If you where to go to a Fly-in what activities would you like to see? This would be a fly-in for all locals and anyone else whom wants to fly-in. I would like to make it interesting for those whom come to this event.
This would be a two day event with activities in the evening, maybe have a band play.
I would really like to hear from those whom have hosted such events.
Tony
I am thinking about a car show and old tractor show with steam engines. Have a band play in the evening along with a wiener roast over an open fire. Maybe a candy drop for the kids with all profits going to St.Jude Children Hospital.
Tony
For a hands-on guy like me, what would get me to stop by on day 2 are vendor demonstrations or workshops for skills like welding, fabric covering, and composite layups. I usually look at all of the airplanes on day 1. And up here in New England, we have an annual fly-in flea market. Including that is worth an hour or two of browsing.
Best of luck,
Wes
Depends on your target audience.
Define that first; from there you can find what interests they have.
Tim
You find vendors at Oshkosh or sun-n-fun but to find some at a small airpark like we have here, I just don't see it.
From the couple comments. No one has a clue as to what is happening to aviation in this area or others. I will be lucky to find 3 people to come to this.
I believe this is dead before it even started. I have done a lot of research on this. I doubt this ever gets off the ground. People want to be left alone from what I have found. Does not matter what the target audience is. I wanted to see locals and non aviation people attained and take some introductory flights, but I doubt any of this happens. I might do introductory flights but that's all it will be, no fly-in. I might even pay this out of my own pocket, just to get some others involved in aviation. Maybe the first 5 flight by non aviation folks will be on me or something like that.
At least I am trying to do something for aviation's future, whats your plan?
Tony
In my locale we connect with the local schools and civic organizations like Scouts for a Young Eagles rally twice a year.
EAA now has an intro flight program for adults. You might try speaking at your Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, etc., to organize a day of free intro flights under this EAA program. I have not heard of anyone doing that yet.
Organizing some of your peers to display their ships in coordination with the activities above might achieve your goal of connecting with the local community.
Since once upon a time I worked in marketing, I have to say that you will not be successful if you just put a sign up at the airport gate and some words about a fly-in on your web site, and expect pilots and civilians to show up. You have to actively reach out and grab a piece of your target audience''s "mindshare". Since you are competing for folks attention and time, you have to actively make them aware that you have an activity scheduled that they want to attend. Passive does not work in today's messaging environment. You need to "evangelize" your airport and aviation. Which required your energy and time. Not instant gratification. But worthwhile.
Best of luck,
Wes
N78PS
Hi Tony,
I live in Sidney, OH about 30 miles North of Dayton and the local municipal airport has it's annual "Air Fare" in late summer. The airport is suppose to extend it's reach into the community and this "Air Fair" thing consists of a Friday night balloon rally coupled with a car show. The next day is a pancake breakfast open to the public with an Art show put on by local artists. On the aviation side, several commercial pilots show up with their aircraft and sell "rides" and some years they'll get an old warbird to fly in and do a static display. Lunch is burgers and hot dogs, money collected goes back into the community organizations that participate.
I moved here in 2001 and this event was much more of an aviation thing back then with lots of warbirds and typical GA fly-in guys. About 5 or 6 years ago the city shifted the focus to a broader community based event and baring bad weather it has worked out pretty well. This airport does not have a EAA Chapter , but has a "Pilots Associations" and is mostly guys based there who get together weekly for breakfast fly-out's and Bar-B-Ques and poker runs. I'm based a Hartzel field in Piqua about 10 miles away and the EAA Chapter there works with the Sidney Pilots Asso. on Young Eagles events. This year we had some bad timing on T-storms and I couldn't make it but they did fly about 35 kids in the afternoon. The previous year we were swamped with kids, had 6 aircraft including a twin and flew load after load from 1 to 5 PM. The local McDonalds folks gave out free food cards and to boost their business and it's a great promoter! I would agree with Wes's comments on the time and energy needed to get something like this organized. The GA pilot community has lost a lot of "doer's" with the passing of the WWII generation. Today it takes innovation and a lot of effort to get something like this going.
Good Luck,
Joe
What time of the yr is this planned for? If I get enough notice and if the weather cooperates and if I schedule the plane early enough and if all those other things fall into place, I'll fly-in for an event. As long as they have food and airplanes, I'm there. I'll be requesting a VIP pass as well, lol.Originally Posted by 1600vw
You asked what we would like to see at a local fly-in, not what you could do to promote your local airport. If you want to direct your fly-in toward pilots, have spot landing and flour drop contests, and maybe a precision take off contest, too. I would put a live band low on my list because I'd rather hear airplane noises and talk flying than listen to (or tune-out) whatever noise the band may make.
But if you're looking to increase community awareness of the airport, then maybe the band would help...or maybe not. I don't know of anyone who goes to AirDisney just to see the Steve Miller Band, or Chicago or whatever band is playing on opening night, they're just window dressing. Contact the local CAP squadron and see if they'd help. Their cadets are great at crowd control, parking airplanes, and cars, too. Let 'em do the food concession, they make the most profit off hot dogs and coffee (yep, I've been there, done that).
The fly market Wes mentioned is the highlight of the Hampton Fly-in for me, even if I don't buy anything. But this past year, the small number of vendors that set up tables was pretty disappointing. Also, the airport didn't even mention the fly-in on its own website: you had to visit the websites of local EAA chapters to find out which weekend in May it would be, so you may get just as little enthusiasm from your local airport staff in your efforts. And God help you if the city attorneys and bean counters get involved. They may require you to purchase expensive liability insurance policies and pay massive usage fees before you even book that band. How much $ and time are you willing to invest in this event?
Life at small airports used to be much simpler, but now greed has crept into even this aspect of our lives, so that many of us have become paranoid of some dope injuring or killing himself, resulting in an ambulance chasing lawyer convincing him/his estate to sue every deep pocket involved, no matter how remotely, in the fly-in. It's not always this bad, but it can be, and we need to show diligence to protect ourselves from it getting this bad, especially if the public is invited. Good luck!
The band was for after dark. Not much airplane noise after dark.
But this is not going to happen. Good idea or thought but not happening.
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