Deke Slayton Airfest

Anyone know if "fly-ins" pay regular admision for this airshow (or for
that matter ANY airshow).

I have just gotten current after several decades of not flying. Years
ago pilots arriving in their own plane were never charged admission.
I wonder it that's still true today??

Thanks

oop

Todays airshows are all about making money for the promoters... You
betcha you will be charged - through the nose...

denny

Thanks for that........ still $11 GA isn't all that bad,

But I'm wondering how they handle a light AC arriving (just flying in
but not specifically for the show) prior to the field being closed for
the actual performance. Seems like it would be difficult to collect
the admission since when you land, you are already behind the fence.

I know that here in the midwest fly-in's at pancake breakfasts always
eat free.

Oop

Denny,

Todays airshows are all about making money for the promoters

And your basis for that statement is?

Have you worked on a local airshow, setting it up, getting waivers,
arranging for crowd control, portajohns, paying for performers, hoping
the weather cooperates...? Yeah, there are a few airshow promoters,
but they don't make money unless the local community wants to put on an
airshow. At the local level, what makes an airshow run are the unpaid
volunteers who show up and make the things successful.

That being said, setting up and running an airshow is not a part-time
job. The times I was asked to be involved, I very quickly learned that
to do it I'd have to quit my job. If you want to put on an airshow
where you do not charge some percentage of those attending, that's well
and good, but I'd be interested in seeing you explain why to those who
are fronting the money for the show itself. Those who put on airshows
have this funny desire to be paid for their time. If they can do it
and make a decent return on providing good entertainment, good for
them. I pay to go to a movie and the folks who promote them make money
because they do a good job and people enjoy what they see. Why should
it be any different for airshows?

I'd be curious as to which promoters you've dealt with and how much
money they make putting on airshows.

All the best,
Rick

wrote:

But I'm wondering how they handle a light AC arriving (just flying in
but not specifically for the show) prior to the field being closed for
the actual performance. Seems like it would be difficult to collect
the admission since when you land, you are already behind the fence.

We flew into Schenectady a few years ago for the Blue Angels show. Aircraft that
flew in for the show were parked in one area; aircraft that flew in for other
reasons were parked in another. It didn't pay to lie about it, since the second
parking area was pretty blocked in and you wouldn't have been able to get a
plane out of there for a few hours after the show.

Both parking areas were outside the show area and you had to pay to get in. I
suppose that one could've flown in, parked by the FBO, and hung around the front
lawn for free, but you wouldn't have been able to see much from that vantage.
It's also possible that the constabulary would've come around and run you off if
you tried that. The airport grounds are private property.

George Patterson
Why do men's hearts beat faster, knees get weak, throats become dry,
and they think irrationally when a woman wears leather clothing?
Because she smells like a new truck.

wrote in message

But I'm wondering how they handle a light AC arriving (just flying in
but not specifically for the show) prior to the field being closed for
the actual performance. Seems like it would be difficult to collect
the admission since when you land, you are already behind the fence.

Well, my take on this is that pilots are a step above most, in class and
honesty. Paying is something they do because it is the right thing to do.
--
Jim in NC

wrote:


I always get a chuckle out of pilots who pay $150 to fly to a
get-together where they can see a lot of interesting airplanes and chat
with other pilots, and then whine about shelling out $5 for a good
breakfast that they'd pay $10 for at a decent restaurant that doesn't
even have a view of an airport g.


Amen to that, Rick... The breakfast (or ramp fee in some places) is the
cheapest part of the trip...


Dave

wrote:

Free eats for fly-ins vary from airport
to airport and has become very rare as costs have gone up. In the last
three years, I can't recall a fly-in breakfast to which I flew where I
didn't have to pay for breakfast.

Awww...I've often found breakfast free for the pilot, at least.
Problem comes when I'm getting near the end of the line and politely ask
the cooks, "So, the pilot eats free if I flew in here?" and they nod and
look past me for the guy who flew me in.

*sigh*