Management Team Changes

<p>Dear friends and fellow St. Paul Airlines Pilots,</p>
<p>Yoland has retired as President/CEO at St. Paul Airlines and I will be taking over that position, as I&rsquo;ve been acting in that capacity for some time now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will continue my duties as Webmaster also.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are very grateful for the many years and hours of work that Yoland has freely given &ndash; and his numerous outreach efforts to bring attention to our humble little airline across the vast Internet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No doubt it will be difficult to find one or several pilots together who might fill the vacancy Yoland once filled with his creativeness and energy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will continue to offer Yoland&rsquo;s many Special Ops contributions here, and there&rsquo;s always a chance that Yoland might return to fly or offer his talents in other ways.</p>
<p>This change in St. Paul Airline&rsquo;s management provides yet another opportunity for pilots with the time and energy to become more involved in our virtual airline to step up and try something new.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There&rsquo;s no need to feel intimidated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our Hub Manager positions are easy to do, require little extra time, and virtually no additional computer skills because the duties involved are all menu-driven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As always, the friendly staff is willing to help in any way we can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Try it&hellip;you might like it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Hub Mgr position is also a great starting place for anyone who wants to explore setting up flights and/or webpages for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I&rsquo;m always willing to help bring new and exciting ideas to life here at SPA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As always, if you&rsquo;re interested in participating as part of our management team here at SPA please contact me or any other manager by email.</p>
<p>I&rsquo;m excited about the future of SPA and eager to continue moving forward to provide our pilots with new and exciting things to fly.</p>
<p>Thanks again for keeping the St. Paul Airlines fleet flying proudly in the virtual skies.</p>
<p>John</p>

Hah, thanks guys!

Oswald, thanks for all your help with the FlightGear beta testing and helpful advice - without which, the SPAACARS-FG program wouldn't have been possible. Hopefully it will continue to be a gateway for FlightGear pilots to join us here at SPA. Considering your very busy schedule outside of the virtual world, your contributions have special meaning.

Philippe, thanks also for taking the time to once again shine the light on my many adventures that I've spent many hours creating for pilot's enjoyment here at SPA. While only enjoyed by a few of our registered pilots (but available freely to anyone on the Internet), it gives me ongoing happiness whenever I see my efforts being enjoyed by other pilots.

As for my taking on the position of President, I must say that it's really mostly symbolic, as the small management team here keeps the hamster wheel turning, but it's you - the pilots, who make St. Paul Airlines the special VA that it is. Although I've never personally met another SPA pilot, I sincerely feel close to all of you - and that's what makes SPA so special. It's been my first and only VA - and I'm totally committed to it.

On a related note...I've learned that both Mike D. (our VP and longest serving management team member), and Naresh G. - the former Webmaster are bicycle riders like I am. Naresh happens to be almost a nextdoor neighbor (St. Paul - while I'm in Minneapolis, the other city of the 'Twincities'). Naresh hopes to make an effort to join me on a bike ride - and I'm excited to meet him in person and share a picture of the two of us.

I've preserved the 'historic' album of meetups of the 'founders' and early members of SPA in one of our photo albums for anyone interested in the ancient history of SPA - I guess 15 years almost qualifies as such in the VA world.

Lastly, I would also like to recognize Robert Thompson (SPA031) - who, along with Naresh G., were actually the fathers of SPA, their names immortalized in the code that runs SPA - along with my humble additions.

I guess, in summary, I want pilots to understand that St. Paul Airlines has a long history - before the software that most of the current VA's run on was even developed. I'm proud to be part of this historic airline, and I'm very happy to see the loyal and active pilots who share my love of this airline.

Happy and safe flying, and thanks again,

John