|
Welcome to Cessnas 2 Oshkosh 2014
|
As most of us wish for a swift end to this brutal winter and the start of the 2014 flying season, we welcome each and everyone of you to the 9th Annual Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Mass Arrival into EAA AirVenture-Oshkosh. The usual suspects are hard at work planning the 2014 event. Rodney Swanson, our Director of Training and Operations, is back online after last year's leave of absence. Craig and Gil are back stronger than ever, and coupled with the very valuable contribution of our fellow Cessna pilot and friends, the three of us are determined to make this year's event not just a great one, but the best ever.
Before continuing with more 2014 news, we would like to highlight the immense contribution to the success of the 2013 Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Mass Arrival made by Steve Holmes, Dmitry Zaslavsky, Mike Jesch, Jerry Olson, Jeff Schulz, Phil Gilbert, Berry Gamblin, Steve and Julie Wolf, Ken and Sarah MacLean and Marcos Velez. These dedicated Cessnas 2 Oshkosh supporters went beyond the call of duty to make the 2013 mass arrival a reality. Thank you, thank you, thank you, each and everyone of you.
As you all know, Cessnas 2 Oshkosh is a grassroots effort. We don't have a large bank account nor an infinite advertising budget. We depend on each one of you to promote our mass arrival. Help us spread the word by making announcements at local pilot meetings, posting messages on your favorite online web forums, posting our 2014 flyers on the bulletin boards of your local FBO, flight school, flying club and airport terminal, and talking to your pilot friends as you move about in your flying area. We challenge each of our pilots and friends to recruit at least one more pilot to join our 2014 Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Mass Arrival.
This year's initial contacts with EAA and the FAA have been promising. We have been reassured by both organizations that there are no planned changes to the arrival and parking procedures, the finalized Letter of Agreement (LOA) will be ready for signature and publication in May and Cessna Base Camp will enjoy the same location in the North 40. Our agreement with Wisconsin Aviation at Juneau, our base of operations for our arrival has been solidified and preparations for our gathering have begun.
John Frank, Founder and President of the Cessna Pilots Association, is again providing his mentorship and familiarity with all things Oshkosh, and the resources of the Cessna Pilots Association to make our event a total success. He will be again our ambassador before EAA and our representative in the meetings with the FAA. The Cessna Pilots Association Annual BBQ will again take place at our Cessna Base Camp on Tuesday, July 29th at 5:00 pm CDT. We look forward to hosting the Cessna Pilots Association Annual BBQ and enjoyig the company and camaraderie of our CPA friends. Please consider supporting the Cessna Pilots Association during your visit to Oshkosh.
We are very excited and "fired-up" (as Rodney says) and look forward to seeing all of you in Juneau on July 26, 2014.
|
|
To Fly Our Mass Arrival...
|
...a pilot must register on our website, pay the registration fee at the time of registration, attend at least one of our formation flight training clinics in 2014, and be present in the mass arrival preflight brief on Saturday July 26. The preflight brief will start promptly at 11:00 CDT (UTC-5) and will be held in the main hangar of Wisconsin Aviation at Dodge County Airport (KUNU) in Juneau, Wisconsin.
The registration process is simple. You just need to visit our website www.cessnas2oshkosh.com, click on the registration tab (the first from the right at the top of every page), fill in some information about yourself and your passengers and answer a few questions. Pilots who registered to fly the mass arrival in the past, whether they flew it or not, will save some time by retrieving their personal information from our database. To do so, look for and click on the link at the top of the registration form and confirm your identity entering the same email address and zip code used in the past. If the email address and zip code entered match the the data in our database, the registration form will be prefilled with information previously submitted. Review this information, make any necessary corrections and/or updates and you will be fast on your way to complete the registration process.
The final step in the registration process is paying the registration fee. We use Paypal® to process the registration fee payment. The process is simple and intuitive. You can pay using any major credit card or a PayPal® account.
For more information about the payment process and detailed step-by-step instructions, click here.
|
|
Formation Training Clinics
|
This year, we continue working to have clinics in as many locations as we can. Every year, volunteer lead pilots across the country make this event viable, safe and enjoyable by conducting formation flight training clinics at their home airport. But we need more clinic hosts and lead pilots in order to take care of areas not yet covered by current clinics.
If you have participated in one of our clinics, you already know that our clinics are not intended to train pilots for certification in formation flight or to prepare pilots for participation in airshows. The only purpose of our formation flight training clinics is to prepare our pilots to safely fly our mass arrival into Oshkosh. We keep it simple, safe and fun. If you have already flown three arrivals with us, and feel ready and able to host and lead a clinic, we invite you to Contact Us. We provide all the necessary training and assistance to become a lead pilot, organize and conduct a formation training clinic.
The word went out to our lead pilots, and as this newsletter reaches your inboxes, reports of scheduled clinic locations and dates keep coming in. As of the release time of this issue of The Pirep, the following clinics have been scheduled:
| Missouri |
Midland National Air Center/Clay County Airport (KGPH) |
| Massachusetts |
Worcester Regional Airport |
| Texas |
Gillespie County Airport (T82) |
| Maryland |
Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field (KHGR) |
| New Jersey |
Sky Manor Airport (N40) |
As always, we encourage our pilots to avoid delaying training. Take into consideration that weather is always an unknown variable and, as you well know, weather forecasts are only reliable for a few days prior to a target date. It is impossible to predict weather months ahead of time. Invariably, some clinics may have to be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. Don't let the weather keep you from flying the mass arrival. Please, get your training out of the way early!
To get the most up to date clinic schedule, visit our website and click on the Clinics tab at the top of every page.
Sign up to participate in any clinic if you have already registered to fly the mass arrival.
Sign up to fly the mass arrival and any clinic using our registration form.
|
|
New Registration Fee
|
Cessnas 2 Oshkosh was reborn in 2008 as the "labor of love" of the three of us. In the ensuing years, good friends kindly joined and helped along the way. We are a grassroots movement of Cessna pilots and owners who love to get together at least once a year to enjoy each other's company and participate in the greatest aviation celebration in the world. We strive to produce the best event possible within our means. As you all know, putting together an event of this nature requires significant expenses. We couldn't afford to cover those expenses out of our own pockets. In 2009, we began charging a registration fee to insure our event's viability each year, for years to come. That fee remained unchanged for five years. Unfortunately, continued increases in our operational expenses have forced us to raise our registration fee, beginning with this year's registration.
The new registration fee is:
$60.00 per person on board for registrations completed by the deadline
$75.00 per person on board for registrations completed after the deadline
The deadline for registration is Midnight CDT on June 12, 2014. Children up to the age of 12 will not incur a registration fee.
You can trust us to use the funds generated by the registration fee in the most austere manner. For more on the registration fee and the increase, click here.
Thank you for your support,
The Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Team
|
|
|
Our Mission
|
|
The Pirep is the official newsletter of Cessnas 2 Oshkosh. Its purpose is to keep all the participants in the Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Mass Arrival and our friends informed about our events.
|
|
Mark Your Calendars
|
Thu July 24 to Sat July 26
Pilots, relatives and friends arrive in Dodge County Airport (KUNU), Juneau, Wisconsin for the mass arrival
Friday July 25 / 18:00
Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Mass Arrival Eve Dinner
Saturday July 26 / 07:00
Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Mass Arrival Day Breakfast
Saturday July 26 / 11:00
Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Roll Call for Pre-flight Briefing
Saturday July 26 / 14:30
Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Mass Arrival Flight
Saturday July 26 / 17:30
Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Mass Arrival Group Picture
Sunday July 27 / 17:30
Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Annual BBQ Dinner, Cessna Base Camp, North 40, Oshkosh
Mon July 28 to Sun August 3
2014 EAA AirVenture - Oshkosh.
Tuesday July 29 / 17:30
Cessna Pilots Association Annual BBQ Dinner, Cessna Base Camp, North 40, Oshkosh
Times are local CDT (UTC-5).
|
|
Spread The Word!
|
Download and Post Our Flyers
Help Us Spread the Word!
|
|
|
|
Call for Volunteers
|
Cessnas 2 Oshkosh is looking for volunteers to help with different tasks at Juneau and Oshkosh, and for a Volunteer Coordinator to be in charge of assigning tasks and overseeing the Cessnas 2 Oshkosh volunteers. The Volunteer Coordinator will meet with the leadership via conference call on ocassions and will have an active role in planning our events.
The following is the list of tasks for which we need volunteers:
|
1. Pilot check-in and goodie bag handing out (Juneau)
2. Friday night dinner serving assistance (Juneau)
3. Friday night dinner pick-up (Juneau)
4. Saturday pre-departure lunch serving assistance (Juneau)
5. Ground coordination and pre-positioning in the North 40 (Oshkosh)
6. Retrieval and transportation of the camping equipment from the storage facility (Oshkosh)
7. Tent and base camp building (Oshkosh)
8. Hanging sponsor banners around the Cessna tent (Oshkosh)
9. Daily breakfast cooking and serving assistance (Oshkosh)
10. Daily movie projection (Oshkosh)
11. Breaking camp, packing and moving equipment to storage facility (Oshkosh)
If you feel you are up to the job, please Contact Us as soon as possible. Thanks!
|
|
Call for Sponsors
|
Beyond the time dedicated by our volunteer pilots, relatives and friends, we are faced with increasing costs that must be met in order to have a successful mass arrival and fun week at Cessna Base Camp come July. Some of the costs involved in putting together our events are covered by the registration fee, but not all.
We seek out contributions from sponsors (mostly prizes to be given away during our annual BBQ Dinner at Cessna Base Camp) and monetary contributions from friends and fellow pilots to cover other remaining expenses. We kindly ask you to consider helping us with a financial contribution.
If you are able to help with any of these matters, please contact us via phone, email or through our website. Our information is displayed on the Contact Us page of our website.
Or, you may contribute right now by clicking on the button below:
|
We are deeply grateful to those who have donated some of their hard-earned cash throughout the years. Your generosity has made it possible to grow and improve this event and to better represent the hard work and dedication that all of you have shown.
Thanks!
|
|
