History of the Fly-in

Canards West was founded on May 5th, 2004 by Don Denhard, Tim LaDolce and David Orr, when these three canardians felt there was a need for a West Coast flyin similar to Rough River on the East Coast. The original name was "Canards de Mayo" as the first few were held over the Cinco de Mayo weekend celebration of Mexico's independance. When the dates moved to June, the name was changed to "Canards West".

During the early days, the fly-in was very simple. Everyone flew in on Friday evening and then on Saturday, during daylight, we all got together around our planes talked "Canards". Then on Saturday evening, there was a dinner in the club house at the airport and a movie afterwards. On Sunday, after breakfast, everyone flew home.

In 2008, Don Dendard was looking for some help as the fly-in was becoming very time consuming. Charles Furnweger volunteered to put together a program. Char Spencer volunteered to handle the registration. Dave Vigliechio and Paul Werner volunteered to be plane marshalls giving Don more time to enjoy the fly-in.

The first speakers for the event in 2008 were:

• Marc Zietlin: "Prop Loss - Desert Center - Emergency in a Cozy MKIV"
• Marc Zietlin: "How to Keep Your Wood Prop on Your Plane with Less Work"
• Keith Spreuer: "Cozy P51 Style Cooling"
• Dave Ronneberg: "Berkut becomes an Optionally Controlled Mobius Aircraft"
• Craig Catto: "Is 3-Bladded Really Better"
• Jeremy MacDonald: "Propellers, Safety and Balancing"

From there, the fly-in really "took off" ;-) Charles continued being the program coordinator through 2011, when he handed it off to Keith Spreuer for 2012 and Tim Fisher in 2013. Every year, the fly-in has continued to grow and becomes better.

In 2012, Don Denhard handed the reins for the fly-in over to Tim Fisher, though he still kept an eye on the event, helping Tim out where needed. By 2015, Tim Fisher was running the event entirely by himself.

At the end of 2024, Tim and Judy Fisher retired as the event organizers. After 13 years of being in charge, they felt it was time for someone else to bring new energy to the event. We all feel Tim and Judy did an excellent job and will miss their leadership. Thank you for all of your hard work keeping the event fun and exciting!

In 2025, the reins of the organization were passed to Jay Skovbjerg and his two assistants, Al Smith and Bill Percival. We are looking forward to their bringing a renewed excitement to the event, with some interesting changes and new twists!