President’s Message
November, 2021
Fellow Lawyer-Aviators, greetings from the shores of Lake Erie! First Lady Mary and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the winter holiday season, bringing with it turkey dinners with all the trimmings, raucous family gatherings, abundant good cheer, and - isn’t this hard to fathom? - eventually switching the calendar from 2021 to 2022.
Fortunately, 2022 is shaping up to be an amazing year for our LPBA conventions. In October, Mary and I, accompanied by LPBA’s incomparable Executive Director Karen Griggs, visited eight potential locations in Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and Tampa. After considerable evaluation, contemplation, and debate, we settled on a winner: the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. Upon our return home, we promptly entered into contract negotiations, and have now signed a final agreement.
Situated on 35 acres of waterfront nature preserve property near the northeast corner of Old Tampa Bay at the end of the Courtney Campbell Causeway, the Grand Hyatt is located just one mile from Tampa International Airport. It boasts over 400 rooms (each having a view of either Tampa Bay or KTPA), two outdoor pools, excellent restaurants, a walking trail through saltwater mangroves, tennis courts, a 24-hour workout room, and wonderful space for our business and CLE meetings and evening hospitality. (For those of you who are water aficionados, there is equipment for rent on-site.) Weather permitting, the Wednesday night opening reception will take place at the Grand Hyatt’s artificial beach, while Saturday night’s closing banquet will be a rooftop affair, boasting unrivaled views of the approach end of Runway 1L. Hope for winds out of the north!
President-Elect Greg Reigel has assembled a stellar lineup of speakers for our CLE sessions. On Thursday, the scheduled presenters are David Norton, head of the aviation law practice at Shackelford Bowen; David Wall, Vice President at TVPX; and former LPBA President Charlie Morgenstein. On Friday, we’ll hear from Ronnie Gipson, an Assistant Professor of Law at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law; Angel Houck from Houck & Christenson; and Bruce Marshall from AIC Title Service, LLC. Finally, Saturday’s speakers are Carol Might, formerly of the FAA; James Waldon from Paramount Law Group; and – last but certainly not least - program stalwart Gary Allen.
Meanwhile, we’re not ignoring the social aspects of the convention. In addition to nightly hospitality in a spacious suite at the Grand Hyatt, Tampa is a wonderful city with many options for things to see and do. In addition to the afternoon activities we’re working to organize, other nearby activities include Busch Gardens, Florida Aquarium, Ybor City, ZooTampa, and the Salvador Dali Museum (in St. Petersburg). Our esteemed group of LPBA Co-Pilots will be having a session on cockpit fundamentals, and I’ve also heard that Former First Lady Chris Steinberg will be leading a book club discussion. If your spouse or significant other hasn’t received Co-Pilot e-mails in the past, please sure to let Karen know so that this oversight can be corrected.
More details about the conference will be announced soon. In the meantime, please mark your calendars for February 23-27, 2022. Mary and I hope to see everyone there!!!
- Darrell Clay