Branson?

OK, here is my take on the Branson Airshow. As for the airshow performers, GREAT, but that was expected. As for the event, well that is another story.
Safety on the Ramp and taxiway from the Ramp to the flight line was terrible to the point of being Dangerous. They allowed running aircraft to taxi through the crowd, I am surprised someone didn't get killed. From a volunteers point of view, it was VERY unorganized, it seemed like no one really knew what their job was and who to go to for answers.

A friend of mine did the fireworks show, and it was 2.5 hours from the time he got there to when someone figured out where he was to set up. It seemed that there was more attention paid to making sure all the VIP's had plenty of beer, wine and food and the rest was to fend for yourself. Traffic was ungodly, it took two hours to go 5 miles, as for parking, they ended up parking people in Hollister (8 miles away) and busing them in, which turned into a 3 hour ride.

But I did get to met two very sweet and lovely ladies, our own Kim and Dawn. I was able to talk with Kim for several minutes, but only to Dawn for a few. Hopefully I can chat with them more at Gaston's in June.
 
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I was one of the airplanes they taxied through the crowd and I was almost sick to my stomach while I was doing it...very stressful...even if I WOULD have had wing walkers it would have been stressful...:frown3:

It was very disorganized and getting in and out by car was a nightmare, I guess...

But, you're right, Dean...it was a good show...and probably the average spectator didn't have a clue it was so crazy behind the scenes...

I enjoyed meeting you. Thank you so much for looking me up. We decided to take off early this morning because of weather in Kansas City and because we didn't want to taxi through the crowd...we took off about 7:30 and had a great flight back to Kansas...stopped for breakfast at We B Smokin...

It was a fun weekend. I enjoyed seeing Dawn again and look forward to seeing you all at Gaston's...
 
We went on friday which was a bust. So we decided to watch from the balcony at the airpark :D You could atleast see the air shows. :drink:
 
Dean said:
OK, here is my take on the Branson Airshow. As for the airshow performers, GREAT, but that was expected. As for the event, well that is another story.
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I couldn't agree more. I spent the entire day Saturday on the flight line and at times I couldn't believe my eyes. Sometime mid-morning, somebody figured out the VIP's behind the gates were wandering over to look at the F-16s and the performer's airplanes. Unbelievably nobody thought to post a volunteer there (so I got the job).

Another thing I noticed was that the general admission spectators were a lot further back from the action than other airshows I've been to. But overall, I thought the performers were fantastic.
 
4763E said:
We decided to take off early this morning because of weather in Kansas City and because we didn't want to taxi through the crowd...we took off about 7:30 and had a great flight back to Kansas...stopped for breakfast at We B Smokin...

It was a fun weekend. I enjoyed seeing Dawn again and look forward to seeing you all at Gaston's...
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I came back to see you yesterday and this morning but missed you both times. Felt like a dodo because I forgot to get your picture!
 
DawnW said:
I came back to see you yesterday and this morning but missed you both times. Felt like a dodo because I forgot to get your picture!
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I know! What were we thinking?? I have no pictures from Branson...except some a friend took and will hopefully share with me...:frown2:
 
DawnW said:
I couldn't agree more. I spent the entire day Saturday on the flight line and at times I couldn't believe my eyes.
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Well, I'm glad I didn't chop your head off with my prop...:yikes:
 
Re: Saturday

DawnW said:
Had a great day at the airshow. Met Dean, visited with Kim, met Patty Wagstaff, sat in the cockpit of a KC-135. Does it get any better than this? Well I guess they could have picked a better color t-shirt for volunteers. :frown2:

I didn't realize Patty is so petite. For comparison - I'm 5'4".
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Did you offer to buy Patty a drink? ;)

The KC cockpit has been updated quite a bit. The last time I sat in that seat in an RC135 it was all analog gauges. There were also two navigators sitting in the cockpit on the right and a celestial port was still on the roof.
 
Steve said:
AFAIK, the new airport, BBG, is completely un-connnected with PLK, which is really in Point Lookout and named, in part, for M. Graham Clark.
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And now they're building yet another airport, Branson West:

http://www.ky3.com/news/local/45922362.html

I love airports and all, but it seems that this is approaching the point of saturation.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
And now they're building yet another airport, Branson West:

http://www.ky3.com/news/local/45922362.html

I love airports and all, but it seems that this is approaching the point of saturation.
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This airport was scheduled to open in the spring of 2008, but there was a problem with the contractor and he was fired.. As for the area being saturated with new airports, I would have to disagree. Each one of these airports are targeted for different clients. The new Branson airport was built for the Commercial Airlines and the target GA was the Citation, Hawker, Gulfstream and King Air crowd. The new Branson West airport is to replace a small GA airport we lost when the city of Springfield bought Air Park South in Ozark and closed it. The city of Branson West saw the need for a larger GA airport that would fill the void left by the closer and also have a place for the 40 plus aircraft in Stone County to base at. There are only two small private airports in the county that house about 10 airplanes. The rest are kept in Harrison, AR, Berryville, Ar, Cassville, MO and a few at Taney County(M. Graham Clark). The new Branson West airport will have 30 new hangars and all are spoken for, the plan is to build 20 more after the first 30 are rented.
 
Henning said:
Not true, and if you have little kids, there's lots to do, has been for a long time, long before the strip was taken over by the big theaters.
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I thought Branson was a total bore when I was a kid. Steal Your Dollar Silly was completely Lame when compared to Six Flags or Worlds of Fun.

Henning said:
There was a super hot gal ran the office at Harrison, Kathy or Karen... little gal, fine fine fine, she still there? Ron the IA?
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I don't remember her name either but, yeah, she was cute. I was based in HRO from '00 to '05. She "took ill" while I was there, said she had health issues and started soliciting donations from the pilots for an operation she needed. It wasn't long thereafter that she showed up one day with a a new set of hooters.

She didn't last long after that.:rofl:

Henning said:
Mr Clark had a very nice collection of planes.
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I think you're thinking of Mark Trimble who is still around and STILL has a very nice collection of plane.
 
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