So is it true EAA will no longer be associated with air racing in any form? The AirVenture cup is dead in the water?
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So is it true EAA will no longer be associated with air racing in any form? The AirVenture cup is dead in the water?
After what's probably happened to insurance rates after the Reno accident, I wouldn't be surprised....
Ron Wanttaja
Pretty pathetic if you ask me.
How ironic is it that Airventure is held at Wittman Field, of course named after Steve Wittman, one of the most famous racers is aviation history!!
What kind of support will EAA be offering to other types of air racing? That position is somewhat different from the statement: "EAA will no longer be associated with air racing in any form going forward."
Please correct me if I misquoted you, it's a cut and paste.
You quoted me correctly...it was my email to Eric that was missing my own words. Support is not the right word. Encouraging the sport is more along the lines of how EAA relates to air racing. It's the same as regional fly ins, we take part, but no longer in an official supporting (sponsorship) way.
It's my understanding that insurance didn't change for the 2012 AirVenture cup races. This is a directive from 'the top' to disassociate the organization from air racing. I don't see where a handful of folks racing homebuilts on a straight line cross-coutry course (absolutely nothing like closed course pylon racing) poses a threat to the organization or society. I certainly would think it's an activity covered under the the new EAA vision and mission statements. My question is what segment will be ditched next? Why doesn't the leadership just lay out their ideology for the organization and stop all the piece nibbling?
I just re-upped my national membership for the first time in maybe 7 or 8 years, and only because it was required in order to join IAC. And then they go and do this. What exactly is EAA's mission? What are they willing to stand for?
It seems more and more to be aiming to be 'AOPA lite' rather than the EAA I grew up with - innovative, fearless, and covering the entire breadth of Experimental Aviation with little to any attention paid to the NIMBY's or to spam cans, bizjets and heavy iron. I haven't been to OSH since '03 - on-field McDonald's replacing the Boy Scouts burger stands, the Eclipse fraud buying the center stage, I mean really, King-Airs and TBM 750's at the world's premiere 'experimental' aircraft fly-in?
When we all try to post-mortem what once was a thriving and vibrant organization, it will be the decisions like this determined to be root-cause.
Begs the question what is next? After the DC-3 fiasco all I see is more and more bully micro-management from an organization that appears to not really know what it wants to be when it grows up.
Very disappointing.