Happy New Year!!! It's great to be back into our regular meetings. November and December's meetings were consolidated into the Holiday Party. The party was held at Naples Lakes Country Club. They did such wonderful job that I'm declaring it our best Holiday party yet! We had 74 attendees for the party. Take a look down below at some of the pictures from the party.

Dues are due and can now be paid on our website
www.naplespilots.com

Except for some morning fog, the weather has been great. I hope everyone is taking the opportunity to take some flights. Earlier this month I flew with some friends to act like a tourist in St. Augustine. It was an easy 2 hour flight up there in a Cherokee Six. We rented a car from Hertz to get around and spent the day walking around Castillo de San Marcos and the downtown area. We even climbed the 14 stories of stairs to the top of the lighthouse. It's nice to plan day trips for more than just breakfast.

During a night flight this past Wednesday, we captured this image of the sunset. If you look in the upper left corner you can see the moon in its waxing crescent phase. Just above and to the left of the moon was a very bright planet Mars. Do you have any memorable pictures or recent flights. Email me so I can share your adventures. It's easy to get into the habit of doing the same type of flight over and over but there is just so much to see if you know where to look.

October Speaker
Our last regular meeting in October featured North Naples Fire Chief Orly Stolts and Deputy Chief Jorge Aguilera. They talked about the merger of North Naples Fire District with Big Corkscrew. I was impressed with My Stolts attention to detail and the talk was very informative. The county voted on the merger on Nov 4th and the referendum was overwhelmingly passed. Mr. Aguilera spoke about the Ebola scare that was dominating news sources in October. The county was actively reviewing plans and ensuring they were prepared to handle any outbreak. Funny, I hardly even hear about Ebola in the news now.

January's Speaker
I'm proud to announce Phil Boyer, past President of the Aircraft owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is our speaker for January. The meeting will be sponsored/catered by Regions Bank's aircraft loan division.

Phil Boyer's name has been synonymous with general aviation for over 20 years. He will be talking about the Post-Nov election impact on looming USER FEES issue, the petition from AOPA/EAA to eliminate the 3rd Class Medical requirement, the looming ADS-B Mandate, and General Aviation's Declining Infrastructure. Let's give Phil the support and respect he deserves and have the best attendance yet for a meeting.

Phil Boyer served as the President of Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) from January 1, 1991 until his retirement in January, 2009.. Mr. Boyer served as a Member of Management Council at Next Generation Air Transportation System Institute. He is a 10,000-hour-plus, instrument- and multiengine-rated pilot who has been flying for more than 45 years, 30 as an aircraft owner. As AOPA president, Mr. Boyer led the largest and one of the most influential civil aviation organizations in the world. During his presidency, AOPA membership grew by more than 33 percent — to 415,000 members — more than two thirds of all certificated pilots in the United States. Before taking the left seat at AOPA, Mr. Boyer was senior vice president/Development for Capital Cities/ABC Video Enterprises, Inc., where he explored new business opportunities in communications technologies and coordinated ABC's international business activities. He also created ABC's "Wide World of Flying," a quarterly subscription-based video magazine. During his career at ABC, Mr. Boyer held vice president and General Manager positions at flagship ABC television stations WABC-TV/New York and WLS-TV/Chicago. He spent 32 years in the broadcasting business before his almost two decades with AOPA.

Dues are due!
Our website has been redesigned and we are adding features. The biggest feature added so far is the ability to renew your membership online. We now accept credit cards through PayPal. Not only is it easy, but it will enable us to keep better track of your memberships. We will be abandoning the calender year membership cycle and starting a 12 month recurring membership. So now if you join in June, you renew the following June instead of the following January. I'm excited about the upcoming changes and the ability it will bring us to help us communicate better.

Monthly Pancake Breakfast
Chapter 1067 of the Experimental Aircraft Association holds a monthly pancake breakfast at the Pilot's Lounge on the 2nd Sunday of each month from 8am-11am. It's a lot of fun and a great deal for breakfast, only $5. Stop on by. Non-Members of EAA are welcome.
If you are interested in displaying your aircraft, please call Dave at the Airport Pilot Shop.
239-263-9121

Volunteers
An organization like the Naples Pilots Association can't run itself. It needs capable people to help carry out small tasks to make our meetings work. This teamwork is essential. We are currently looking for a couple people to help with these four tasks. I promise the workload is very low and it's a great way to get involved and meet other members.

Trade-Ins Needed
If you have any used headsets or portable GPS units laying around collecting dust, please see Dave at the Airport Pilot Shop. He may be able to help find a new home for your old equipment.
dave@airportpilotshop.com or 239-263-9121

Front Desk - Sit at the front desk and help greet the membership during the meeting. Contact Catherine Fay 239-403-4838 catherine@naplesairinc.com

Hospitality - Help pick up food and drinks for the meeting. Set up coffee, snacks, chairs etc. dave@airportpilotshop.com 239-263-9121

David Rochin
Presdent - Naples Pilots Association
dave@airportpilotshop.com