It gives me great pleasure to report that our Winter conference in Cocoa Beach and the Kennedy Space Center had both the greatest number of first-time convention attendees and the greatest number of aircraft participating in any conference of recent memory. Now, it is our goal to continue this momentum in Cleveland.
In this issue of the Journal, you will find the information you need to register for the event and to take advantage of fabulous rates at a fantastic hotel property in the middle of all the action in Cleveland. Many of you are aware that our President-elect each year selects the locations for the two conferences that will be held during his or her administration, assisted by the Convention Committee. But for this conference, it worked a little differently: Cleveland chose LPBA! Our current Treasurer, Darrell Clay, is the former Chair of the Cleveland Bar Association. One of our newer Members, Jason Lorenzon, in addition to having been the past-Chair of the Ohio Bar Association’s Aviation Law Committee, is also one of the senior Professors of nearby Kent State University’s Aeronautics and Space Program. These two individuals, and the organizations they represent reached out to me and invited LPBA to come to their hometown to see all that it had to offer.
And it was not an easy pitch. I knew nothing at all about Cleveland except that it was potentially near enough to Oshkosh that those who wished to travel on to Airventure might have a convenient starting point.
These folks opened my eyes wide. And I am here to tell you that there is a great deal to see and do in this wonderful City located where it is easy for all of us to get to. They also put their money where their mouths were. Darrell and his firm, Walter-Haverfeld will be hosting our traditional Welcome Reception at their beautiful law offices overlooking Burke Lakefront Airport, Lake Erie and all downtown Cleveland. Jason Lorenzon has arranged for sponsors for the motor coaches that we will ride to and from Kent State University. The Dean of the Aeronautics and Space Program at Kent State University has insisted on hosting a reception in our honor as the first guests in their brand new administration building at KSU’s private airport.
Aside from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the culinary, athletic and cultural opportunities in Cleveland are simply too numerous to mention. Our hotel, in fact, the night before the conference starts, is going to be home for many of the players who will be participating in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game being played that night in the stadium just blocks from the hotel. Celebrity Chefs have restaurants within walking distance of our hotel (Sharon and I ate at Michael Symon’s Barbeque Place when we were last there).
That hotel, “The Metropolitan at the 9”, is at the high end of the Marriott property chain. It is a part of their exclusive “Autograph Collection” of properties. Although its rooms are among the most-modern I have ever seen, the hotel was built on top of the vaults containing the fortunes of some of the wealthiest men in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including John D. Rockefeller. Those vaults are still there and have been turned into entertainment spaces. So too, has a speakeasy from prohibition days. The old brass Tellers’ Cage has been turned into a wonderful bar – only one of many in this unique establishment. – this one serving original cocktails named for historical people and items which formed the base of the Old Cleveland Trust Building. We will be having our breakfasts under a multi-million-dollar original Tiffany Stained Glass Dome Ceiling of the Cleveland Trust Building which has been turned into a high-end grocery store attached to the hotel. The murals on the walls were designed by a gentleman who later died aboard the maiden voyage of HMS Titanic. History is literally around every corner of this hotel which showcases every modern convenience – including a great rooftop sunbathing terrace bar and restaurant.
Our CLE classes, kicked off by one of the five Presidentially-appointed members of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Bruce Landsberg, formerly of the AOPA Foundation, will be held in an actual private theater in the hotel. Each of us will sit in stadium-tiered, leather club chairs with attached desktops as we absorb the magnificent presentations that our President-elect, Frank Steinberg, has arranged for us. I am particularly interested in the session on crisis management. I’m sure you will each spot your own “can’t miss” topic in the enclosed schedule of events. Frank has given us something for everyone.
In a unique twist, we have been invited to spend Friday at the private airport operated by Kent State University. We are slated to be the first guests to see the new administration building that has just been completed to help run the flight training and flight operations, manned and unmanned, run by KSU. We will also get to see one of the very-few Air Traffic Control simulators anywhere in the US. I believe that a demonstration has been planned for us. The Dean of the Aeronautics and Space Program has prepared a reception in honor of our visit as well. Following this, we will have our traditional spot landing demonstration, and possibly a few surprise aviation-oriented events. Jason Lorenzon is working out details for fuel discounts and other cost savings for those of you who fly your own aircraft in. If you enjoyed the wonderful sound of all the piston and turbine engines of the LPBA fleet of aircraft that taxied into the ramp at the Space Shuttle Landing Facility, let’s keep the excitement going by flying into this conference too. After all, we ARE the Lawyer PILOTS Bar Association; Let’s act like it! The record was set at last meeting. We had 26 of our group’s aircraft fly in. Let’s beat that record in Cleveland and Kent!
Charles R. “Crazy Charlie” Morgenstein, President