Gil Williamson

My posts

  • Mountain Flying

    Tuesday morning after the breakfast buffet at the resort, I attended the Mountain Flying course put on by Colorado Pilots Association. The two instructors were seasoned mountain pilots and one was a ATC controller from Denver Center. This was like drinking from the proverbial fire hose. We went back to VFR flight planning which most

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  • Arrival Day

    COPA pilots that had not come in early started arriving on Thursday morning. After a work out at the resort I went to the airport for a demo flight in the Eclipse Jet. WOW, what a treat. This is a exciting airplane and must be considered in where I go next in my flying life.

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  • Hangar Day

    Hangar Day was a new idea for Migration with everyone going back to the airport. The Colorado Jet Center main hangar was the site for our exhibitors to display their wares. In front of the hangar air frame vendors had aircraft to fly. Included were Cirrus, Piper, Extra, Lancair, Daher-Socata and Eclipse. There was also

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  • The COPA Gala Dinner

    We gathered for cocktails and socialized after a full day at the airport. Dennis Haber had a sun burn from working the arrival line the day before. The gala dinner was served perfectly by the Cheyenne Mountain Resort and I must admit our dinners were good which is a miracle based on past experience with

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  • Seminar Day

    Saturday was Seminar Day for the pilots and the spouses went touring to Pike Peak and Garden of the Gods. The large room seminars were video streamed to all of COPA starting with Curt Sanfords “State of COPA” address, the bottom line is we are doing well. Then Cirrus”s Dale K and Brent W gave

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  • Fly Away Dinner with Education

    Saturday evening had perfect weather for the outdoor evening festivities. Cocktails by the pool, while Doug Ritter did his survival class, which include demonstration of various equipment including rafts in the pool. We chatted with Dennis Haber who is heading for Alaska after M9. We enjoyed a buffet and then received the traditional weather briefing.

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  • Heading Home

    Joyce and I were up early and after filing our flight plan were off to the airport. We preflighted, picked up our box lunch and received our clearance. At 7:30 local we started for runway 17L and lined up behind five Cirrus. As we prepared to leave there was a constant stream of Cirrus taking

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  • Alaska Cruise July 2011

    Joyce and I flew to Vancover, BC on Tuesday July fifth for a seven day cruise up the Alaska inland passage. We spent the afternoon and evening in Vancover enjoying the scenery and watching the float planes take off and land through our hotel window. The next morning we saw our ship the Seven Sea’s

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  • Ketchikan, Alaska

    We arrive at our first destination Ketchikan, Alaska which is known as the salmon capital of world. Ketchikan originated as a salmon fishing and canning port and still has a big commercial fishing industry. The only access is by air or sea and averages 162 inches of precipitation per year. Ketchikan was a rough and

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  • Tracy Arm

    At dawn we arrived at Tracy Arm which is a 30 mile long narrow and deep fjord terminating at the Sawyer glacier. The scenery was spectacular with cliffs rising 4000 feet, winding toward the glacier. As often happens we encountered fog and ice near the glacier and had to turn around before we got to

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