Fly-in Pet Peeves

[steveinindy]

Not at all - that Grand Champion looks positively gorgeous.

There's an airplane in that picture? I hadn't noticed. LOL

[rosiejerryrosie]

She doesn't look too distructive does she?

I don't know about that. She looks pretty darned dangerous to me....

[mrreddick]

I'm with you, too many idiots at fly-ins. My very first plane was a beautiful 150 Commuter. We spent the day before the fly-in waxing and polishing. Went to get our free fly-in burgers and came back only to find Bubba eating his lunch off of the slick empennage. After I told him to go find a table he turned to his sweetie to say let's go, only then could I see that she was sitting on the main gear wheelpant. When she stood up I asked her if she saw the "NO STEP" placard and she said "yea, but I was sitting, not stepping on it!" And yes, she was a cute blonde!
My second plane was a totally restored Grumman AA5. One of our first air shows in it was just as bad. As we left the plane to go attend the FAA Wings Seminar, I looked back to see a dad lift his toddler up to my wing so he could proceed to run across my wing. Luckily the kid didn't weigh much and didn't do any damage with his soft shoes.
My current plane, an RV6A, had the worst incident. While at a fly-in in east Texas, we were watching an RC demo when I glanced down the taxiway to where I was parked to see a pre-teen girl trying to pry open my canopy. It was locked in the open position for air flow purposes and the opening was just big enough to get fingers in. I guess she wanted that MP3 player that was laying between the seats. Guess who her dad was, the guy putting on the RC demo!
I don't attend air shows anymore if the public is allowed to roam around and be where they shouldn't be. I like Steve's idea!

[Bill Greenwood]

I must be missing out on meeting the bad side of society. In 20 years or more of displaying planes at airshows, and some years having two planes at Oshkosh, I have never had happen to me nor seen anyone have their kid run down the wing nor have a girl try to pry open the canopy, nor have anyone put their toddler in the seat without permission. I do hang a "please look, but not touch" sign on the prop most times,,but many people don't even see it.
I have had people move the rudder or ailerons, which is annoying, but not usually damaging. I have had people leave fingerprints on a canopy when trying to see in, again annoying.
The total damage I have had was a slightly bent cover over a trim wheel inside the cockpit by a reeinactor who had permission to sit inside, but who was a large guy and stepped on it getting out. The cure was to gently bend it back up be hand, no harm done: and I did have a small hole, the size of a pencil poked in the elevator fabric at a show years ago, I think near Witchita. Someone said they saw a kid do this, I can't say for sure, but it was easily patched.

As for "the public being allowed to roam around and be where they shouldn't" ; I guess that I like people, most of them anyway, and I feel that if you are having an airshow, the people should be near the planes, as long as it is safe.
I very much like the way it is at Oshkosh, where the display plane areas are open for people to see, until it is time to clear out the area for starting up for the show. Osh has lots of volunteers and marshalls, to make sure there is safety with planes running and taxing, and a really good record of safety on that. Osh also has some volunteers, like CAP and others to help keep an eye on planes so people don't climb on or damage them. It is done well at Willow Run, Michingan, and Geneseo, N. Y. also.
I not only like people in general, and I think places like EAA Oshkosh bring our the best in people, but I'd like to make more friends for gen aviation and get more people interested in learning to fly.
I don't think we do this by acting like we are exclusive from the average guy.

I disagree with the type of show like many military ones where there is a barrier between the crowd and display planes at all times; that seems exclusionary to me.

[Dan Grunloh]

Ribbons or tape around the plane is the way to go. Lucky for me my 14 year old LSA trike isn't worth all that much and any part can be replaced. At the local airport fly-in the kids to young for young eagle rides line up to sit in it while mom takes pictures. It's easy for a toddler to climb into the seat only 14 inches off the ground. They will grab and pull on anything. Often that ask if they can start it up.

My buddies are happy with it because it keeps the kids off their more fragile and expensive airplanes.

Back in the 80's I had a friend who built Goldwings, the foam and fiberglass canard ultralights. The joke was they were made out of coffee cup foam. Once while setting up our ultralights at a mall show I saw a kid come running along through the mall who leaped clean over (broad jumped) his foam wing lying on the floor ready to be mounted on the fuselage. He made it.

Worse was a trip to Oshkosh with a real show beauty that was deliberately built light so he could keep the weight down. The secret of good Goldwings was keeping the layer of glass and resin fairly thin. During the week dozens of people pressed a thumb or finger on that beautiful wing to get a feel for it. Some pressed a little too hard. When the light was at the right angle you could see faint depressions all along the leading edge of the the wing. He was sick. Perhaps those experiences inspired me to favor rugged and repairable airframes.

[Hiperbiper]

My only bad experience was due to a KA 350 spooling up and (just as I reached my plane after a mad dash across the ramp) taxing out, blowing dirt and gravel all over my airplane as well as trying to remove my right door which was propped open for display. That what happens when the local EAA chapter doesn't have control of the FBO's GA ramp...

I've seen pilots at fly-in's do the same thing but with more benign results...


At fly-in's, as in life itself, always watch your six.

Chris