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Day 6: Caravan 2000

The Mooney twilight barbecue met with a rain shower tonight. As setup finished by 5:30 p.m. -- with pork and corn cooked and warm -- rain appeared from the west. All week OSH had been spared. Showers moved south and north of the field, but not this time! At 5:50 p.m. the skies opened and the rain came down sideways. Mooney pilots were taking refuge behind the catering truck; in a Subaru; under the wings of a Cessna; and short people even found refuge under the wing of a Mooney. However, by 6:15 the rains had moved on and left a rainbow or two behind, as the pictures below indicate.

Volunteers dried seats, dumped the water from table tops and the barbecue proceeded.

After dinner a dozen door prizes were awarded the assembled pilots, then Chris Dopp described the organizational changes being made at Mooney Aircraft:
  * service hours are being extended for all owners to provide staff from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
  * MRP systems are being installed to reduce lead times on service parts.
  * Mooney will deliver 105 aircraft this year, a 20-year high. Among them will be eight of the new Platinum Ovation models.
  * Mooney will be recapitalizing the company this year, with an eye to moving into the pressurized aircraft market afterwards with one of the new diesel or jet powerplants coming to market.

Bob Kromer, president of MAPA, also spoke and described how the organization is trying to support service parts for pre-J model Mooneys better. MAPA has grown to 5,200 pilots, with an estimated 8,000 Mooneys flying, Kromer said.

After the deluge: Rainbows appear and the Thursday barbecue goes on	Dinner service: Pork, roast corn and all the trimmings.	End of the rainbow: A leprechaun or Don Maxwell?
Caravan organizers: Ken Beaubien (L), James Oliphant and Mark Napier (R).	Dinner speaker: Chris Dopp, president of Mooney Aircraft	Dinner speaker: Bob Kromer, president of MAPA
FAA liaison: Bill Rabek (L) and Gary Baker, a fellow Atlanta controller. Rabek has played the important role of FAA and tower liaison for the Caravan from the start.	Caravan organizer: Jonathan Paul, chief organizer of Caravan 2000.	Beer man: Jim Ryan (L), barbecue and beer man for Thursday, along with Dave Piehler.

Revision: 10/28/2010

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