Another record setting year for the annual event!
Record attendance by both people and planes made this year’s convention one for the record books with over 800 people and 100 plus planes taking advantage of the great weekend weather.
The biggest things literally on the field this year were the hot air balloons. Two balloons belonging to Skyward Balloons launched Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings and Friday and Saturday evenings. Graham Rawlinson of Skyward Balloons is no stranger to ultralight aeroplanes; he is a former dealer for Polaris Flying Inflatable Boats, a rigid hull inflatable boat with 36’ ultralight trike wing. Graham donated two balloon rides for the draw and offered a discounted price during the convention for anyone who wanted to go up in one of the balloons during the weekend.
Most of you have seen balloons landing, but not too many have seen them being prepped for takeoff. Until you stand beside them as they are inflated or walk around inside the envelope, you don’t realize how BIG they really are.
Over the weekend, there were over 90 different makes and models of light aircraft on the field, including Quicksilvers, Lazairs, Pipers and Cessnas, wood or tube and fabric homebuilts including a Stewart Headwind, a Jodel, D-11, a Pietenpol Air Camper, a Dakota Hawk, and a Stitts Flutterbug, plus two World War II trainers, the Fleet Finch. There were also composite advanced ultralights such as the Jabiru, the Flight Design CT, and the Ekolot Pathmaker plus two amateur built helicopters and one autogyro.
Pete Harrison flew his Lazair in on Wednesday. (He was the second plane to arrive after Ray Taylor in his Aeronca Sedan.) Pete arrived in record time; he covered 45 miles in 47 minutes. He had a great tail wind!
Greg Evans from Dunrobin in Quebec’s eastern townships arrived in his Earthstar Odyssey after 6 hours in the air. He was the pilot who flew the farthest to get here.
We had visitors from farther away than that. Two guests came from Capetown, South Africa, John Hutchinson and Mark Marshall. Brian Fry came from Dartmouth NS, and
Steve Karasek drove in from Miramichi, NB on his motorcycle.
As usual, Grantly Este was the first volunteer to arrive on Saturday the week before coming in from Renfrew. Ontario. He got busy with the showers so there would be time for the water to warm up.
Members of the local UPAC Squadron, the Ayrborne Aviators, pitched in getting things straightened out and cleaned up on the weekend ahead of the convention. I want to thank them for vacating their T-hangars so the Exhibitors could set up their displays under cover. I want to thank all of the volunteers who helped before, during, and after the convention; with out you, the convention would not happen.
The Annual General Meeting of the Ultralight Pilots Association of Canada was held at 3:30 on Saturday afternoon, August 17, 2013, in the seminar hangar at Lubitz Field. Changing the meeting time from 11 am to 3:30 pm didn’t seem to significantly affect the attendance. Because the big rush for the day was over, more of the directors who were also volunteering could attend. The members heard our reports and approved the actions of the board for the previous year.
Also on the agenda was the Bushhawks Literary Award. This year, the prize was won by Adrian Van Loenen for his articles on converting a Geo engine for aviation use in the trike cart he designed himself. Bushhawk Lauren Lee sent us an article on the writing award.
Under new business, member Robert Gissing talked about the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), also known as the World Air Sports Federation, which is the governing body for air sports, aeronautics and astronautics world records. He asked if UPAC should get involved in the competitions and records. After an expression of support by the members, Robert volunteered to look into this and report back.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 4:15. The next AGM will be at 3:30 on the third Saturday in August (the 16th) in 2014. Put it on your calendar now!
There were many very interesting seminars on both Saturday and Sunday morning. There was live entertainment at dinner time both Friday and Saturday nights at the Café Les Aires with songster Keith Murray and Saturday evening, after dark, Lauren Lee performed in the arch.
By all accounts the food was great again this year. Tony Kelly’s chili disappeared quickly on Friday night’s Kick off and Ralph Gingrich’s homemade maple walnut ice cream was greatly appreciated. There was popcorn during the evening movies – Battleship on Friday night and the Red Baron on Saturday night
The Café Les Aires was busy all weekend with coffee and breakfast at ready 6:30 am. Burgers and hot dogs were on the menu for afternoon and evening. Ben Bartel delivered peaches from Niagara on Saturday morning. Eliot Elliot brought Grandma Taylor’s Recipe butter tarts from his farm bakery near Omemee. Tim Schinkel from Schinkels’ Legacy in Chatham donated hot dogs and pepperettes.
Great food, great people, lots of planes and great weather what more could we ask for? See you next year, August 15, 16 and 17!
UPAC would like to thank the following for their support:
Aircraft Spruce & Specialty, www.aircraftspruce.com
Fisher Flying Products, www.fisherflying.com
Icom Canada, www.icomcanada.com
Loshaw Aero kirk.loshaw@gmail.com
Macpat-Rotac macpat@live.ca
Skyhunter 406 www.skyhunter406.com
Smart Pilot www.smartpilot.ca
SOSA Gliding Club www.sosaglidingclub.com
Skyward Balloons www.skywardballoons.com
Optical Depo www.opticaldepo.ca
Canadian Aviator Magazine www.canadianaviatormagazine.com
Ontario Playgrounds www.ontarioplaygrounds.com
Tiger Boys www.tigerboys.com
Ontario Drive and Gear Ltd. www.argoatv.com
Schinkel’s Legacy www.schinkels.ca/
Nav Canada www.navcanada.com
Lauren Lee www.musicbyfirelight.com
Aerotrike Aviation www.aerotrikeaviation.net
Tillsonburg Flying Club www.tillsonburgflyingclub.com
Golden Eagle Flight School http://goldeneagleflightschool.com/
Savage Canada www.savageaircraft.ca
Lift Off Aviation http://liftoffaviation.com
Toronto Aerosports www.torontoaerosport.com
Powered Paragliding Ontario www.poweredparaglidingontario.com
Hamilton Aero Club
Fred Gayford Carbon Fibre Fabrication
The following contributed their time for Seminars and Demonstrations:
Wojec Mastej with Robert Gissing Princess Auto Aero Engine
Bruce Macpherson The facts and myths surrounding ELT’s
Mike Thorp Converting a Hi Max to a foldable wing
Greg Evans Eastern Townships from the air
Chris Stevens NAV Canada – Air space, plus….
Brian Kenney Fuels for Aviation
Glen Dewsbury Composite Q & A
Brain Naylor and MacCulloch Metals Planes
Paul Reidlinger Wooden planes
Ed Lubitz Weight and Balance
Mike Thorp Fabric Demo
Keith Murray Live Entertainment
A special Thank You to ALL of the volunteers who make the convention possible!
If you wanted to see a huge variety of aircraft, the 2013 UPAC Convention was the place to be! The following aircraft were present on field during Convention weekend:
Aeronca K, Champ, & Sedan
Aeroprakt A24
Aeropro A220
Ardco Ultra-3
Beaver RX35, RX550 and RX650
Bright Lite 7
Carrera 180 amphibian
Cessna 140, 150, 172, & 177
Challenger
Chinook Plus II
Citabria
Cubby
Cubby Coupe
Dakota Hawk
De Haviland Jackaroo
Earthstar Thundergull & Odyssey
Ercoupe
Evektor Sportstar
F1 Rocket
Fisher Dakota Hawk
Flight Design CT
Fleet Finch & Canuck
Genesis XL
Glastar
Ibis GS-700
Jabiru
J-3 Kitten
Jodel D-11
Jr. Ace
Karatoo
Kitfox M4 Speedster
Kolb Firestar & Mark III Classic
BRM Land Africa 912
Lazair
Luscombe
Murphy Rebel & Renegade
Pathmaker JK5
Piel Emeraude
Pietenpol Air Camper
Piper J-3, Vagabond, Tripacer, & Archer
Quicksilver MX and MXII
Rans Airaile, Coyote S6, & Courier S7
Snoopy Bird
Stitts Flutterbug
Stewart Headwind
Super Cub (Homebuilt)
Tallon A600
Searay
Taylor J-2 Cub
Taylorcraft
Texas Parasol – The Brolly
Titan Tornado
Vans RV 4, 8, & 9A
Volksplane
Woody Pusher
X-Air
Zenair CH 601, 701 , & 750
Zippy Sport
Rotoway Exec Helicopter
MTO Sport Gyroplane
Airborne Streak 912
Aeros Trike Cross Country
Anteres Trike
Apollo Trike
Geo Trike
3 Powered Paragliders
2 Hot Air Balloons