By Mark Aloe

For my last official post here as chairman of CJP, what first comes to mind is the extremely productive and successful year our organization enjoyed in 2015. Even beyond that, however, are the many people we all have to thank for their efforts in helping CJP to attain new heights, and who have set our organization on course for a spectacular year ahead.

First of all, I would like to thank the staff and Board, and in particular our COO and Executive Administrator, Cheryl Hardy. Cheryl’s hard work and perseverance kept CJP’s mission and agenda on track throughout 2015, and for the upcoming year. I would also like to acknowledge the efforts of the CJP Executive Committee, and congratulate David Miller, Russell Boyd, and Kirk Samuelson on their election to the Committee for 2016. I know they will do a fantastic job for all CJP Members.

Special thanks as well to Bill Alberts and his family (as well as Cheryl) for all their hard work in organizing the best CJP annual meeting we’ve had to date. Their efforts made our gathering in Colorado Springs truly one for the ages.

Also, our successes this year would not have been possible without valuable support from Textron Aviation, and in particular company CEO Scott Ernest, Senior Vice-President and CFO Eric Salander, and SVP for Sales and Marketing Kriya Shortt. I would also like to thank SVP for Customer Service, Brad Thress; Events and Promotions Director Rhonda Fullerton; Stephanie Golden, Vice-President for Customer Experience; and Brian Rohloff, VP Customer Support, for their gracious assistance.

Next, I must acknowledge those responsible for the successful rollouts this year of two incredible new CJP initiatives. Thanks to hard work by Ed Turley, Jason Talley, and Scott Severin, CJP’s FuelAdvantage program is, without question, an unqualified success; to date, more than 150 FBOs have signed up to participate in the program, with CJP Members enjoying significant savings in their fuel costs nationwide.

Of course, I must also thank the team responsible for the successful rollout of CJP’s new online information resource, the Russ Meyer Citation Library. My thanks to Steve Vollum and Tracy Forrest, who spearheaded creation of the RMCL, as well as to Randy Rehbach and his team of students at the Prescott, AZ campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University who helped gather and curate the more than 900 articles now available.

With winter weather approaching, I would like to encourage all of our Members to review their procedures for winter flying, and in particular flight in icing conditions and operating from contaminated runways. An article in this month’s “Flight Levels” includes some of the factors that operators should consider.

Those tips will also be important for members planning to fly to our first CJP Regional Event for 2016, which will return to Park City, UT from Jan. 14-17. And, of course, you should have already marked your calendars for the 2016 annual meeting in New Orleans, which will take place Oct. 19-23.

It has been my honor to serve CJP as chairman, and along with the rest of our Membership I look forward to seeing our organization develop and grow throughout 2016. Thank you, all, and may everyone have a wonderful holiday season and New Year.