Welcome, everyone to the 2026 slate of CPA Fly-in events, which were revealed at the January 10 planning meeting at Rocky Mountain Metro airport.  This is a preliminary look at the Fly-ins for this year.  Details are being worked out by the various hosts now. 

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For CPA Members: finalized information for each, along with registration forms, will be forthcoming in future Flight Lines issues.  Look for them there!  Every event will appear twice – once in the issue sent three months prior to the event date as a reminder and again two months prior along with registration information.  Look at the selection below, choose the ones you might wish to attend and mark those dates on your calendar now! 

 IMPORTANT: If you find an event of interest, be certain to contact the host right away to be placed on the “planning and priority” list.  Many trips are well attended, and some have attendance limits.  Don’t put this off or you may wait too long.  When the registration forms appear in Flight Lines, members will register to attend, and hosts will try to accommodate everyone.  But if there are more registrations than space available, they will use that priority list to determine who goes.

For non-CPA members: Gosh, folks, for the princely sum of $30 a year, you too can join the CPA and take advantage of these many annual events designed to meet just about any area of interest! This year’s trips include destinations in Colorado, Tennessee, Kansas, Arizona and   Nebraska, but the entire western part of the U.S. is our playground, and this year it even expands eastward to Tennessee.

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The Nucla, Colorado trip is unusual.  It is being sponsored by a Nucla resident who is not a CPA member and not a pilot but loves the beauty and camaraderie of her small town where people don’t have to lock doors and the surrounding terrain is red rock canyons and mountains.  Her B&B is wonderful.   She has hosted trips the past two years and will repeat it again this year with new events planned.  This is southwest Colorado from a perspective you’ve never seen! 

NOTE:Every registration form will contain space for members without airplanes to request a seat and those with airplanes to list any seats they have available.  Hosts will then put the two together.

April 10-12 Phoenix, AZ (KFFZ).  How about sunny skies with the temps in the high 70s to low 80s!  We will visit the Musical Instrument Museum, Desert Botanical Garden and the Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West. We’ll spend time exploring Old Scottsdale; dinner at a great Mexican restaurant (El Encanto de La Fuente) and of course the wildly popular CPA cocktail party/dinner hosted by Dr. Jane and Jason Barlow LT Col USAF (Ret.) at their beautiful home in Desert Highlands. Hosts Vince & Kay Otto (317) 997 2772, ottovj@gmail.com.

April 25 Akron, CO (KAKO).  If you ever wondered how propeller blades are repaired or how constant speed propellers and governors work, including their internal mechanisms, join us for this out and back trip to tour Redline Propeller at the Akron, CO airport.  Parking is near the shop and they’re providing lunch for all of us.  This will be an up-close and personal event so don’t wear your best clothes!  If possible, take someone with you -- the runway is 7000 feet long and the elevation is only 4700 feet.  Host Frank Niehus (303) 434 5267, FLNIEHUS@aol.com.

May 2-3 Abilene, KS (K78).  If CPA has ever been to Abilene, we don’t know about it.  If you’re looking for a simple, and short duration, Fly-in to attend this is it.  Arrive on Saturday, May 2 and following lunch, visit the very nice Eisenhower Presidential Library.  Abilene is the childhood home of President Dwight Eisenhower.  His family’s home is located on the same grounds as the library.  Holiday Inn Express will be our home during this visit.  Happy hour and dinner will fill out the day.  We’re going to attempt a visit to the regional Russell Stover Candy Company & store if we can find the time in this short schedule.  

Host Bob Kinney (303) 887 3328, Twinlake1@aol.com 

May 20-23 Memphis, TN (M01). Welcome to the town known for Elvis and BBQ! Upon arrival, we’ll enjoy some Gus’s World-Famous Fried Chicken and do a quick check-in at our hotel just a couple of blocks from well-known Beale Street. We’ll head to the Peabody Hotel to see its world-famous resident mallard ducks march through the lobby. The next day we will visit the National Civil Rights Museum located at the Lorraine Motel, the site where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. The afternoon you are on your own so you can visit other museums such as the Blues Hall of Fame or Sun Studios. And finally, our last day in Memphis we’ll head out to Graceland where we will do a self-guided tour and see at least two of Elvis’ private jets. Of course, we will be eating in lots of BBQ restaurants so we can compare, wet vs dry, spicy or not and of course we hope to catch some blues at BB Kings place! Hosts Bret Heidcamp and Loree Schwartz (305) 586 8160, LoreeSchwartz@gmail.com.

June 17-19 Grand Canyon, AZ (KGCN).  First CPA trip to the Grand Canyon.  The Grand Canyon is one of the most spectacular examples of erosion anywhere in the world, a mile deep canyon unmatched in the incomparable vistas.  Fly into KGCN, 409 nm southwest of KAPA, elevation 6609 with a 9000-foot-long runway.  We will visit and see the best of Grand Canyon National Park including the Historic District and the Desert View Drive.  Stay at the Red Feather Lodge for $185/night.  Flying over the canyon to and from the airport will be a not to be missed opportunity.  Host Jan McKenzie (970) 568 6411, jan.mckenzie99@gmail.com.

July 9-12 Lincoln, NE (KLNK).  First CPA trip to Lincoln!  Three-night adventure includes tours of Duncan Aviation, the world’s largest private business jet service provider, the Strategic Air Command (SAC) museum and the Museum of American Speed.  We’ll stop by Nebraska’s largest candy store where you browse while drinking many flavors of free Kool-Aid.  Group dinner at Show Stoppers, where the servers break away occasionally because they are also entertainers.  Duncan’s corporate rates apply for both hotel and rental cars.  The SAC Museum is huge and includes a B-36 ten-engine bomber, one of only four still in existence.  The Museum of Speed has been named by USA Today as the Best Attraction for Car Lovers displaying over 600 engines and 300 vehicles ranging from toy cars to go-karts to Indy racers, concept cars, jet cars and even motorcycles.     Host Bill Marvel (310) 293 2013, rv8tor@msn.com

August 21-23 Sedona, AZ (KSEZ). America’s Most Scenic Airport, perched on Tabletop Mesa 500 feet above the City of Sedona. Landing there is surely on every pilot’s bucket list. Come with us as we explore all the beauty that Sedona, the city of stunning Red Rocks, has to offer. We will begin our trip with a private trolley tour through the Red Rock canyons and to the top of Chapel of The Holy Cross, passing breathtaking vista views. On Saturday we’ll hop on the Verde Canyon Railroad for a 4-hour tour in our own private rail car, enjoying a charcuterie board and sipping champagne while we travel through time as we follow the Verde River.  Enroute we’ll see ancient Sinagua dwellings, Indian ruins and historic mining sites.  After exploring some of the downtown area, we’ll finish off the final night with a group dinner at the Airport Mesa Grill.  Hosts Bret Heidcamp and Loree Schwartz, (305) 586 8160, loreeschwartz@gmail.com

October 2-4 Nucla, CO (KAIB).  Come visit us to enjoy the charm of small-town Colorado and our scenic canyon and mountain surroundings.  Enjoy a flight over nearby Telluride and stay in a beautiful B&B where we’ll have a group dinner on the outdoor patio.  Land at our mesa-top airport which has 360-degree views and one of the nicest terminals of any small airport.  We’ll re-live the 1776Domínguez–Escalante Expedition, which was led by two Franciscan priests.  It started in Santa Fe, New Mexico and traveled through Colorado, Utah and Arizona, trying to reach a mission in Monterey, CA.  One stop was in today’s Nucla.  It covered nearly 2000 miles in about 5 months but never reached the destination.  Two Franciscan priests from Santa Fe led the group, which consisted of them and 10 others.   Aided by three Ute Indians, two of whom were 12 years old, they encountered incredible hardships along the way and had to return to Santa Fe.  But the route they forged later became the Old Spanish Trial, which connected Santa Fe to the west coast.  Host Aimee Tooker (970) 428 7750, vestalhousenucla@gmail.com.

NOT YET SCHEDULED: Grand Junction, CO (KGJT).  Tour the Spirit Engineering factory that makes the SE-1 single seat S-LSA aircraft that stunned Oshkosh last year.  A totally clean sheet design, including the engine and folding wings, this all-aluminum aircraft cruises at 100 mph at two gallons an hour with a service ceiling of 17,500 feet on only 42 horsepower.  Factory owner Steve Wood will take us on a tour of the entire facility including automated operations and their engine test cell.   This is a fly-away aircraft at $69,500 and has received ASTM certification.  More later.  Bill Marvel (310) 293 2013, rv8tor@msn.com.