Newsletter Archive/Archives du bulletin

webstertrophy.ca Newsletter #004 - 2014

Good Day Everyone.

Apology: It seems that Update 003 which you should have received in November never got sent so it should have arrived just before this one. There was a glitch in our system not noted until now and has been fixed.

Paypal Available: It has become obvious over time that we needed to offer additional services to our competitors to enhance the ease of entering the competition. Up until recently we have insisted that a cheque or money order accompany their applications. With the help of of one of our judges Arlo Speer and our excellent webmaster Ragi Sekaly - Northern Penguin Technologies, a new Paypal system has been set up on the website linked to the application package page. Supporter contributions however due to their high denominations are still preferred through normal mail channels.

Webster Trophy Reproduction: The Webster Team has been involved in a project for a number of years now where we have been attempting to produce a replica of the original Webster Trophy, which is on permanent display at the Canada Aviation & Space Museum in Ottawa. The Trophy is a priceless artefact and every year it is transported courtesy of Air Canada to the site of the Webster nationals and placed on display at the Awards Banquet. Over the years it has been misplaced and lost in the bowels of a hotel, Amy and I have had to sleep with it one year in our room as the hotel refused to store it for us due to its value and once it was dropped off on the tarmac in front of Air Canada Cargo by a ground transportation driver who then left without a word. AC Cargo had to contact Amy and I, who fortunately were still in Toronto and we went out to identify it (and the Eunice Carter Trophy) as ours and not a couple of suspicious packages. Wouldn't that have been special if these two priceless items had been disposed of by the police.

For these reasons and the fact that this valuable piece of Canadian aviation history should remain within the museum we are soliciting donations to have it reproduced. Currently we have received sizeable donations and commitment from both Nav Canada & Kelowna Flightcraft to support this project along with a $1,000 surplus available from our Webster account. The surplus in the Webster account was realized due to the additional generosity of Redbird Flight Simulations who paid for all the simulator time accrued by the finalists during the 2013 nationals. To reproduce the Trophy along with an appropriate case for transportation purposes it will cost slightly over $12,000. To date we are about $3,600 short but moving forward to achieving that goal shortly so that the reproduction Trophy will be available for this August. Once the contract is signed it takes about six weeks for the mold to be produced and the foundry to manufacture the replica which will also be in bronze but 40% lighter. A plaque will be designed to acknowledge those supporters who have contributed to the project and will always accompany the Trophy.

New Posters – Series 2: Each year we send out an initial poster featuring a picture of the current finalists which is produced for us courtesy of WINGS. It reaches all the Flight Training Units (FTU)across the country plus other specific organizations and keeps the Webster alive following the finish of the previous competition. At about this time of year a second series goes out designed by Dave O'Malley – Aerographics Creative Services. These are the special retro ones which always capture the attention of potential competitors wherever they are posted. They are currently being printed up and should be mailed likely within the next week and this year include a QR code for access to the website. They are being posted on the website. Click on competition and then onto promotional posters. All of Dave's posters are there from past years and are beautiful classic designs.

Nav Canada Inserts: Over the past few years we have had a close collaboration with Nav Canada to the point that last year they designed an excellent exam which we used as a significant part of the scoring during the nationals. They are currently updating that exam again this year however it is going to be included as part of the regional competitor requirements as of the 2015 competition. Over the past couple of years we have received specific Nav Canada inserts addressed to the Webster competitors which are included as part of the acknowledgement package we send out once their application is properly received. Whenever the first competitor is received from an FTU, we always send an acknowledgement thank you letter to that school as well and also include the insert along with it. The insert refers the competitor to a very beneficial Nav Canada information site and by including the insert to the FTUs, we hope that the site will be made available to other students and pilot customers as well. A brand new insert has just been received for the 2014 competition and it is a slick eye-catching piece of material.

Spooling Up: This time of year is always slow due primarily to winter weather however as Spring is now around the corner we begin to promote Webster more through the posters mentioned above, aviation trade articles and power-point presentations.

Currently we have six applications processed and a few on the way. We did have seven confirmed but one had to withdraw as he would not be in the country in August. It doesn't sound like very many but actually for this time of year it is an improvement on past years. Obviously the greatest influx begins in the Spring as flight tests become more prevalent, college courses are finishing and flying in general picks up as well.

Wayne

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