Hey folks,
I have tried to give myself some time to let this settle but I really want to put this out there. I parked my Vintage eligible ’57 PA-22/20 up in GAC instead of south of the Seaplanes on Saturday before AirVenture. I was disappointed that even arriving on Saturday I was going to be far down the line, but when I actually stopped and climbed out of my airplane I was speechless. A couple of points that brought me to the decision to taxi all the way up to GAC from VAC.


1) No food, of any type. I couldn’t even see a vendor, heck I would have been happy with a vending machine!!! Yes, I believe there was a drink vending machine in the general vicinity but no food. The North 40 has a restaurant plus the ability to easily walk off the airport and eat, that distance being shorter than what I would have had to walk from where I would have been parked in VAC.


2) No stores. North 40 has a temporary convenience store and again the ability to walk off the airport far more easily than down south.


3) Extremely sparse facilities. I saw a couple porta potties and couple rows over and a shower trailer way off in the distance. The North 40 has TWO permanent shower facilities, one of them is the largest shower house on the entire convention grounds as far as I can tell. Also, both have flushing toilets that are supplemented with porta potties every couple rows. I know that show planes have been parking down south for years, a friend was down there at least back in 2010, but there have been no physical improvements down there beyond the perimeter road.


4) Sporadic transportation. Never waited more than a few minutes for a bus to pass in the North 40, transport there seems to be well sorted. I did not wait to see how long it would take to catch a bus down south, I traveled down there one time to find some friends and their aircraft and had to walk quite a ways before an empty bus stopped and offered to pick me up. I don’t know what route it was scheduled on.


This all leaves me with one question. Why does the North 40 have better facilities and amenities than show plane camping?


Jim
PS: Yes I registered as a show plane parked in GAC, no rules against that (yet). I don’t have my flying project judged but I have my mug and prop card if you care to see them. I even have a friend who won a VAA award several years ago while parked just inside the gate to the Super 8!