I do not however, know why they had to expand the box so far east. Because they were breaking to the north and west just as much, especially the solo guys who were moving quick and low over pretty much the whole south side of the city.
I do not however, know why they had to expand the box so far east. Because they were breaking to the north and west just as much, especially the solo guys who were moving quick and low over pretty much the whole south side of the city.
Regarding the carts, my wife and I both commented that this year they seem to be a lot more carts and cars driving around through show center than previous years. Not to mention some of those guys driving the golf carts were driving like total idiots...
Respectfully disagree, Ron. Some of us older guys have limited interest in the airshows, and use the trams to get around to see other things while the airshow is in progress. Inattentive spectators can't be fixed but every tram driver I've ridden behind dealt with them well.Originally Posted by rbarkerjr
Easing back to the more specific T-Bird discussion....any numbers in yet on attendance at the weekend airshows? Just watched the airshow video repeating on the Videographer's Webcam, and attendance didn't look all that heavy. I assume it was the Sunday airshow as the OWW started up and taxied.
There is no doubt they are marvelous and well-trained aviators. In my opinion they are using the wrong equipment. The F-16 is great for what it's designed for, which is not an airshow. If they spent more than a third of their time within a mile of the spectators I'd be surprised. I personally find the Warthog demos I've seen more close-in and faster-paced. Imagine these guys with six of those!!
I was told by someone who should know that within a half hour following the Breezy accident Thursday morning, there were over 100 airplanes backed up waiting to leave. We were camping near the Hilton on the North side of 9/27, and after we were told that we watched another 30 or so campers startup to leave before we did the same. No idea if it's normal for that many folks to head out during that time period...just making an observation.
Jim
EAA #64315
Last edited by Jim Rosenow; 08-04-2014 at 03:14 PM. Reason: never done thinking :)
On our side of the field we got kicked out of the hangars and moved under a tent (which was directly in the t-birds flight path). Made no sense at all. The other gripe is the noise. Airventure has forums and workshops scheduled at a time you cant hear yourself think.
The T-Birds are more than just PR/Recruiting. They are also part of sales. The F-16s they use are fully combat capable aircraft (unlike the Blues F/A-18s). They also market the F-16 as an export commodity, trying to get other countries to think that all they need is the right material to get the same quality pilots. A-10s right now, are absolutely taboo. DoD won't even accept requests for static displays. After all, the public might actually talk to the crew and get the impression that the Warthog is a multi-role platform with lots of life and utility left in it.
My AirVenture experience is only the last five years, but in that time, I have noticed that people start to leave on Thursday. Actually Wednesday, but it is noticeable on Thursday. On the other hand, there are others who don't arrive until Wednesday.
With regard to the other response asking about my son. He was fine. Kind of oblivious as the car was coming up from behind him and he never saw it until after we pulled him away. Even the backpack survived as he only had papers and such in it from KidVenture.
Understandable, Jim. I have no doubt that the tram drivers do a great job and that the tram service is a valuable one. My only point is that if the tram driver were to get distracted, for any reason, it would be very easy for one of the inattentive spectators to get seriously injured. I think that during the airshow times, maybe there could be an alternate tram route that doesn't drive right down the crowded areas on Whitman. Maybe run them on Knapp during those times... Anyway just my two cents worth. Either way, AirVenture was an absolute blast this year and I'm already counting the days until next year.
Ron Barker
Manitowoc, WI
EAA# 784308
Webmaster - EAA Chapter 383
Well, we saw what happened.. from comments from those that got kicked out of south parking area and those that left Friday because they were ticked-off about the prospect of being kicked out, not good. Pelton was all about the gate receipts and how full the parking lot was. The EAA members who got kicked out should be compensated. The performance took an hour, but they were probably only in front of the crowd 5 minutes. BFD.
I thought there were more aircraft than ever early in the week and an awful lot of departures on Thursday and Friday. Never seen the homebuilt area so quiet as when we walked thru there Friday late morning. I spoke to a lot of people with aircraft during the week and not one was positive about the thunderbirds coming. What really surprised me though was that the Thunderbirds arrived Thursday, taking up another 45 min of airshow time, when something better could have been flying. We saw them as we walked out to go to the parking lot and drive to the seaplane base, they seemed to be flying all over the exhibition area, over the crowds, over the businesses on the east side. So how come that was allowed, but on Friday onwards so many areas had to be evacuated, crowd lines moved back etc. Seems very double standards??!! Or doesn't it matter if they crash on the exhibit buildings when its not an official show? Oh well at least we weren't disrupted on Thursday and could still go to the south 40!
I left before their show on Friday, but was told it was very long and not much time with the aircraft actually infront of the crowd, just as hatz672 commented
Thursday when they came in it was explained that they were establishing their visual ground reference points. The reason for not having to move the crowd line then was they were not doing "aerobatic maneuvers" at that time. I saw the show on both Friday and Sat, and there were not any long lulls between maneuvers than any of the other formation acts I saw those days. Between the 4 ship diamond formation and the 2 solos, they had something in front of show center most of the time, with maybe a 30 second pause between a pass of either the 4 ship group or the solos. Only time it was a bit longer was when they all formed up for the 6 ship formations.
Just saw the numbers. Mon-Fri attendance was up 5%. Sat and Sun the attendance was up 20%. As I have said before. I have lived within 10 miles of Oshkosh my entire life, and it has been many, many years since I have heard the people of the area so excited about AirVenture. Including at least 20 people I personally know would told me they bought tickets for Sat. These people have never been out there or hadn't been out there in 15+ Years.
In a dwindling hobby like ours, getting people out on the grounds to learn more about general aviation is a huge plus in my book.
Last edited by Fastcapy; 08-05-2014 at 01:37 PM.
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