Hello,

How are you? Summer is over and the cool chill is breezing through the window. I have a favor to ask. The website for Social Butterfly Club is done, I'm currently populating the site with member info (4000, it takes awhile), we have a resource section where members can post their articles on their field of expertise for free, and also we have a Speaker Corner, where speakers can put up their speaker profile, tip sheet and contact info.

Please summit your articles if you have any, and speakers, I'm looking for name, tel, email, website, one page pdf, one page tip sheet, photo, company logo, 500 words.


I took on the job as the event manager for British Columbia Aviation Council’s 15th “Black Tie & Blue Jeans Auction Gala” in June of this year. Since then, I’ve learned a lot about the aviation industry.

The aviation industry is a small one globally because it’s expense to get into the industry. Due to 911, the industry has changed a lot. Security has doubled or tripled, so it takes longer to get on and off an airplane. The government tends to tax the aviation industry heavily thinking it’s got money, yet most businesses in aviation have low margins, and high cost…. so the profit is low.

The average pilot needs a university degree, and then spends from $50,000 - $60,000 on their pilot’s license, which gives them 100 flying hours. In order to get a pilot’s job, you need a minimum 250 hours to fly cargo, and a commercial pilot needs a minimum of 2000 hours. As the baby boomers are retiring, there will be a huge demand for pilots.

Although on the surface, the airports have tightened up a lot of the security measures, the government has not really demanded any procedure change for courier companies. The Air India bombing was a box courier out of Victoria. That has not changed much. Cargo does not really get checked before they go onto planes or ships, thus creating a huge threat for all of us.

A friend of mine is in the process of creating an investment pitch website, so that CEOs and Executives from companies can do live conferencing over the internet on this site to interested investors, instead of meeting them face to face. He expressed the fear that most North American business executives would not like to risk their life and business on a plane.

No amount of technology can compete with face to face interaction. From meeting people comes understanding, comes partnership. As we cocoon ourselves from one another, we will live with more ignorance and fear. This could turn into a vicious cycle of “Us” vs. “Them”.

The event will be held at the brand new BCIT Aerospace Campus on 3800 Cessna Drive. It’s a 33 million dollar building. Having only seen simple hangars, the BCIT hangar is quite impressive. It has garages attached to the 60,000 sq. ft. space to teach student mechanics and engineers. The space currently houses about 10 planes/helicopters of various sizes.

Friday, November 16th will be the first time an event will be held in this facility. For $25, you and your aviation buff friends can come join us for an elegant evening of socializing, eating, drinking and winning bids for the auctions, while inside the hangar.

All the funds raised goes towards the aviation student scholarship and bursary fund to help develop the next generation of aviation professions: Pilots, Engineers, and Mechanics.

This event has a great track record – a consistent 400-500 people show up each year to support the BC Aviation Council in fulfilling its purpose. You might bump into business executives from airlines, to retired pilots, to a Fire Chief, and City Councilors. We are expecting lots of media publicity, so come and join the fun! We have trade show booth available at $250 each, so if you would like to promote your business, contact us right away.

If you have a product or service, and you would like to support the BC Aviation Council, please fill out the donation form, and help keep Vancouverites Flying High. Please visit www.bcaviation.org for all the details.

My family and I took a short cruise to Los Angeles, and spent the day sightseeing. The cruise ship was Island Princess, a floating hotel with 3 different restaurants and a 24/7 buffet, swimming pool, games, gym, salon & spa, and all the amenities you can think of. There was a casino, two full size theatres, and a library. We ate, enjoyed the live shows at night, walked around the deck and met interesting people. Mostly we relaxed, watching the calm ocean go by from our balcony window. For awhile, I kept thinking, we’re wasting time…. because we’re not doing anything. And that is exacting the point of a vacation. Do nothing and restore your energy.

L.A was a bit disappointing. The last time I was there, I was with a girlfriend, and we visited Disneyland, Universal Studios, and Six Flags Amusement Park. This time, we spent the morning at Venice beach. I’ve heard so much about how amazing this beach was – this is where all the actions happen. When we got there, we saw bumps after bumps along the board walk, tattoo shops and drink stalls line up the street, with clothing and souvenir shops in between. We saw the famous muscle gym, with big guys pumping iron. We even saw a movie being shot.

The ocean was beautiful, but it’s hard to ignore the smell of urine and marijuana from the street bums.

We drove to Hollywood and throughout Beverly Hills, couldn’t find Rodeo Drive. We had lunch at a sushi store in Hollywood, and found the whole city littered with garbage.

L.A does have very impressive highways, with six lanes stretching across, and bridges and tunnels lined up one above another, looking like a science fiction movie. We drove to the top of Mulholland Drive and saw Los Angeles in its entirety. It looks rather plain and not many city scrapers. We saw a lot of expensive real estate along the way in the semi-desert environment. We even saw a huge house erected over a cliff. For all its wealth and notoriety, I would not like to live in L.A. I guess only when you’re away from where you’re from, you learn to appreciate it.

The typical North American goes to college and gets his/ her first credit card, with a limit of $3000. When that number comes close to being maxed out, the bank calls the card holder and tells him/ her that they’ve been a good customer and dutifully pays their monthly minimums, and are now granted the $10,000 credit limit. This courtship between the card holder and the bank goes back and forth for years, and comes with many point systems and benefit packages.

The illusion that everything is under control and we have good credit rating by paying our monthly minimums is what got most North Americans spending more than their means.

Vacations, house, car are many of the luxury items we purchase on credit. Seriously, how many of you know exactly what’s in your account when you whip out your Visa or Interac card to make your next purchase?

Do you have a plan on how to pay back your debt? The bank owns most of our lives, and for every $1 that’s in the bank, the bank can lend out $19 and collect interest.

It is not a coincidence that credit cards charge 18.9% interest on the money they lend you. We’re in a society run by banks. If we don’t pay our mortgage, they own our house; if we don’t pay back our debt, they can take away our companies. When financing a company, make sure that you have enough cushion money, and not all from one source, to help you during the rainy days.