Daily Airshow schedules and updates....

[glider90]

Another great year, but I have a question. Where is the best place to get the daily lineup and order of the airshow?
Although I am there for the week I only watch the airshow once, maybe twice while I am there. Typically to see something in particular. The *absolute* best performance of this year was Steve Hinton doing an acro routine in Glacier Girl. Sad part is it was never mentioned in the Airventure Today paper, even in the airshow line up page. I saw it from my camp while cooking bratwurst! We went out and asked about if this was going to be done again, nobody knew.

Additionally we found out that the Tora Tora Tora performance would close the show on Friday. I assumed it would close the show Saturday as well, so made no effort to get out there early Saturday. Saturday it opened the airshow 10 minutes early. Case in point, Airventure Today (my main source for news during the show) is not the best source of airshow updates...

After returning home I found this link, which accurately lists the performers and order for each day. (The only place the Hinton P-38 routine is listed, and I say again, this was THE BEST part of the airshow for me and my brother, even viewed from camp.)
http://www.airventure.org/news/2012/120723_air-show-order.html
How can I see this link? Are others getting this mailed/tweeted/updated to them somehow? I do not bother with a laptop at Airventure, but would love to get this piece of accurate information daily if possible? Is the order set too late for publication in Airventure Today?

Thanks
Jim

[Hal Bryan]

Hi Jim -

In previous years, because the air show lineup wasn't set until the morning of the show, we didn't have any mechanism in place to get the final information published online. The website just showed the general list of performers planned in advance for that day, and that was the best we could do.

This year, we were able to publish them on the website each day, and then summaries and links to the full list were sent out via Twitter, Facebook, and text message every morning. The links were also posted on the airventure.org homepage and featured each day on airventure.org/Live, which is our hub for our most current content during the week. I believe these updates were carried on EAA Radio as well, though I'm not 100% certain.

To answer your key question, though, yes, the final air show lineup comes too late for publication in the AirVenture Today newspaper. The paper goes to press around 6:00 - 7:00 PM the night before, and we didn't normally get the final lineup until about 10:00 - 11:00 AM the day of the show. The information that goes into the paper is as current as it can possibly be, but as you can see there's still about a 16-hour time problem.

By all accounts, we had a much more positive experience with the text messaging system this year than we did last year, so if you don't bring a laptop and/or tablet or smartphone, that might be something to consider next time.

Thanks for the feedback, and sorry if you missed out on some performances.

Hal

[KCPilot]

Someone I follow on Twitter was posting a picture of a schedule that was in a display case somewhere on the grounds.... I didn't attend this year, but I don't remember ever seeing this in the past. It was very detailed - start and stop times for each act, etc. I'll try to find out from him where that was located and post here.

[glider90]

Thanks Hal,
I will be sure to sign up for text updates next year. Also, if this is posted somewhere in print each morning, it would be great to know where. I will make it destination stop on my morning patrol :)
~Jim

[KCPilot]

Here's the picture of the info I mentioned. Thanks to @adamcanfly on Twitter. He says he found it at the information booth at convention HQ on the north side of Hangar A.
2315

[glider90]

Thanks KC, I will swing by there during my daily walk next year.
~Jim

[Jim Hann]

Speaking of text updates Hal... Can you take down the signs with the out of date text number??? I was trying to subscribe and didn't realize until Thursday that the signs I saw posted at a couple of places were for last year (84444 vs 69050) so I never got the texts to work! :-(

[Hal Bryan]

Speaking of text updates Hal... Can you take down the signs with the out of date text number??? I was trying to subscribe and didn't realize until Thursday that the signs I saw posted at a couple of places were for last year (84444 vs 69050) so I never got the texts to work! :-(

Hey Jim -

That was really embarrassing, and we're all sorry about that. Everybody thought that they had all been replaced. I'm not sure where that fell through the cracks, but that's a key item for our debrief this year, that's for sure. Our apologies once again...

Best,

Hal

[TonyG]

Hal,

Thanks for personally responding to a lot of the feedback here.

About the airshow schedule, how come it's set so late? It seems like the performers are all lined up before hand for a particular day, so why not schedule them in advance as well? Specifically, I really wanted to see Fifi this year but there were no clues as to when she was flying (had to guess if any one day's "warbirds spectacular" is bird dogs or heavy bombers).

-Tony

[Hal Bryan]

That's a really good question, Tony - I have some guesses, but they're in the "not-quite-semi-educated" category, so let me get something more definitive.

[Paul Hayden]

might want to double check the tram cars and make sure all the text numbers are right.

[Paul Chandler]

Are the participants of the daily showcase listed anywhere ? as it would be nice to know what is going to appear.

[Hal Bryan]

Hi Paul -

As of this year, the showcase participants and flight order were published on the web and via other means (see my earlier post here (http://eaaforums.org/showthread.php?2511-Daily-Airshow-schedules-and-updates....&p=20376&viewfull=1#post20376)) for the first time, alongside the air show schedule.

Regards,

Hal

[Paul Chandler]

Hi Hal,

thanks for the info - unfortunately my 'smartphone' turned into a 'dumbphone' whilst in the USA. It would be good if the showcase particpants could appear in the Airventure paper as that was my only real source of info regarding what was going to be flying each day. The schedule shown in your other post would have been very useful but I had not seen one before so did not realise it was available. I brought some 'first timers' with me from the UK and they were very impressed with how well the show was organised particulary the transport side of things.

[Hal Bryan]

Hi Paul -

Glad to hear that your first timer friends enjoyed their visit! As far as printing the showcase lineup in the paper, we run into the same problem there as we do the air show: the info arrives roughly 16 hours too late to make it in. That being said, knowing that there are some places where the basic printed airshow schedule is posted (Convention HQ in the back of Hangar A, for one), it seems to me that we could find a few spots around the grounds where we could put up the paper versions as well. Great food-for-thought in advance of next year.

- Hal

[FlyingRon]

We *USUALLY* have one at each of the Vintage Flightline Point shacks (the plywood huts at intervals along the flight line as well as our operations building opposite the hangar cafe.
I'll suggest maybe we ought to tack it up to the outside of these structures (right now they just sit on the counter inside).

[Paul Chandler]

Hal / Flying Ron - anything like that to make the showcase & airshow participants more available would be much appreciated. Maybe if the info could also be available say on the trams or at the trams stops for maximum exposure as well. If there is something of particular interest in the showcase that I wanted to see and knew about it early enough I could plan my day around it - rather than be in the wrong place and think "oh phoeey". Often the showcase is more interesting than the airshow itself as the acts do repeat over the week and from year to year. (have done the last 7 but am still a newby really) Will keep coming back unless the airfair reaches "eye watering" prices.

[FlyingRon]

You do have to realize that even with the schedules there is some variation especially during the showcase. More often than not, things just run late but sometimes the order gets changed or their are cancellations.

I'm not in any position of authority, but I certainly can badger the chairman for what we can control.