Mooney Summit VIII Status as of August 16th 2021

[Rick Junkin]

Greetings all,

Here’s the current status of this year’s Mooney Summit VIII.

In consideration of the evolving COVID-19 situation and in conjunction with the Tampa Airport Authority we have established September 15th as the latest possible decision date for proceeding with or cancelling the Mooney Summit in 2021.

COVID-19 has continued to be a major concern as infections have declined and surged throughout the past year and a half. While we find ourselves in a different position this year than last, the nature and timing of the current surge has put at risk our ability to forecast a responsible execution of the Summit at this time. The Tampa Airport Authority is not currently approving near-term events and has cancelled its planned internal social events for the time being, but the Mooney Summit remains on their calendar. We do not want to cancel the Mooney Summit prematurely.

The behavior of recent surges in other countries suggest the possibility of a precipitous decline of infection following the peak of the surge. If the timing of these events in the United States and the resulting trend data allow, and local policies and guidance are not prohibitive, we may be able to conduct the Summit for those who are able to attend.

If the data and local guidance as of September 15th does not support our responsible execution of the Summit we will cancel the event.

Regardless of the decisions made, we will offer a refund at any time to anyone who determines they can not attend the Summit due to health concerns. We hold these events to save lives, and you  and your doctors are the best judge of what is in the best interest of your continued healthy life. Let me know directly at rick.junkin@mooneysummit.com.

If the Summit is cancelled we will offer a refund to everyone. More to follow on how that will work if we reach that decision.

Thank you for your understanding and continuing support of the Mooney Summit. If you're a sponsor or registered participant you will receive this same information in an email later today.

Fly safe and stay healthy!

Rick Junkin
Mooney Summit VIII Event Director
rick.junkin@mooneysummit.com

[Rick Junkin]

Bumping this back to the top for more visibility and awareness.

Cheers,
Rick

[PilotX]

When will the agenda be published?

[steingar]

Again, I applaud the efforts of the Summit organizers.  I hope you can make responsible decisions based on good data.  It would suck for folks to contract a fatal disease trying to learn not to die in their aircraft.

[Rick Junkin]

20 minutes ago, PilotX said:

When will the agenda be published?

A link to the agenda is posted on our web site www.mooneysummit.com. The link is in the words "Mooney Summit VIII Tentative Agenda". The link isn't obvious due to it being gray, the only color available for links on our web service.

We've posted it from the beginning as a tentative agenda because we update immediately as adjustments are made, but it's been stable for a couple of months now. 

Cheers,
Rick

[mike_elliott]

1 hour ago, Junkman said:

A link to the agenda is posted on our web site www.mooneysummit.com. The link is in the words "Mooney Summit VIII Tentative Agenda". The link isn't obvious due to it being gray, the only color available for links on our web service.

We've posted it from the beginning as a tentative agenda because we update immediately as adjustments are made, but it's been stable for a couple of months now. 

Cheers,
Rick

I just made it a bit more obvious, it now says Click Here for Mooney Summit VIII Tentative Agenda

[ilovecornfields]

2 hours ago, steingar said:

Again, I applaud the efforts of the Summit organizers.  I hope you can make responsible decisions based on good data.  It would suck for folks to contract a fatal disease trying to learn not to die in their aircraft.

Dr. Steingar,

I would love to have a beer with you someday. Sometimes, I couldn’t agree with you more and other times you make me facepalm so hard that I almost get a concussion.

They’re being transparent, keeping their options open and making decisions based on facts and science. Obviously this is a challenging situation but they are trying to make the best of it and in many ways are a model for how things should be done.

Reasonable people will often disagree on what the best course of action is (and so will unreasonable people, but that’s another subject). Currently there is active debate among emergency physician on whether or not our annual conference should be held in-person and there is no consensus. Many organizations and dealing with this same issue without a clear “best practice.”

I applaud their goals to make our flying safer and their willingness to keep an open mind and share updates with us.

 

[PilotX]

4 hours ago, mike_elliott said:

I just made it a bit more obvious, it now says Click Here for Mooney Summit VIII Tentative Agenda

I must be gray white colorblind. Shh don’t tell the FAA.   Thanks for the link. 

[mike_elliott]

I wish I could change up the hyperlink stuff. We use square space and it is not one of the things they give me control over, unfortunately. I'll try to be more deliberate in hyperlinking to clarify, missing it was easy for sure