Comments from the Chair

November '07

Chad - who, incidentally, became a married man September 22nd - and I have been working diligently on ISAP-VIII, and I'm pleased to say we have a lot to report. The Marriott Hotel (Dallas/Fort Worth South) is locked-in as our venue for the event, scheduled for February 28, 29 and March 1. The Marriott has knocked $100 off their normal daily rate - giving us the rooms at $129 a night - so we're getting one hell of a deal. It's a wonderful hotel, by the way, and may rank as the best we've ever had for ISAP. Now is the time to start making your reservations, as we've been allocated a total of only 75 rooms and those will go in a hurry. Reservation phone number is 800 228-9290 or 800 431-8162 (ask for the ISAP group rate).
 
We're very pleased to report that the guest lecturers scheduled for 2008 are simply outstanding. Though not everyone has fully committed, we have Richard Hallion, Ph.D. onboard for the banquet; Scott Kelby of Photoshop fame giving a return performance c/o Nikon; Carolyn Wright also making a second appearance on photography and the law; and Vince LaForet c/o Canon, Mike Collins c/o AOPA, Nikon, Canon, and a bunch of others onboard to fill out the list. Promise to have a complete, chipped-in-stone list for you by mid-December.

The field trip, scheduled for February 29, is looking to be another winner. Plan is to start the day with a tour of the Lockheed Martin F-35 production line and a possible photo session with the F-35A and a Lockheed P-38 on the L-M ramp. Am hoping to get "Glacier Girl" onboard for the latter session, but don't know as of this writing. After Lockheed, we head over to the Vought Aircraft Heritage Foundation and a tour of their facility with a barbecue lunch on the side. The VAHS is currently involved in the restorations of several extremely rare aircraft, including the one-and-only V-173 "Flying Pancake", an F7U "Cutlass", an F6U "Pirate", and an F4U "Corsair. From Vought we bus over to Bell Helicopter's Plant 6 facility and, if all goes well, have a photo session with the new Bell Model 609 commercial tilt rotor. I'd like to emphasize that all of these plans are exactly that at this point - plans. I'm in discussions with all concerned and they are doing their best to accommodate us within the constraints of security and other issues. Should know more by December and will provide a status report at that time.

So that's where things sit as of mid-November. We're in good shape financially with just over $21,000 in the bank, membership continues to grow, and the future looks positive for our organization. And remember, "The gods do not subtract from man's/woman's allotted time, those hours spent photographing airplanes."

Jay