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Thread: Airventure: Good, Bad, and Ugly

  1. #21
    John Leidel's Avatar
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    I understood that they were very short on volunteers to drive the trams.

  2. #22
    steve's Avatar
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    Did anyone else enjoy the new Mineshaft restaurant west of the N40? Nice portions and even nicer prices. And the food was . We had dinner there 5 of the 10 nights we camped in HBC.

  3. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by FlyingRon View Post
    It didn't even start raining until 2200. It was a beautiful evening as I walked from Vintage up to the SOS brothers for dinner and back.


    And here's the true ugly thing (at least for me). Just got the word that one of our volunteers who worked with me in our operations building has tested positive for COVID. He had gotten his vaccinations in January. I got mine in March, but I'm heading out to get tested tomorrow. I've also got to pull up the volunteer data and find out who volunteered with him during the week. (It's a good thing we track that. We did it for other reasons but this is going to be important).
    This was my main worry with this years show. Please keep us posted Ron on how he’s doing and if any others come down as positive for Covid as well. I know I speak for all of us in saying we’re all pulling for him and wish him a speedy recovery! Thanks for sharing and we’ll keep him in our thoughts.

  4. #24

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    I did not volunteer, and hate to critique work done by others. However, I do have a bone to pick as to the tram "rules." On one occasion, we rode the tram to the last vintage stop, and were told that we had to disembark because others were waiting to board. That's fair enough, but the very next tram permitted a round trip on the part of its riders despite a lengthy line waiting to board. A little consistency would have been helpful. I also missed the cow shirts, which I have in the past purchased in quantity as the "price" for my family letting me attend. Otherwise -- we were there for a week, and my first show was in the mid 1980's - and my nits are a small price to pay for it resuming this year. We had a terrific time.

  5. #25

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    Hello,

    I couldn’t help but add my thoughts. Not sure anyone that matters reads this but wanted to ad my observations. First let me say, this is largely run by volunteers and I am on vacation. So, we should keep that in mind. Many of those volunteers are “working” their vacation. I am grateful and can’t believe how out of nothing an aviation city pops up with grocery stores, a newspaper, a radio station, trams etc. it’s pretty amazing and I am grateful to all the volunteers. So, with that being said . . . Here are some of the things I think could use some attention.

    1. Cellular bandwidth: Maybe there is an argument that I should unplug from the internet during airventure, but I don’t. Things seemed slightly better this year but the network was often overwhelmed for me. What’s the point of the airventure app if it just spins and times out? Or, they talked about stretching the show down the flight line. For me I sit at vintage but tried streaming the air show to see what goes on at show center. Often the video would just time out and buffer. WiFi bandwidth is better than it had been but it still has a way to go in my opinion. Not sure why Verizon and att can’t scale with mobile hotspots better. The more data that flows the more they make.

    2. Eaa media: eaa radio and live video seemed to have a lot less content this year. Amy swoboda (sp?) wasn’t there. I wish they would ramp up these offerings. I would frankly pay for a digital airventure ticket if they offered more content and more production. For instance, my kids want to stand in line for an hour to walk through the ups plane. It would be nice if I could stream a forum or something. And if I could stream things going on elsewhere I wouldn’t have to stand around taking multiple trams to get there. Secondly it would be nice if the content could be on demand. Theater in the woods was 6-9, which is when I need to feed the kids. It would be nice if I could log in after they go to bed and see the presentation. They had a link purportedly for the “forums” but it never had content when I checked. I think there is a missed revenue opportunity here.

    3. Trams. They are nice to have. I do agree the rules seemed to differ based on your driver, but it’s run by volunteeers. I just take it in stride. Two things I didn’t get was why the yellow route was like 100 yards long and had like me stop. Secondly, why did vintage lose a stop. The blue route now stops at the vendor hangers and doesn’t stop again until the machine shed. The red bar should have a stop in my opinion.

    4. Comfort. I wish they had some more comfort for attendees. You can pay like 2k to be in the aviators club, which I assume is gobbled up by the vendors for corporate hospitality or there is general admission. I wish there was something in between. I don’t need to spend 2k per person to eat lobster and hang out with rob reider, but I would like some ac and a place to hide if the weather is bad.

    5. Parking does seem to be getting worse. The event is gathering record crowds but the public seems to be getting pushed further away while handing out all access vip parking passes to vendors who walk out to the field at 9 stand at their booth all day and clock out at 5. Why do they need to be close? Seems backwards to me. I get the economics, but wish they wouldn’t make it so tough on families trying to move chairs, coolers, kids, etc. I have to go back and forth getting stuff all day. I don’t know the answer but think they should put some thought into some sort of transportation from the parking lots to the field.


    Just my 0.02 worth.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  6. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by tnathan View Post
    5. Parking does seem to be getting worse.
    Same sort of thing is happening in Scholler. You either need to claim your spot in the first two weeks of July (impractical unless you live nearby) or buy an improved site at $70 a night from the second you register. Either way, it's $$$. The expanded improved sites have pushed general camping pretty far south. I got there on Thursday evening before the show. In years past, that would have put me pretty close to Elm/Lindbergh. I was at 24th and Cedar. And that was for Thursday... Lord help the folks that show up Sunday... they were out near the water/sewer station!

    But... the improved sites sold out about a week and a half before the show. General spots remotely close to the show were gobbled up and paid for around the same time. As long as the market supports it, that will continue to happen.

    I *am* thankful that the 24 hour generator sites were moved out near 41. THANK YOU.

  7. #27
    FlyingRon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark17 View Post
    This was my main worry with this years show. Please keep us posted Ron on how he’s doing and if any others come down as positive for Covid as well. I know I speak for all of us in saying we’re all pulling for him and wish him a speedy recovery! Thanks for sharing and we’ll keep him in our thoughts.
    He seems to be doing well. I had a rapid antigen test today and came back negative and I probably spent more time in that office than anybody. Many of the others who worked at the same time have reported negative tests.
    I've got a PCR test result pending as I'm scheduled to visit elderly relatives this weekend.

  8. #28
    FlyingRon's Avatar
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    We've lost lots of parking space over the years. Originally the flight light parking went all the way out to the Papa taxiway. After a DC-3 groundlooped into the ditch in the mid-90's, the FAA mandated the crowd line moved back substantially. Then a few years back in order to increase airport "security" an eight foot fence was erected around the property with an associated interior road that wiped more space. The EAA also has expanded the food offerings (not a bad thing) and added some more camp stores, etc... which ate in to aircraft spaces as well. On the other hand, more land has been turned over (the new "South 40" what we in Vintage had been calling Green Acres) and if they ever get all the heirs to the property across the road on board, some more space will be freed up down south.

  9. #29
    Airmutt's Avatar
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    EAA has purchased land south of the UL area on both sides of Knapp. Demolition of the existing buildings has occurred and the land prep is in work but it’s all part of a multi year project. Building a new building for the ULs came in cheaper than moving the UL Red Barn. I think it’s great that EAA is willing to invest in the UL and Light Sport community. Unfortunately it’s gonna make the hike down to that area very looong!!! I’m assuming that vintage guys will inherit the area once the jump is made. Actually the DC-3 attempted to takeoff without the tail wheel locked. Does that qualify as a ground loop or just loss of directional control?
    Dave Shaw
    EAA 67180 Lifetime
    Learn to Build, Build to Fly, Fly for Fun

  10. #30

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    I for one had a blast this year. 5th year at Airventure and first year to volunteer. Was able to snag a spot on the Flight Line Ops team and man I had a blast and learned a lot about what goes on behind the scenes to keep things moving. Volunteers were in short supply in many areas it seems but everyone seemed to keep things in stride and it worked out well. Only complaint (probably not a lot that can be done about it) is that Camp Scholler filled up FAAAAAST this year. Got there Sunday at 3P and was a long way out! Busses and trams were there, but confusing - the maps were color coded, but the Busses and Trams didn't have corresponding colors to match the maps (unless I missed it).

    Maybe something to consider next year - If the Bus is following the YELLOW route - Put a Sign that says 'YELLOW'. I got on a bus to 'Scholler' and they dropped us off at the Bus park... lol.

    Love Love Love Airventure though - great job as always EAA!

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