrier to land on the water. Following a break for coffee, Lindsay Cadenhead gave a "State of the Union" address that brought everyone up to date on current initiatives on the regulatory side of flying. Lindsay is stepping down after several years at the helm of recreational aviation at Transport Canada and will be sorely missed. Frank Hofmann, director of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association, gave a compelling talk on the importance of safeguarding the recreational aviator's right to the skies from undue regulation, complication and cost. For many years Frank has been an ardent spokesperson on this subject and his eloquence has achieved results benefiting all recreational flyers. After the forums, attendees headed back out to the flight line, gathered
in informal groups to swap flying yarns and In the evening, The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association was represented by Frank Hofmann, accompanied by his wife Margaret, and Garth Wallace, who attended with his wife Liz. Garth is publisher of Canadian Flight Magazine and is a well known aviation author and humourist. The group was also joined by Challenger enthusiasts General Maurice
Baril, A delicious meal was followed by the world premier of a stunning video that was literally hot off the presses. The video had been in production at studios in Toronto up to and including the night before. It was driven at high speed to Barrie early Saturday morning where Bryan Quickmire was waiting in his Challenger to rush it straight to the fly-in for the grand debut. The video highlighted excerpts of an upcoming television production
on Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland. Gros Morne is an area of great natural beauty, a landscape where
mountain highlands and coastal lowlands are juxtaposed. Following the video, the annual awards were presented. The 'Farthest Flown' award was presented to Wayne Irvine for his 1500 km return flight from Cochrane in northern Ontario. Wayne graciously shared the award with Don Sampson and Dale Peever, his flying companions for 1200 km of the journey.
The 1998 ICOA fly-in was honored to be selected as the venue for the first presentation of the important new Canada ' Freedom to Fly' Award. This award was created by Frank Hofmann whose vision is to recognize and reward individuals or organizations who have made outstanding contributions to preserving or enhancing all Canadians' rights to fly. This award is unique and will become much sought after as in addition to a beautiful, engraved plaque it includes a financial reward made possible by industry sponsors. Lindsay Cadenhead of Transport Canada was the deserving inaugural winner of this honor. Lindsay was instrumental in the creation of the Recreational Pilot Permit as well as in ushering in numerous other sensible and welcome changes to Canada's aviation regulations. His contributions set a most high standard for future nominees! After the formal proceedings the attendees continued to socialize in the banquet hall and many moved on to partake of the night life of the resort. Sunday turned out to be one of those perfect flying days with bright
sunshine and deep blue skies along with totally calm air and limitless
visibility. After dining sumptuously at the spectacular Sunday Brunch buffet,
Many meters of air-to-air footage were shot at the fly-in, formally and informally! On both Saturday and Sunday a television crew from Radio Canada was on site to produce a French language newscast of the event for "l'Outaouais en Couler", a regional CBC series. Aviation photographer Nick Wolochatiuk was also on hand to record the proceedings on the ground and in the air. A final forum was presented Sunday morning by Daniel Sasseville of Aéro Propulsion Technologie, a Quebec Rotax Repair Center. He hosted for the second year what has become a very popular question and answer session on the care and feeding of Rotax motors.
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