Fourth Annual COPA "M4" Gathering Draws Nearly 200 Plastic Planes

The annual opportunity for birds of the Cirrus persuasion to fellowship with one another is now barely over, but the good vibes live on. With spectacular weather, nearly 200 planes and over 500 pilots, the Fourth Annual COPA Migration is an unqualified success.

Chartered as the The Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association, COPA is a not-for-profit membership organization established to educate, promote the safety of and support the owners and pilots of certified aircraft manufactured by Cirrus Design Corporation, encourage ownership of these aircraft and provide social activities for its members. Additionally, COPA adds that it has an additional duty to promote goodwill towards the general aviation community.

There's little doubt that they have done just that. COPA has become a driving, if not leading, force in aircraft owner associations... with a nearly fanatical membership that has proven to be pro-active, supportive and tremendously energetic on issues of concern to all Cirrus owners... as well as to other high-performance aircraft devotees. If there is a finer model for aircraft owner association's, per se, I've yet to see it.

But... it is the annual gathering at the home field of Cirrus Design in beautiful Duluth, Minnesota (at least it is in the summertime...) that becomes a rallying point for much of the Cirrus community. Each year now, the birds come home to their original birthing place in order to compare notes, enjoy some fellowship, and see what's new at Cirrus Design. I have yet to meet anybody who has gone away disappointed, especially COPA's President and spiritual guru, the unsinkable Mike Radomsky (below).

This year's event was high-performance in so many ways. Exceedingly well-produced and executed; it had a number of social functions, some of them quite elaborately organized, and more than a few seminars covering all manner of subjects of inestimable value to both new or old pilots. The event officially opened Friday morning, on an uncharacteristically sunny Duluth morning, with a keynote address from Cirrus Design president Alan Klapmeier. Alan used the opportunity to explain his passion for the business, as well as to urge his collective audience to become involved in fighting issues that threaten the entire industry. He made particular note of the problems he saw in the FAA's insistence on seeking "user fees" and suggested that not only should the Cirrus community become politically active in fighting them but also take steps to show that GA is not a burden on the system... even to the point of recommending that pilots not use those FAA services that they really didn't need to utilize... thereby relieving the system of undue strain. Ordinarily, this would have created an issue with a number of people in the room over potential safety issues, but please note that these are pilots of aircraft equipped with all manner of support systems, including satellite weather, collision avoidance, and dramatically capable navigation and mapping capabilities -- and for which their use (especially in VFR conditions) often eliminates the need to deal with FAA or ATC services.

One of the things that I was glad to see while I was in Duluth, was Alan's willingness to act as a spokesman for general aviation (shown above). In addition to his speeches at COPA 2006, I also had the opportunity to watch Alan speak (an uncommonly good speaker, by the way), to a rapt audience at the Duluth MN Rotary meeting the day before COPA's M4 got up to full steam. While many members of the Duluth Rotary are pilots, it was also obvious that Cirrus is a much appreciated company within the local community. There is a sincere sense of appreciation for the value of general aviation, in Duluth, but Alan took the opportunity to explain the problems that face GA, especially where it concerns the user fee battle, and the misinformation put out both by the airlines and the FAA about the supposed need for user fees due to an as yet improperly documented need for a "stable funding source" -- and the threat that such punitive fees may exact upon the aviation world. Even among those who obviously have little interest in aviation, it was clear that Alan's passion and reasoning was sinking in, and it is our sincere desire that Alan, as well as other luminaries from general aviation, are given the opportunity to speak correctly, passionately, and forcefully on behalf of general aviation to the nonflying community. Believe you me, when people like Alan have an opportunity to speak their mind, there are few people who will not find a reason to question the need for user fees, and will find themselves more than suitably impressed with the value of general aviation -- both to our nation and to the world.

Lest you think it was all serious business... you know, seminars, learning, tradeshow, and serious discussions; let me tell you there was plenty of time for socializing. On the eve of all the major events planned for this year's rendition of the migration, there was a "COPAcabana party" that was not to be missed.

Lots of great food, lots of 'consumable fluids,' and a great chance to meet other Cirrus pilots were just a few of the highlights of the party... not to mention a stirring if miniature airshow provided by an RC aerobatic pilot flying one of the new generation light weight electric RC "foamies" that maneuvered in ways no real aircraft could ever hope to attain. And... if that wasn't enough for the assemblage, well lubricated by good times and a few trips to the bar, then the dropping in of a parachutist trailing in the COPA flag, was an even surer way to put quite a capper on the evening.

One of the most talked about aspects of this year's event, was Cirrus's promise of an upcoming new airframe, far above and beyond the standard SR20 and SR22 design series. In other words, "The-Jet."

Few subjects at this years COPA Migration created as much discussion and fed the rumor mill as exhaustively as the jet. While Cirrus Design is not about to let the cat out of the bag, there was a number of public and private discussions about what to expect. And while ANN did release the first FEW concrete details about CD's long-awaited personal jet last fall, Alan Klapmeier and his staff finally got up in front of the COPA community and said as much as they were willing to say -- for the moment. It was not a lot, but for many it was enough... for now.

For the moment, "The-Jet" has few specifications to recommend it --but there is a cool T-Shirt to start with (unveiled tongue-in-cheek to a crowd that was promised first look at something really cool...). What Klapmeier and his staff are promising, though, is this... this is an airplane that will not be the most high performing jet anyone has ever seen... as a matter of fact, Alan promises this jet to be "the lowest, slowest, and shortest range jet in the business." What "The-Jet" is designed to do is open up a new category which Cirrus coined as "Personal Jets" last fall... and that any pilot confident in flying an SR22 should find upgrading to the Cirrus jet to be a fairly simple and politely evolutionary process. Alan has confirmed that the jet will be equipped with a BRS parachute and did intimate that the outline of the aircraft seen in the Cirrus logo may mimic the outline of the future jet quite closely. Cirrus is entertaining the possibility of opening up a deposit program for the aircraft in the near future, which will require $100,000 to get in line, but the program is yet incomplete and will probably be made available to the current Cirrus owner community, to start.

To be continued...

FMI: www.cirrusdesign.com, www.cirruspilots.org