At the beginning of April I traveled to Victoria BC to attend a COPA Director's meeting. The old adage "time to spare, go by air" still runs true today ... my noon flight finally got off the ground at 2:25pm!

Friday evening we were driven to the British Columbia Aviation Museum for a tour of their outstanding facilities - a must see if you are ever in Victoria! We then were shown about 8-10 Warbirds that are in various stages of being restored by Victoria Air Maintenance, owned by Mike Ingram.


Saturday, after a day-long meeting we traveled to 'Mary's Restaurant', an establishment that has been in existence since before WWII. Interesting place with good food and plenty of aviation memorabilia! After dinner a meeting was held at the Victoria Flying Club where a presentation was given by Kevin Psutka to the directors and members of Flight #6. Kevin's talk lasted for about an hour, covering COPA's involvement in aviation and a look to the future. Much conversation centered around the 406 ELT situation and air space restrictions in and around Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics. We ended around 9:45pm, then it was back to the hotel to rest before a 6:20am return flight. A busy but informative couple of days! Much thanks and appreciation to resident COPA director Ken Armstrong and his wife Linda of Victoria BC for arranging our agenda and transportation!

As we have previously mentioned, August 2, 2008 is going to be a big day for us at CYVV as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the first licensed Canadian female pilot, Wiarton-born Eileen Vollick. On this day, we will be celebrating this lady's great achievements in aviation with many of her family members, local dignitaries and you as we officially rename the terminal building to the Eileen Vollick Terminal and unveil our newly designed Eileen Vollick Memorial Parkette. Now that spring is here, we have started construction of the parkette. Special thanks to our landscape expert Judy Gay, (resident of Oxenden, Councilor of Georgian Bluffs); Arriscraft Corporation (formerly Adair Marble) who has generously donated the large stone we will be using as a memorial marker; and all the COPA Flight #68 volunteers who have offered their help in the creation of this parkette! On behalf of the Eileen Vollick Memorial Committee, I would like to thank everyone for their generous financial contributions towards the parkette ... our fundraising goal of $3000 has been exceeded, which means that this project will be totally funded by donations. Thank you!

Until next month!
Harold Fry
co-Captain
COPA Flight #68
CYVV