Burning Man 2000 flights last year

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
I've always thought flying "private" into Burning Man was kind of a contradiction. I don't know much about Burning Man, but is does seem to have lost its initial purpose to commercialization.

Kind of like Boeing sponsoring the Experimental Aircraft Association's Airventure.
 
Blows my mind how many turbines go in there… with that corrosive dust? No thanks.
 
midwestpa24 said:
I've always thought flying "private" into Burning Man was kind of a contradiction. I don't know much about Burning Man, but is does seem to have lost its initial purpose to commercialization.

Kind of like Boeing sponsoring the Experimental Aircraft Association's Airventure.
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There are many pilots who fly themselves here in all manner of (mostly) singles. Some are generous and gift "scenic rides" to hundreds of other burners each day. Burner Express Air also brings in hundreds of folks, and yes, many are rich and famous, and some don't really get the ethos. But that's not true of all of them. Some are serious burners who just have the $$ to avoid the trek out to the playa. Once you get here, there's no commercialization or commodification.
 
Flew in there about twelve years ago. Didn't attend the festival, just wanted to land on the playa. Hung out for about half an hour and got some cool air shots of the "city" It was hot and dusty. There were probably 100 - 150 airplanes there.
 
BTW, plenty of inaccuracies in that article, beginning with, there's now an FAA control tower.
 
Anyone here been?

Worth it?
 
Lost meaning? I always thought it was guys pretending to be hippies, to follow around girls who don't bathe regularly, who actually listened to their drunk but tenured liberal arts teacher, who told them that money and work were the combined roots of all evil. But what do I know...dolphins, eskimos, it's all the same to me.
 
A report from a previous search of a pilot flying in, once you get tied down and unloaded you stuff rags in ever possible opening in the wing and fuselage but dust still permeates the interior. I would have to be in a pretty desperate state of mind to say the dust and now the mud is not miserable. Can't imagine contact lens wearers. Since the entry and exit from the event was closed to those arriving and leaving ie a total ground stop on any vehicles now due to mud I wondered how long the planes will be marooned there. Haven't check the latest Notams. Dark now and the streaming live cam, which switches views occasionally, is not good in low light (no audio). Anyway here is the link if your bored.

 
2000 flights, 9 days
222 flights per day
Maybe…8am-8pm
18/hr
That’s plenty busy allowing that the flights won’t be evenly spread thru the day
Maybe they are counting pre & post days
 
mandm said:
Anyone here been?

Worth it?
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I’ve been twice. It was worth it to me. Had a ball. I was going to go a third time. I was all set up to be at the airport camp and be a Unicom guy there. But alas, my airplane got grounded and I couldn’t fly it there and was not motivated enough to drive in again.
 
I was on the airport mailing list for a while. Applied for the job of managing ops when it came available based on my Oshkosh experience. Didn't get it.
 
Rich folks (mostly dude?) going to some rando places that’s different and exotic? Don’t people do that all the time?

Go back few hundred years and put them in armour and you have a crusade!
 
My former plane partner took our Warrior to Burning Man twice. A few years apart. Although he, like others, tried to stuff the openings, we were still finding dust from the first trip when he went the second time, and for a few years after the last trip.

Each time after he got back, washed the plane and vacuumed the interior. I changed the air filter, oil, and oil filter. Used compressed air to blow out the aileron, flaps, and rudder hinges and pivot points, then hit them with a fast water stream, then doused in WD-40 (Water Displacement #40), then sprayed heavily with brake cleaner, then lube.

It was a pain in the ass.
 
In the past I saw pictures of planes totally wrapped in stretch wrap.
 
Domenick said:
My former plane partner took our Warrior to Burning Man twice. A few years apart. Although he, like others, tried to stuff the openings, we were still finding dust from the first trip when he went the second time, and for a few years after the last trip.

Each time after he got back, washed the plane and vacuumed the interior. I changed the air filter, oil, and oil filter. Used compressed air to blow out the aileron, flaps, and rudder hinges and pivot points, then hit them with a fast water stream, then doused in WD-40 (Water Displacement #40), then sprayed heavily with brake cleaner, then lube.

It was a pain in the ass.
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I smelled the playa for over three years every time I turned the heater/ac fan on in my truck
 
No way will any aircraft I have ownership in be intentionally landing on the playa. It’s terrible alkaline silt.
 
nauga said:
"Burning man Oshkosh has lost any meaning whatsoever when a bunch of people fly-in in their million dollar + planes."

Nauga,
on whom irony is not lost
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You effing beat me to it.
 
Zeldman said:
In the past I saw pictures of planes totally wrapped in stretch wrap.
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The only thing like that I've seen is some of the planes have plastic sheeting covering carpet surfaces.

Burner Express planes include Caravans, 207s, PC12s, King Airs, and Twin Otters. These are all 135 operators who have been doing this for years. None are overly concerned based on their experience, so I assume whatever maintenance becomes necessary is worth it. It is possible to "buy out" a flight, but the vast majority are buying a seat. There have been only a handful of helicopter flights. I haven't seen any "private jets," but there could have been. I have seen some famous folks come in on Burner Express flights.

Flying in says nothing one way or the other about someone's burnerness.
 
Lindberg said:
I'd post some pics if the new software would let me.
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After you click on the photo from your phone, click on the words actual size and then change the size to large or smaller.
 
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