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From: Challenger Webmaster Date sent: Thu, 06 Nov 2003 21:05:01 -0500 Subject: Challenger Flocks Fly In - Challenger Folks Fly Out Hello Challenger people, Here's the latest news on notable fly-ins and notable flights - plus pointers to notable new pictures in our on-line Challenger Gallery. Better get fresh coffee - this message is a long one! ECONOMIC HAPPENINGS Canadian Challenger sales are soaring! It's been the busiest September and October we can remember. Perhaps this is due to the Loonie's ten year high which has pushed Challenger prices down to their lowest levels in years. Or perhaps it's due to falling gasoline prices, not that the Challenger uses enough gas to really matter! Or ... perhaps it's due to Baby Boomers deciding they'd better get those dreams turned into reality sometime soon! FLOCKS FLY IN September started out with the Carleton Place fly-in near Ottawa which set a new Canadian record: 25 Challengers present! The previous record was set at Chateau Montebello with 24 Challengers on skis. Believe it or not, this is just a fraction of the Challengers based near Ottawa! Then on September 20th all prior records were beaten when a couple of hundred people drove and 52 Challengers flew to Illinois to help Quad City celebrate the 20th Anniversary of our airplane. The oldest two-seat Challenger there was flown in by Steve Greer of Illinois - serial number 2! Hats off to Dave, Geri, Karen and everyone else at the factory for being ultralight aviation's longest running and most successful manufacturer! FOLKS FLY OUT Speaking of long running, 2003 had a goodly number of noteworthy Challenger voyages. This year's cross country distance achievements started with the Challenger Owners Association Winter Rendezvous at Chateau Montebello in late January. Tom Reavell received the Farthest Flown award for his return flight of 1,200 km on wheel/skis - in minus 32C weather! This was 60 degrees C colder than his summer 2002 London-Summerside-London amphib trip of 3,000 km! On the 2003 winter trip Tom formated en route with Keith Robinson near Georgian Bay. In July the pair reunited for a tour on amphibs of the Great Lakes and beyond - meandering low and slow along the shorelines from the southern tip of Georgian Bay north and west to Kenora and back. A fabulous time was had by all - Keith still can't get the smile off his face! KITTY MEETS ISABEL In September, Tom put his Seven League Boots back on and joined Claude Roy and Henry McKinlay to fly from Southern Ontario to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in honour of the 100th anniversary of powered flight. Their pictures at Kitty Hawk had the look of a ghost town - everyone had evacuated due to the imminent arrival of Hurricane Isabel! The three aviators found shelter in a sturdy steel hangar in Virginia while Isabel passed overhead! Ask them about the "humourous" voice mail they left on Bryan's cell phone, the one about being blown away, complete with sound effects! The trio will present a slide show of their adventure at the Challenger Owners Association Winter Rendezvous at Chateau Montebello on January 31, 2004. Mark it on your calendar and be there! DISTANCE DOOZIES For pure distance we have a couple of doozies tieing for first place! In April, Andre Girard decided to attend Sun'n'Fun and to travel first class. So ... he got in his Challenger in Ottawa and flew it to Florida and back - a 4,000 km jaunt! Andre wrote an account of his journey which was published as a two-parter in UPAC News - an interesting read! And in September, Doug and Denise Gagnon departed Barrie, near Toronto, in their Challenger for a trip to the beach - Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island! 4,000 km later they arrived at their new house in BC! Denise had started training for her Ultralight Pilot Permit in Barrie and will finish it in BC. What a cross country training exercise that was! Doug already has a licence (we hope) - he's an airline captain! SAY CHEESE The Gagnon's Challenger was featured in our last Challenger Gallery addition: "Flight Level 350". This time we've added two new pictures - both owners who learned to fly in their Challengers - Russ Bateman and Harold Young. Bateman and Young are both "Make It Happen" kinda guys - both built their Challengers over the course of a single winter. They decided they wanted to fly and by gosh a few months later they were flying. Our kinda folk! Browse to the Gallery via http://www.challenger.ca - just look down the left hand side for pictures and links to the big ones with text. ENJOY! For our next Gallery update we'll shift seasons and add some wheel/tundra/ski shots - stay tuned. Thank you to everyone who sent in pictures - if they haven't made it on to challenger.ca yet be assured that they will so keep 'em coming! UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN So that's the Challenger scene for now. A parting thought: the U.S. economy is finally lighting up after a long cold spell. This will inevitably cause the US Dollar to strengthen versus the Loonie and so Challenger prices will once again start to rise. There's no time like the present to make your dreams come true! PS: BILL GATES Since late August we've enjoyed some fabulous float and foliage flying but have been less fortunate with our computers! A series of hardware and software problems have caused our email replies to not always be within our one business day target. If you have emailed us and have not yet received a reply then your message is either in the backlog which we are gradually working through or your message has gone to that great electronic bit bucket in outer space so please resend! Remember, if all else fails think back to those bygone days of yesteryear - pick up the phone - Contact Us! TTFN! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. -- Albert Einstein -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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