Sea Plane Safety Seminar to splash down up north

Minnesota Sea Plane Pilots Association's Spring Sea Plane Safety Seminar will be splashing down on May 19-21 at Madden's Resort at Gull Lake...especially Saturday afternoon during the accuracy landing contest.

"Any of the pilots that fly up and are registered participants in the conference are welcome to participate in that contest," said MSPA president Steve Guetter. "It's usually a fairly tight competition.

"The past few years we've had airplanes ranging from Piper Cubs all the way up to Cessna Caravans on amphibious floats, so it's a great parade of airplanes we see going on, and excellent piloting that takes place by our members."

Guetter said he is building on traditions established by past president Randy Schoephoerster, as well as adding a few new attractions of his own.

"I really am hoping to build on what Randy has done over the last two years and bring a very exciting and innovative conference to our members that they are going to enjoy," said Guetter. "This year we have Steve McCaughey, Executive Director of the National Sea Plane Pilots Association, Brian Addis Chief Pilot at Wipaire, Dr. Randy Corfman, president of the Minnesota Pilots Association, Doug Rosendaal, an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner from Iowa.

"The highlight for the banquet speaker on Saturday night is Mark Baker who is the president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Mark is an avid sea plane pilot. He is a native Minnesotan. We are very excited to have him at the safety seminar this year."

A new addition to the seminar is a Sunday panel discussion with a number of speakers, moderated by the new president.

"It will be an opportunity for our members to have a more informal time with some of our speakers," said Guetter. "It will allow our speakers to tell some stories about sea plane and other flying as well field questions from our members. I'm very excited about bringing that to the membership this year."

Guetter is enjoying his position with MSPA.

"It is a lot of work but it is a very rewarding position," said Guetter. "A number of members I get to interact with, it's exciting for me to see the level of enthusiasm for sea plane flying we have in Minnesota. We want to bring education to our members. We want to grow that base of pilots who are interested and active in sea plane flying."