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1998
Ocean City

  

2003 Eastern CFO Convention
Boyne Mountain, MI



The Cardinals returned to Boyne Mountain for the 2003 CFO eastern convention, the weekend before Oshkosh.

Over 30 Cardinals arrived to an interesting crosswind landing as the westerly breeze tumbled over the hills and trees. There was plenty of runway to sort things out, however, and everyone arrived in good style.

The folks at Boyne had designated the field across the road from the runway for Cardinal parking and we more than filled the area.

Dick Almay was there the day before and commented about a few holes in the grass... the groundskeepers were out the next morning and filled every hole they could find with fresh dirt and grass seed before we arrived.

The resort is undergoing changes, with a few new roads and other changes since our last visit. The frame of a hotel under construction stands in front of the lodge, promising more rooms and a water park for future visitors.

Our event started with an icebreaker on the patio. It was a beautiful evening and the snacks were excellent as we got to know the new attendees and caught up with familiar folks.

The restaurant at the top of the ski hill was open, with a free ride up the lift to get there. Most Flyers found their way up before closing time to enjoy burgers and ribs, along with an excellent view.

The formal program began with a weather forecast for rain in the afternoon. Based on that prediction we started with airplane walkarounds, but only visited three airplanes before the light drizzle started to get serious. Even with high wings to hide under we were going to get wet, so we adjusted our schedule on the spot.

The resulting indoor morning session was a discussion of many topics of interest, from diesel engines to the process of upgrading an interior. And it was a short indoor walk to lunch.

Lunch was a Mexican buffet, with tacos, fajitas and several Mexican specialties. There was more than enough fixins to please even the hungriest flyer.

The weather improved during lunch and was actually looking rather bright by afternoon, so we moved our program back to the flight line. We walked the entire line, enjoying the special touches and unique features of each attendee's airplane.

There were a few interesting moments, such as an inspection of the non-functional flaps of one unfortunate member. His flaps has retracted on short final, and it was interesting to see the mechanism and its failure mode.

As always at these flyins there was an impressive array of very nice airplanes, both inside and out. Outstanding panels, impressive paint, innovative touches and high quality interiors were the rule of the day. We were looking for the best airplane of the show, so the inspections were careful and complete.

Evening brought another nice visit to the patio where the staff had laid out a picnic of burgers, brats and other goodies. We had a relaxed evening in the shade of the ski hill.

A few of us braved the young crowd in the hot tub for a soak, while the kids enjoyed the regular pool. The other residents of the resort were guys from sailing teams in the area and girls from a volleyball tournament, so there was plenty going on around the pool.

After a good night's sleep we were back to a weather check. It was foggy, cool and moist, so we had our morning session indoors again. We showed pictures of parts and handed around broken airplane pieces, leading to a number of interesting discussions about how to keep our Cardinals in the air, like the aircraft shown here.

These sessions are always unnerving for me as I ponder how many of these parts came from my airplane, ownalthough some people have been sharing their broken parts with me since then. That is greatly appreciated and takes some of the sting out of going through that box.

Lunch was cold cuts and salad, more than enough as we anticipated our dinner banquet. The food was excellent and the service outstanding all week.

The afternoon brought our technical clinic, where Paul and Keith work over a volunteer Cardinal, both an RG and a FG. Even the two fine examples we inspected this year had a few things of interest to look at, and the process of seeing both good and bad points was entertaining and informative.

We always seem to learn something ourselves in these events. This year the standout contributor was William Curtis, an electrical engineer who is doing a number of innovative things with this Cardinal and had many suggestions and ideas for others. We spent quite a bit of 'free' time digging more deeply into his airplane and were impressed with his ideas and implementations.

Here he shows a diagram of his instrument electrical system, a better level of documentation than even Cessna did on the Cardinal! His rear bulkhead storage system was especially interesting.

While we were peeking into the dark corners of these Cardinals the spouses were checking out the shopping in nearby communities. I only heard snippets, but it sounded like they found ways to occupy their time and interest and it sounded like they had a good time.

As evening rolled around we assembled for the banquet, a fine meal of prime rib, chicken and fish. The tables of Flyers were old friends now and many a flying story was shared as we enjoyed our last evening together.

Then it was time for the awards. Tony Gaidos was awarded the 'flew furthest' award for his trip from California.

The 'People's Choice Best Interior' went to Rick and Michele Gullett for N468LE. Although it was not a new interior, it still looked great and had several special touches that caught the eye of the public.

The biggest award was 'People's Choice Nicest Cardinal', voted by the attendees to Jimmy and Sandy Honeycutt, N177BS. They have never stopped making improvements to this fine airplane, even more spectacular as it was originally a salvage airplane. As the picture below shows, this award was definitely well deserved.

Click on the picture to load a full sized image.



There was one more presentation, a very special one made to Phil and Beth Harrison. The award was for 'Lifetime Contribution to the Cardinal Community', a recognition of their many years of bringing Cardinal people together.

We also recognized Dick Almay for his ongoing efforts in helping bring the convention to Boyne, and Tad Page for his tireless volunteer efforts to park all the airplanes and see that everyone was transported where they needed to be. Each received a bottle of Cardinal wine as our thanks for their hard work.

That ended our evening, but there was a little more Cardinal action to follow.

Monday morning more than a dozen Cardinals found their way up to Mackinaw island, passing over the Mackinac Bridge (seen to the right under Faye and Palmer Gehring's airplane) along the way.

There was a good lineup at the island airport and even a Cardinal shuttle airplane who flies from one island to the other daily.

It's always nice to drop into an airport and see such a fine row of aircraft. More arrived afterward, although it was not clear whether they were part of our group or simply felt compelled to park with us.

It was one of those crisp, clear days when it wasn't hard to just sit in the sun and wait for the taxi.

We met Cardinal people all day long, some long the side of main street and a few on the road to and from the airport.

It was interesting to talk with the taxi driver about life on the island and hear the stories about the various houses. The pace of a horse drawn taxi is a gentle, with occasional breaks at certain places that the horses seem to anticipate.

The pace also allowed more interaction than we are used to. The taxi driver had time to say hello to a little girl, ask if she had a fun birthday party and ask her what she got for presents as we rolled past. We left Amanda trying to remember just what her presents had been, the horses turned out to be too quick for that thought process.

It was fun to see the horses and experience this island with on cars. Even the UPS driver was delivering from a horse drawn cart.

Finally the convention came to an end and we flew off on our own vector to home. A few went on to Oshkosh, where we met a good crowd of Cardinal people on two occasions. The rest we hope to see next year, or perhaps yet this year at the Convention in Concord, CA.

If you were at Boyne, please scroll down and add a comment to the public list about your experience. If you have a suggestion, or were not able to attend and have a suggestion about how to make our conventions more accessible to you, please enter a private comment to the coordinators in the space provided.

Thanks for your feedback!

Keith Peterson
CFO Webmaster


The following aircraft were at CFO Boyne 2003 (although I know realize I missed Paul, Keith and at least one other...):

boyne_p01.jpg boyne_p02.jpg
boyne_p03.jpg boyne_p04.jpg
boyne_p09.jpg boyne_p10.jpg
boyne_p11.jpg boyne_p12.jpg
boyne_p13.jpg boyne_p14.jpg
boyne_p15.jpg boyne_p16.jpg
boyne_p17.jpg boyne_p18.jpg
boyne_p19.jpg boyne_p20.jpg
boyne_p21.jpg boyne_p22.jpg
boyne_p23.jpg boyne_p24.jpg
boyne_p25.jpg boyne_p26.jpg
boyne_p27.jpg boyne_p28.jpg
boyne_p29.jpg boyne_p31.jpg
The following public comments about the flyin have been entered:

We had a great time; thanks to all who attended and especially those who helped make it happen. Plans are well underway for next year; we hope to have a location to announce shortly. Keith and Debbie Peterson
What a great organization to put on an event such as this. Many thanks to Paul; Keith and Debbie for their ongoing hard work. Looking forward to the next time I'll be able to attend. Rick Ostericher


Enter your public comments here: (Please include your name)



Enter any private comments to the flyin coordinators here:




The following people have registered their plans to attend this CFO Convention:

NameDeparting
From
Aircraft
Year/Type
Registration
Number
Comments
Keith & Debbie PetersonHampshire, IL (68IS)1976 177 RGN33267Looking forward to a great gathering, see you there!
Dick AlmayGrand Rapids, MI (GRR)1975 177 RGN2643V
Bruce & Betsy HutchingsWhitefield, NH (HIE)1977 177 RGN52061
John AveryWood-Ridge, NJ (N07)1977 177BN19519
Skip MarkleyMoreland Hills, OH (29G)
HERBERT ROSENTHALBETHESDA, MD (GAI)1976 177 RGN7605v
Tony Gaidoswill leave WVI on July 20th, CA (unk)1974 177BN177TG
Ted & Jae WinkelLudington, MI (LDM)1976 177 RGN34096
Jimmy & Sandy HoneycuttLocust Grove, GA (GA04)1976 177 RGN177BSIt will be nice to see everyone there! We are looking forward to Northern Mich. and then on to Oshkosh!
Frank and Joan YowEast Falmouth, MA (HYA)1976 177BN10346Great place; have been here twice before;look forward to seeing Cardinal friends
Palmer & Faye GehringWinter Haven , FL (gif)1975 177BN 35086Faye and I are really looking forward to Boyne Mt. We are also bringing our granddaughter;Amanda. See you there!
Bill PovilaitisLanding, NJ (12N)1970 177BN30900Great choice for the convention! We are looking forward to a great time.
Mike BrownCrossville, TN (CSV)1972 177BN34206
bob dellport huron, MI (phn)1976 177 RGn34944
Terry KrakerAllendale, MI (3GM)1970 177BN30691
Tad PageThornhurst, PA (AVP)1976 177BN999HR
Rick GullettSnellville, GA (LZU)1971 177 RGN468LEGreat choice of venue
Ray ReederStrasburg, PA (Q08)1975 177BN35069
Kurt EmmerlingNorthville, MI (1D2)1973 177 RG1897Q
Peter & Carol Van CaulartFonthill; ON, (CNQ3)1968 177C-GCPGIt's our first convention. We're looking foward to it.
Martin ColeGreenwood, IN (HFY)1975 177 RGN27JS
Dean Crofford Brownwood, TX (10XS)N5683UKeith and Debbie - I know we do not own a cardinal anymore but we would like to come and visit all our Cardinal friends and see everyone. We miss you guys.
John & Elisabeth RootMedina, OH (1G5)1976 177 RGN34170Looking forward to introducing Elisabeth.
Rick OstericherKalamazoo, MI (AZO)1978 177BN1351C
Carl & Jean MillerOrchard Park (near Buffalo), NY (9G0)1976 177BN13681Ideal location for us Easterners enroute to OSH Will be leaving Sun afternoon
Jim HausserGrayslake, IL (UGN)otherN52802
Brian EstesO'Fallon, IL (ALN)1978 177 RGN53120
Jenni GainsboroughWashington DC, (GAI)1976 177 RGN7605V
TOM SMILEYGAINESVILLE, GA (GVL)1977 177BN19103
Phil HarrisonLawrence, KS (C65)1978 177 RGN53100
Revesz George & PeggyLondon; Canada, (cyxu)1976 177 RGc-gdzgLooking forward to seeing everyone
Mike LawieMuskegon, MI (MKG)1974 177BN34802
Fred BrownHastings, MI (9D9)1976 177BN13282
Tom VogelpohlCincinnati, OH (KLUK)1973 177BN34354
Ralph LoCascioLincoln Park, NJ (N07)N18214
Joe WelchColumbia, SC (CUB)1977 177BN19119
Lloyd EdsonOmaha, NE (KOMA)1976 177 RGN177EF
Daniel HallackHart, MI (C04)1976 177 RGN7591V
Albert LeeHarbor Springs, MI (mgn)1972 177 RG
William CurtisPiscataway, NJ (47N)1975 177 RGN24DM
John AveryWood-Ridge, NJ (N07)1977 177BN19519Looking forward to seeing everyone in one place again
Richard WilliamsPoplar Grove, IL (c77)1975 177BN99PX
Rick ShoemakerSheboygan, WI (SBM)1978 177 RGN567WC
Mike SandmanRoselle, IL ()Thinking about buying a Cardinal - this seems like the best chance to see a bunch of them in one place.



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