by CJP Chair R. Blake Curd, M.D.
As I sat down to enter a few keystrokes, I couldn’t help but think about our annual convention that is looming right around the corner. I am excited to see many of you in San Antonio the first part of September and I hope that, if your schedule allows and you have not yet made the decision to attend, you decide in the next couple of weeks to join us!
Many of you will remember the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day telethon. I recall learning that immediately at the conclusion of the program that Lewis and the team immediately began planning for the event the following year. This was after he had been up for nearly 24 straight hours, entertaining and raising money for muscular dystrophy.
While our convention is nowhere near the same magnitude (and I am not attempting to draw a direct correlation by any stretch) the CJP executive team and the board of directors meet immediately at the conclusion of the convention every year to talk about what worked what didn’t work and begins planning and preparing for the following year. I recall meeting in Colorado Springs on 7 September 2024 and talking about the preceding four days.
It has been a busy 12 months for your organization and now we are in the final stages of preparing the convention for your enrichment, entertainment and enjoyment in San Antonio. We have changed things up a bit this year and have some new content that I am excited for you to learn about. Those who are able to attend this year’s meeting will find it to be of high value!
New Training Scenarios
The CJP Safety and Education Foundation, in close collaboration with the CJP Association, has been working hard over the last year to develop new and innovative programming and training curriculum with our training partners. We understand the challenge of getting training time with our training partners, and also the desire and need for additional options to be a participant in, and find real value as a recipient of, the CJP Gold Standard Safety Award.
In July, I spent three days in Wichita at FlightSafety with Charlie Precourt and our new Director of Safety, Education and Training, Dave Morisey. We were developing different scenarios specific to our pilots and our airplanes to enhance the safety of Citation operations and to improve our skills in abnormal and emergency situations. I had the opportunity to fly these scenarios multiple times and with each iteration we saw improvement, increased specificity and refinement and honing into an industry-leading syllabus of options.
I can say without any equivocation or reservation that pilots who choose to take advantage of this training will walk away finding it of tremendous value for themselves and those they choose to take flying with them. While the 61.58 checkride demonstrates a certain level of competence, there has not yet been a focused, dedicated training curriculum for the Citation series dedicated as this program will be.
Kirk Samuelson, Stuart Fred, Don Bruce and Tom Abood have all participated and helped develop and hone this series of scenarios in different models of the citation. I would like to thank them, Charlie, Dave and Rob Balzano for their contributions.
There is no doubt in my mind that participating in this training annually six months offset from the 61.58 will make us a better community of pilots and serve to greatly improve our already stellar safety record within the owner-pilot community. I hope that our members find a way to take advantage of this training when it becomes widely available. We will discuss it more and further detail in San Antonio.
Looking forward to the first week of September, the program is in great shape. I especially look forward to the annual Textron Aviation party on Thursday night, featuring a private concert by country music entertainer Jordan Davis. I had the opportunity to see Jordan in concert here at home over the summer, and I’m really looking forward to seeing him in a much smaller venue!
CJP staff are also putting the final touches in place for our Dinner and Live Auction on Friday night, with several tantalizing options available for bid for us all to support our organization.
And I look forward to seeing all of you in Texas in a few weeks!