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International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians Americas Region, Vice President Larry Wolfsen |
2014 SW Section New Year Fly-In
January 4-5, 2013
Section chair: George Chaffey
2014 Fly-Ins Start in a Hurry
2014 started in a hurry for IFFR…. on January 4-5 in Santa
Monica, California (in the Los Angeles Area). The “middle of winter” is
not the prime time to plan Fly-Ins (maybe for drive-ins by car, or for train-ins
by train, or bus-ins by bus…but not for fly-ins with private planes).
However, in Santa Monica, on January 4-5, the weather was beautiful, the
activities relaxing, the atmosphere intimate, and the duration perfect…people
could come and stay as their schedule permitted.
Peter & Shirley More hosted the event. Bob Tucknott
(with co-pilot, Steve Powell) and George Chaffey both flew in from the San
Francisco Bay Area. Also attending were Swedish members Krister & Marianne
Liljenstrand and local members Bob & Trudy Phillips. Also joining us for
the Saturday afternoon activities were various aviation friends associated with
the CAP (Civilian Air Patrol) and Angel Flights (activities that IFFR members
are deeply involved in).
Saturday kicked off with a hanger lunch, followed by an
interesting session on IFR flying by one of the flight instructors from the
local school. We then all checked into our hotel (provided by IFFR member Bill
Edwards, who missed this fly-in only because he had flown his own light sport
plane to Florida). Then Peter More led us on an “insiders” tour of the UCLA
campus, and an intriguing visit to Rodeo Drive (“the” famous shopping street of
Beverly Hills, including a fascinating “European village” shopping section
cleverly devised by some creative planner out of one part of a single block).
The Chinese dinner, specially picked by Shirley More who knows the owner of the
restaurant, was delicious…and involved some things that we hadn’t tried before.
Sunday morning included a casual breakfast and touring of
various areas of Los Angeles, seeing the locations of famous movie studios,
standing on a little-known vista point overlooking the entire Los Angeles
basin….and more.
This was a nice way to kick off the IFFR 2014 in this part of
the world. Special thanks to Peter & Shirley More for setting up and so
graciously hosting this first “Start the New Year” Fly-in, and for helping to
chauffeur some of the attendees to the various activities. Weather
permitting, this could well become a tradition. Meanwhile,
Happy New Year to all.
George Chaffey, SW Section Chair
IFFR Americas
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