Air Shows

[58boner]

More is not necessarily better. More money will not make a "better" organization.
What do you want? Young eagles is a noble cause. Should it be the mission of the EAA?
It should be every aviators mission to spread the gosple but does it diverge from the core mission of the EAA?
Do you want a fly in or an air show? Ponder the difference. An air show is a performance of aerial feats meant to amaze and entertain the non aviation types. They pay the gate. A fly in is a gathering of aviators who meet to share kinship, inspiration, knowlwdge, education, and comaraderie. don't make much money.
In recent history it seems to me the air show is taking over what we used to call a fly in. Sun-N-Fun and "AIRVENTURE" (damn I hate that name) being the main examples.
Now at SNF the close the area where the planes are parked at noon for the airshow. The main reason to attend a fly in is to look at the visiting planes... here we have an air show preempting a fly in. Do you wonder why show plane attendance is waning?
Decide what you want in your organization. I think it starts with a simple question, are we a fly in organization or an air show organization. I think some of you will get my point. Most won't.
But remember the first word in EAA is Experimental.

[Cherokeeflyer]

Good points 58boner. I find the airshow boring. Always try to attend a seminar, while some pilot burns the same holes in the sky, year after year. We are pilots not spectators. I go to a flyin to see aircraft like mine, meet other pilots and buy gadgets.....airshows are a waste of time and money for me.

[steveinindy]

airshows are a waste of time and money for me.

I am glad I am not the only one. To me at least, I would much rather just see the planes arriving and departing than someone trying to do rolls, spins and loops. Besides, it's enough of a show to watch people who aren't used to dealing with traffic fly into some of the most congested airspace in the world.

Does anyone else ever get the feeling that this is how most people that go to airshows actually feel?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxcWR...eature=related

[RV8505]

I agree! Although the airshow is necessary it isn't for us. I look forward to the gatherings and parties with fellow volunteers after the airshow. I also I like to walk the flight line after the crowds are gone in the evening.

[steveinindy]

I agree! Although the airshow is necessary it isn't for us. I look forward to the gatherings and parties with fellow volunteers after the airshow. I also I like to walk the flight line after the crowds are gone in the evening.

I try to avoid the flight line. The only reason I have gone down there in recent years was to take part in a flight line display that I was required to take part in and to watch the departure of Fifi. Otherwise, I only go to the seminars, talk to suppliers, and socialize with old and new friends alike.

[Cherokeeflyer]

Does anyone else ever get the feeling that this is how most people that go to airshows actually feel?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxcWR...eature=related

Haha....sadly that how i feel, i only bother to kinda look up when the engine quits...the rest of the time, asleep under a aircraft wing, sheltering from the sun and digesting my millionth cheesburger basket meal...ha.

[krw920]

Do you want a fly in or an air show? Ponder the difference. An air show is a performance of aerial feats meant to amaze and entertain the non aviation types. They pay the gate. A fly in is a gathering of aviators who meet to share kinship, inspiration, knowlwdge, education, and comaraderie. don't make much money.
In recent history it seems to me the air show is taking over what we used to call a fly in. Sun-N-Fun and "AIRVENTURE" (damn I hate that name) being the main examples.

1990 was my first visit to Oshkosh in July for the EAA convention as it was back then, and I distinctly remember there being an airshow in the afternoon, I don't remember much of what it comprised of other than the Warbird review with the wall of fire. I was mainly there to see the F-117 and Concord, at which time you needed to be a member to get on the flight line, past the brown gate. I wasn't a member then, just a poor college student who loved airplanes couldn't afford the membership fee once I had already paid admission to the grounds who had to sneaked through the gate to get close to the airplanes.

So not sure were all the airshow animosity is coming from as it has been around for quite awhile.

[Bill]

So not sure were all the airshow animosity is coming from as it has been around for quite awhile.

You're confusing animosity with disinterest. I've been going to Oshkosh since 1981. After seeing Bob Hoover fly, all the others are just so so journeymen (and women). They do it with power, Bob did it with grace.

The aircraft appearing today are rather trivial compared to the SR-71, the Concorde (still no sure which was louder), Voyager, SpaceShip One, and the Raptor.

[steveinindy]

You're confusing animosity with disinterest.

Exactly.

[Jim Rosenow]

They do it with power, Bob did it with grace.

Well said, Bill...and to go back another generation, Duane Cole in his little T-Craft. A full aerobatic routine starting at 3000 feet AGL back to his original departure point...deadstick :-) He's my true aerobatic hero (among others of the super-power acro genre' I must admit), and like Hoover, was a gentleman to the core!

My theory is that folks 'mature' as Oshkosh participants...first it's the noise and excitment exemplefied by the airshows, and after a period of time we dig deeper and find our special interests and the amazing, amazing people wandering around there with us.