I understand and am sympathetic to concerns about how member dues are
spent, and I agree that the potential for direct advocacy of
experimental aviation is quite low. But I have to say that finding
ways to use the grounds for off-season events and non-aviation events
is likely a very useful thing.

1. EAA gets to charge for the use of the grounds and facilities,
which means that they are getting a return on an investment. The
downstream potential is good--diversified income streams can help
alleviate pressure on core business. In other words, they might not
need to completely depend on member dues and gate fees for income. I
am reminded of PBS owning a line of for-profit catalog businesses. It
has made them very good money they use to defray costs in their
"normal" operations.

2. As a previous poster mentioned, any time the ties between the
aviation community and non-aviation communities can be brought closer,
I think that is not only good, it is crucial. If the city of Oshkosh,
Ducks Unlimited, the FEEE guys, and whomever else can be made
tangential partners in the health of EAA I see that as helpful. We
need goodwill ambassadors out there.

3. I completely agree that OSH has gotten very corporate and has
undeniably drifted far afield from its original intended purpose. OSH
used to be a big fly-in and now it's a trade show. It hurts to say
it, but it's the hard fact. It is what it is, we can't turn it back
without gutting it. In my mind it is now up to us to make lemonade
out of lemons. How can we, both as regular grass-roots guys and EAA
guys, make the present reality work for us? Well, it is a tough
question but one thing we can do is exactly this--get non-aviation
partners involved with EAA, no matter how peripherally. One can never
know when that relationship might pay dividends. All it takes is for
one person to have a good experience and say the right thing at the
right time down the road. Some farm kid at the FEEE show has a good
time at the EAA grounds, grows up to become a senator or congressman
and later squelches some negative aviation talk because he enjoyed
that experience at the OSH/EAA convention center. I believe this sort
of thing happens all around us, every day.

I am very worried about the future of experimental aviation in the
US. I am very, very, very worried about the pending revision to the
51% rule. One of the things that I have noticed is that we--aviation
folks and experimental folks--have few allies when votes are being
cast or rules being written. I strongly believe that we need to cast
our net as wide as possible--even fleeting connections can be helpful.

I don't mean to be preachy. I just see aviation as too insulated from
'everyone else' and I think we need to change that any way we can or
we will fade away.

Steve.

/ I still have fun at OSH
// Wish I could get a scooter pass