Fly Day 2013 - One of the Best Ever!!!

The fall season for the Ottawa Flying Club is also synonymous with Fly Day! Saturday September 26th to be exact was a very important date for our club. Not only does it demonstrate our flawless operations, it also showcases our club, our volunteers and The Rotary Club of Ottawa which once again was our sponsored charity.  

The day broke with some fog in the outlining areas which prevented a few visiting and participating aircraft to fly-in but that did not hamper the start of Fly Day as scheduled with our first flight just after 9 AM. The sky was blue till the eye could see with a CAVOK forecast for the entire day! A total of 16 aircraft and +40 volunteers helped make Fly Day one of the best on record. As the last flight touched down at 17:15 pilots had taken up 313 people and helped raise over $11,000 for The Rotary Club of Ottawa!  

Hundreds of hours were spent organizing this event but in the end it would not have been such a success without all of the volunteer pilots, marshallers and passenger escorts. Special thanks also go out to the MacDonald-Cartier International Airport Authority, Nav Canada, Ottawa Flying Club Management, OFC Dispatch, Frank Schilder (Fly Day Load Master), Rob Schwartz and team (Fly Day Air Bosses), Paul Wagner (Lead Marshall), Peter Luff (Lead Passenger Escort), Charlene Mathias who surveyed the patiently waiting public, and also the numerous Algonquin College students who participated.  

Enjoy the remainder of the fall flying season. Stay tuned for news of next year's event!

Julie Marion and Marc Desjardins

Fly Day Event Coordinators