Shoal Lake Flying Club/COPA Flight 162 was a partner in the Manitoba Aviation Homecoming Aviation Tour. We are proud of the event itself and proof of our ability to work together across the province to promote aviation.
Manitoba's COPA Flights, Flight 162 in Shoal Lake, 138 in Russell, 145 in Morden, 103 in Lac du Bonnet, and 35 in Winnipeg organized an exciting aviation event for Manitoba's 140th birthday which was officially announced on October 4, 2009 at our Fall FlyIn breakfast. We had three active partners, COPA National, Neepawa's Manitoba Day Celebration Committee, and Manitoba Homecoming 2010 (see the Links page).
The Tour had four main objectives:
1. to encourage people to see Manitoba from the air whether as pilots or passengers,
2. to highlight the importance of aviation and airports in Manitoba,
3. to promote tourism in Manitoba and in our communities, and
4. to require minimal organization while providing maximum flexibility for participants.
Some key components of the Tour were:
- any type of aircraft can participate at a level and at times that suit the pilot,
- for completion and consideration for prizes (both optional for participants):
a) a minimum of 14 airports must be visited, one for each of Manitoba's decades,
b) five airports visited must be the homes of Manitoba's COPA Flights,
c) an airport must be visited in each of Manitoba's 8 tourism regions, and
d) a completed Passport must be submitted
- registration was required, $25, it included a Tour Passport, a Tour sticker, Tour name tag, Tourism Manitoba information, ...,
- the Tour Passport was used to document flights and other information,
- pilots could start the Tour anytime after January 28, 2010 once they are registered,
- the official 'Take Off' occurred in Neepawa on May 12 to 15 during Manitoba Day celebrations,
- a Final Celebration occurred on October 16 and 17 in Brandon,
- prizes were given in a number of categories including most airports visited by a pilot, youngest pilot, oldest pilot, most passengers carried in total, most airports visited by a passenger, ..., none of them about competition, its all about fun.
- everyone who met the criteria had completion of the Tour acknowledged.