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Proud Members of:

NW Pilot (AKA: Steven Rhine) paid us a visit in December, 2007 -- right in the middle of the worst winter weather in recent memory!  He was flying a brand, new $600,000 Cirrus SR-22 from Duluth, Minnesota en route to Paris, France -- planning to cross the North Atlantic in December!

But not until he spent the night in Jim Weir's "Apollo Suite", and joined Mary, Montblack and me for dinner and drinks at Iowa's own microbrewery/restaurant, "Old Capital Brew Works".  We had a great time, listening to Steven's tales of his time spent ferrying planes all over the world.

When it came time to depart the next morning we found the ramp so slick that the Iowa City line guys were unable to move the Merlin that was parked in front of the Cirrus inside the heated hangar.  After much effort, Steven's gorgeous $600K steed was at last freed from its cage, only to find a driving snow storm in progress

Luckily the Cirrus had TKS anti-icing wet-wings and prop, and Steven was soon tooling along on top of the snow clouds, enjoying a 30-knot tailwind all the way to Bangor, Maine! 

Here are some pictures of Steven and that awesome plane...

That's 2" of ice under Steven's wheels!	You could easily ice-skate on the ramp...	Steven is just a blur doing his pre-flight inspection...	It sure is nice in that big, heated hangar...