Am extremely remiss in not posting this sooner. Deciding to not fly to the
Watsonville fly-in last weekend got me thinking about it again.

Discovered a few small town airshows last year and this that are really doing
it right. That is, they don't charge admission to pilots who fly their
aircraft to the show. Charging admission to pilots is like charging artists to
have their art on display in a museum. After spending a hundred dollars or
more to make the flight, it's rather insulting to have to pay to be an inherent
part of the show. (A deterrent too.)

They also offered a fuel discount (cost) or gave away some fuel (20 gallons)
free to show planes, or the first 25 thereof. This was part of their
advertising budget, to attract aircraft to the show. (I found it's standard
practice to provide free fuel for the aerobatic performers, jump planes, etc.
So this is only an extension of an already existent practice.)

Those airshows were at Alamosa, in Colorado (ALS); Gallup, NM (GUP); and this
year, Eureka, NV (05U).

With AvGas now over $3/gal, I hope more airshow committees consider providing
an incentive for show plane pilots to fly their "exhibits" in. Can't have an
airshow without aircraft.

Mike Palmer
Excellence in Ergonomics