Rotary Meeting June 6, 2017

ROTARY CLUB OF MARANA

MINUTES  2-6-17

Submitted by Randy Brooks, Club Secretary

 

 

Meeting held offsite at the business of Bob Bishop whom will be joining our club in the very near future. Bob owns a company called Ariel Productions. 

No pledge, or invocation or song. Bob simply gave those in attendance a tour of his business and described how his one person airplane is made and the various uses of this amazing machine. Bob has been a pilot at Air Shows, his plane was in James Bond movies, TV shows.  On the tail of each plane (he had about 4 present) is the logo for the Freedom Team.  This plane could fit in your living room or garage.  It is very small and only weighs about 500 pounds.    It could take off on the deck of a cargo ship, almost vertical and travels very fast.  As Bob says it is like flying a missile.

 

Bob gave us some of the applications of this airplane (it only fits one person) and flies at low altitudes (as low as 17 feet off the surface of the earth) and has many military uses.  For example he has flown as close as a few hundred feet from the Pentagon and the White House to test our US defenses from missile attacks.  His plane was used for the “Coor’s Silver Bullet” ad campaign.  Bob has bailed out of his planes twice and he claims that is why he could be seen as vertically challenged.

Many of the applications of the airplane he could not discuss because they are secret.  He did discuss the various radar uses and the sophistication of the electronics on his airplane. 

One of his employees was in the Marine Corps …… hooorah and was the pilot of the helicopter for the Reagan and Bush administrations.  Bob was very gracious in feeding us, giving us coffee to drink and made all of us comfortable. 

Thanks for a very interesting morning, Bob.

Next week a few of us: President Mary, President Elect Jo, Don Jorgensen and I will be at the Rotary International Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.  We will be helping with the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention booth (a club project) and at the Ride to End Polio booth (a district project), attending classes, receptions and generally having a good time  John Dooling will be taking attendance and notes so treat him nice.  I will see you all. Tuesday, June 20, 2017. With four of us gone it is important that as many of you as possible attend the meeting next week and for the rest of the year.