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COG Fly In

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idcairns

New member
New Orleans LA
Aircraft Type
Other
Today would be a great day to announce the date and place of this years fly in, don't you think?

If we leave it any later, members schedules are going to fill up.
 
Re: COG Fly In

Sid we need to post it. I am not sure of the excat date I know everyone is talking Jeckell Island.
 
Re: COG Fly In

The Fly-In is definitely Jekyll Island Sept 24 - 26, with most arrivals expected on Thu 23rd BUT earlier arrivals will be welcomed too.

We have a good program lined up, the location is a quaint hotel walking distance from the plane parking. We (Byrne) is still squeezing the rates down with the hotel for group behalf and when done (soon) we'll post details.
Thanks for the patience.

The poll results were the highest for this last Sept week-end and the next week-end in Oct. 1 - 3 also polled equally high but the hotel offered us better rates for the Sept week-end.

We surveyed several locations in the SE and felt that going beyond N FL into Central FL posed distance problems for the NE & Mid West members.

Will keep all posted for more info.
 
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Re: COG Fly In

Sid,
Glad that it is posted. I was getting lots of people asking about it and I didn't see any other public threads with the announcement so didn't know what to say.

It will be a great fun location for all!
 
Re: COG Fly In

Sid, I guess us Westerners should just "fall off the map" as far as distance is concerned.
 
Re: COG Fly In

Jackie and I really hope to make this years Fly-in, I guess the nearest major airport for us would be Orlando or am I wrong.
 
Re: COG Fly In

Hi John; Jacksonville, FL (JAX) closest, but there is also comm'l. service right into Brunswick, GA on Delta.

Judi
 
Re: COG Fly In

Thanks Judi,
I can get a flight from London Gatwick to Brunswick GA with one stop, looking at Google Earth this would seem to be the best bet.
It looks like its less than 20 miles from Glynco Jetport (BQK) to Jekyll Island .
 
Re: COG Fly In

yes, that would be the plan, John. what a treat for COG to meet more international owners. Looking fwd. to it.
I'll be going comm'l. myself. Thurs. - Sun. HOU to BQK. it'll be another great time, I'm sure!

Judi
 
Re: COG Fly In

It looks like its less than 20 miles from Glynco Jetport (BQK) to Jekyll Island .

The hotel (which hasn't been announced, but based on Sid's description it pretty much narrows it down) has shuttle service to/from BQK for those that don't want or need a car.
 
Re: COG Fly In

Thats good to know Frank, thanks.
And Judi, it will be really nice to actually me you and the other COG members a well.
So if it all works out there will be at least two international Commander flyers there.
 
Re: COG Fly In

Hi everybody,
i intend to also show up, to meet the hole Group more closely, so expect minimum three International Freaks of Commanders.
Looking froward when details become available.
Heinrich
 
Re: COG Fly In

Merci and we look mforward to meeting you and your compatriots hope there are may attendees from Europe.

We will deliver a useful and enjoyable Commander discussion and seminar program.
 
Re: COG Fly In

Hi All,
I have a big house with many spare bedrooms.
Any EU Commander owners that would like to arrive early. I have the space.

About an hours flight to Jekyll, South of Atlanta about 100 nm, close to JAX.

My home airport is ABY.

Will arrange pickup at ATL or JAX. Please call me.

Ken@AndrewTent.com
229 883-4400
 
Re: COG Fly In

Ken,

What a generous offer! You are a champ, again.

Highly recommend the Europeans take you up on the offer, they won't do better.
 
Re: COG Fly In

Ken, that is a very kind offer, thank you from all of us on this side of the pond.

The last time I was at ATL they left all the luggage out on the ramp in the rain,
I spent that evening trying to dry out a suit for a business meeting in the morning..ah the joys of travel.:D
 
Re: COG Fly In

"We surveyed several locations in the SE and felt that going beyond N FL into Central FL posed distance problems for the NE & Mid West members" :-(

For the past few years at least you've selected locations for fly-ins favoring members in the East and midwest. Perhaps that arises because most of you know one another because you regularly meet up at gigs held in the East and Midwest, and maybe a very large percentage of members are in that region, so you think that owners in the Western half of the U.S. don't care and don't want to come to fly-ins.

There have been only two annual gigs in the Western half of the country since the 1990s - the one in Sedona AZ and one 2 or 3 years ago in TX. It's impractical for people on one coast to travel to the other in these airplanes unless they have a lot of time (and fuel money) available.

If there are Commander owners in the Western half who are going to be at AOPA Expo in Long Beach in November, let's touch base and discuss a plan to meet for dinner Friday night or lunch Saturday in Long Beach, and hoist a glass to our Eastern brethren.
 
Re: COG Fly In

For the past few years at least you've selected locations for fly-ins favoring members in the East and midwest.

(Caveat: I am *not* on the COG Board. Nor would I want to be. Anything written here is my own personal opinion. Also, Carol, we met at Sedona and I love you. Don't take this as criticism.)

If we look at the location of the fly-ins, it's really not too difficult to see two patterns emerge:

1999 Laughlin, NV
2000 ???
2001 Factory, OKC
2002 Factory, OKC
2003 Factory, OKC
2004 Gatlinburg, TN
2005 Sedona, AZ
2006 Factory, CGI
2007 Factory, CGI
2008 Fredericksburg, TX
2009 Boyne, MI
2010 Jekyll Island, GA

The first pattern is that the COG spends entirely too much time visiting the factory, wherever it may be located. I wasn't too thrilled about going to CGI two years in a row, but I understand the motivation was to support CPAC both years (2006 was CPAC's founding year, 2007 was supposed to be a big announcement that never came).

The OKC trips were before my time and -- while I would have attended if I owned an airplane -- I would not have been thrilled to visit the same place three years in a row. However, I imagine part of the reason may have been to support the factory (especially if they were picking up the tab), and another part may have been because OKC is kind of in the middle of the country.

If we skip the factory trips the second pattern is that the fly-ins alternate between West and East coast, in terms of convenience. We have 1999 West (NV), 2004 East (TN), 2005 West (AZ), 2008 Central (TX, nearly smack dab in the middle of the country, longitude-wise), 2009 East (MI), 2010 East (GA).

So, yes, we probably should have gone west again this year. I'm sure there is going to be a lot of motivation for the Board to plan a western fly-in next year. Personally, I'm aching to go visit Sedona in my 114 and wish we could do that again (or anyplace in that general neighborhood).

My guess is that it would be really great if folks on the West coast started researching locations for a large fly-in over in that part of the world. Having been on the planning side of a large convention for a different organization I know it's no small task. That group has Chapters which actually compete to host the annual event, and we started our planning a full year in advance.

While I don't think that type of competition is appropriate (or possible) for the COG, I do think that if the West coast members are feeling at all slighted then they need to step up and be more proactive. The Board can undoubtedly use all the help they can get when it comes to planning this one annual event of ours. If you're thinking it should be in your neighborhood then maybe a bit of leg work to kick things in that direction would be worth your time.
 
Re: COG Fly In

Frank is exactly correct. A couple of addendums. When we had the Sedona Fly-in, we still got sparse attendence from the West. And although Northern Michigan can be reached from the East Coast in a day, it is more apltly described as "North Central." Several times the board (of which I am no longer a member) has asked for the western members to get involved and plan something, but it has not happened. This year we thought SE would be best, in the spirit of "spreading it around." I think the board would more than welcome a small western contingent to say right now "we will take it for 2011 and plan the Fly-In." Go for it.
 
Re: COG Fly In

I would welcome a Napa Valley fly in if one were to be arranged at some future date:D

Having flown both coast to coast and north to south in my Commander I must say it was not as big a deal as I thought it would be. I would happily do it again. I did Petaluma to New Orleans in two very easy days last year with a very pleasant stop overnight in Santa Fe. No day was more then 6 hours flying, three in the morning and three in the afternoon with extended lunch stops. New Orleans to Olympia Washington was a little more time consuming but still carried out in two daylight flying days with nice lunch stops and an overnight in Denver.

Regina and I have agreed that our new goal is to visit every national park in the USA (not in same trip obviously) and feel the Commander is the vehicle to do it in. A west coast trip for us would likely be combined with that goal and we would arrange vacation time accordingly as long as the location and date were announced with sufficient time to do that.

In the meantime I am looking forward to meeting old and new friends in Jeckyl Island in September.
 
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