Fly-in Pet Peeves

[stinsoner]

I hate to throw a bucket of cold water on a pastime which is among our favorites, the fly-in. But here goes. I have a nice Stinson 108-3, which I try to keep looking nice. Three times now I have had my rear "D" window scratched by pilots? peering in the window to check out the the interior and panel. How, you might ask? By those stupid *!&# pins that EAA'ers wear all over their hats, and the zippers on their jackets. One fly-in attendee put a nice scratch in the paint on the bottom of my aileron(metal on a Stinson 108-3) with his darn hat, I'm sure.

At one fly-in I decided to leave my door open so people could look inside without looking through the window. Not gonna do that again. A friend said that he saw a mother place her toddler inside on the seat so that he could play pilot and make airplane noises. My friend kept an eye on them so the toddler didn't try to start up and taxi off! When I was a young lad myself at a fly-in with my father, he noticed some guy place his toddler on top of the cowl of our Stinson 10A. Dad read the guy the riot act.

At Airventure I've witnessed more than one EAA'er lean in a cockpit to get a better look at a panel, putting his grimy hand on the seat. Now imagine 100 EAA'ers doing the same thing, with hands that have just eaten an ice cream cone, a hot dog, or just been in the grass while sitting. Don't these people think??

Am I being a little over critical here or being over protective of my pride 'n joy Stinson? I can understand the general public doing stupid things at fly-ins, but EAA'ers should know better. C'mon guys, wear your stupid pin hats to your local chapter meetings, but get a different hat to wear to fly-ins, or stay away from my airplane!! And when the sign on the prop says Look, But Please Do Not Touch! , that's what it means!

Dennis C.

[Mike Switzer]

The same thing goes on at car shows. You either have to have someone watching all the time or put a rope around your ride to keep people from touching. Rivets on jeans will do a nasty job on a car fender.

[MickYoumans]

One of my friends built a beautiful Thorp T18 back in the late 80's. After flying it to Fun & Sun and Oshkosh he decided not to take it back for the same reasons you mentioned above. I fully understand after all the hours invested in building an awesome machine it is heartbreaking to see someone carelessly damage it. My plane is just a plain old spam can and I don't like to see it get abused. I can't imagine what it would be like if I had put thousands of hours into building it.

[Bill Greenwood]

Dennis, it sounds like you would be happier if you kept your plane away from places like EAA where a lot of people like to look at airplanes.
How much damage did that toddler do? Can it be repaired or is the airplane ready for scrap?
If there are some sensitive areas like rear windows, maybe you could try blocking them off with a rope or lenght of red tape.

[steveinindy]

Here's a quick solution to this problem: http://www.waterstrider.com/bear-repellent-portable-electric-fence.htm

[stinsoner]

Bill, the toddler didn't do any damage. But was it appropriate or considerate of the mom to put her toddler in my airplane? No. I wonder how she would like it if I tried out the driver's seat in her Bimmer out in the parking lot.

[stinsoner]

Steve, I like your sense of humor. Sounds like the Final Solution.

[steveinindy]

Steve, I like your sense of humor. Sounds like the Final Solution.

It's even more amusing when you figure in that I'm Jewish.

[Kyle Boatright]

Bill, the toddler didn't do any damage. But was it appropriate or considerate of the mom to put her toddler in my airplane? No. I wonder how she would like it if I tried out the driver's seat in her Bimmer out in the parking lot.

I've come to grips with the fact that if you get enough people in one place at one time, there will be a few idiots. One thing I like about fly-ins is that there are usually enough pilots and owners around to prevent anything worse than the occasional scrape. I can accept that. The alternative is to just leave the thing parked in the hangar year round.

[steveinindy]

The alternative is to just leave the thing parked in the hangar year round.

...or at least not fly the thing to events where there are going to be gawkers.