www.ifframericas.org

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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