By CJP President Dr. Russell Boyd

After serving a year on the board of directors and executive committee, and as a lifetime Member of this wonderful organization, I’m extremely honored and excited to step into the role of President of CJP for 2016.

For those Members whom I haven’t met yet, or who may not know my background, my aviation story really began in 1999. That’s when I moved back to my hometown of Paris, TN (PHT) with my wife, Amy, to begin my practice in general and cosmetic surgery.

Now, Paris is more than two hours away from the nearest commercial airline service. It soon became obvious that I was going to need a better way to service my professional and my business interests as those endeavors expanded outside of the state of Tennessee.

That led me to purchase a share in a King Air, with an old Navy flight instructor as the pilot. It was just a matter of time before that instructor set the trap with some weekend flight instruction, and I took the bait hook, line, and sinker.

I worked up the typical ladder of piston singles, twins, and turboprops, before purchasing a Mustang in 2009. I’ve since moved into a CJ2+, which I often describe as almost a perfect airplane; the only thing I really don’t like about the CJ2+ is that it makes it very hard for me to justify buying my next aircraft… but that’s a problem I’m quite willing to work around in time.

It has been my pleasure to watch CJP grow from a small group of owner pilots, into a multi-dimensional organization, in just a few short years. Many talented people have dedicated time and energy to build an infrastructure that will support the expansion of membership opportunities and benefits within CJP. Growth can be a wonderful thing but it is also important to take time to reflect on one’s roots and core purpose.

My vision for CJP in 2016 is to continually build upon the progress of others as we mold CJP into a self-sustaining organization that offers unparalleled resources to Citation flyers. At the same time, I hope to revive a mixture of education, camaraderie, and good times uniquely available to a tight knit group of Citation owner-operators.

I also hope that everyone will start making plans now to be in New Orleans for the CJP annual convention this fall. We have already put plans in place to stage an event fit to be hosted in the Big Easy. For the companions, we continue to strive to make this event the one aviation event they beg to attend.

Since the dawn of aviation, a gathering of pilots has meant big stories and bigger fun. I hope to see you there with a glass in one hand and the thumb/little finger of the other hand extended to mimic the wings of a Citation… as we swap stories the way only pilots can!