Putting on a Fly-in/Airshow

OkieFlyer

OkieFlyer

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Lindsay, OK
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Andrew L.
We are thinking seriously about putting together a fly-in/airshow here in the tiny town of Lindsay, OK sometime next year. While we aren't quite sure where we intend to go with this, I would like to find out if we could possibly provide some visual stimulation to our patrons in the form of warbirds, aerobatics, military fly-by, etc. I have never done anything like this, and I could use some help to get started. If anybody has any insight into how to get some cool birds in here, I'd love to hear them. I also have no idea what kind of money we need to raise for such an endeavor.

That said, we have a small airport with a 3,000 ft runway, so I'm sure we'd be limited to small aircraft like Stearmans, PT-19s, aerobatic aircraft, single engine types. Would single engine fighter types operate on a field this size (P-51, Wildcat, Corsair,etc)??? What about T-6 and T-28???

I assume CAF would be a good starting place.

I know there are privately owned warbirds and trainers around. Anybody know anyone in this part of the world who would be willing to display one?

How does one request a military fly-by?

Any info would be appreciated.


We're also thinking about incorporating a car show, and I'm tight with a group of RC jet guys who would put on a show.

Help a brother out.
 
I know for a fact a Beech 18 and Extra 300 can fly off of a 3000ft runway just fine
 
If you want help or maybe just conversation on doing an airshow, Wayne Hammack may be able to provide some guidance.
https://www.hammackgroup.com/
Hammacks were family friends many years ago.
 
would you be interested in a single ship moonanza flyover?
 
Start by joining ICAS (International Council of Air Shows). They have a lot of resources and information on their website, plus the annual convention is essential for airshow directors. This is when the upcoming season is scheduled, performers are hired, and schedule conflicts with other shows are worked out.

Contact directors from multiple airshows around the country and network with them.

You’ll need funding up front. Performers, facilities and equipment cost. Get local businesses to sponsor the show - the expenses are covered before the show takes place. All “profit” from tickets and concessions goes directly to local charities.

Assemble a board of directors from the community, including not just aviators, but business and community organization leaders. It can take a year or two of planning and workup before the first show, especially to build a strong base that’s repeatable.

Hire a professional air boss to not only direct and control the actual airshow part of it, but for guidance with planning. Things like FAA waivers and FCC frequency assignments can be daunting.

One more suggestion: Make sure there aren’t any other community events (festivals, major sports games, airshows) in the region on the same weekend.
 
Not sure about any warbird specs/abilities. If you haven't already thought about them, I think the folks that own the Miss America P-51 (and a couple of other warbirds) up at PWA tend to be generous with making "local" appearances. If I'm not mistaken, it's all run through the Oklahoma Museum of Flying. You might reach out to them.
 
I have a friend that may be able to help or at least provide some info. He is pretty connected to a lot of the museums in the area and he has assisted in putting together some aviation events.
I'll reach out to him and see if he has thoughts on how one goes about setting this up.
 
A T-6 can certainly operate out of 3000', and a friend of mine has a T-28 based out of a field with a 3100' runway.

Putting on an official airshow has a lot of components to it, including creating an FAA Waiver for waivered airspace, and all that entails (which is a lot). A fly-in has fewer requirements, of course, with fewer cool things you could do with it. But you can still have formation fly-overs at a fly-in, they'd just need to keep it up at legal altitudes. :) What gets most of the warbird folks I know to come to events is 1) give them food 2) top off their tanks with fuel/smoke oil, 3) don't have it interfere with another scheduled event they want to go to, and 4) get a couple of cool people to come and the others will want to come too. THAT'S the hard part.

My husband and I put on a small airshow at our home town airport for several years in a row, and do fly-ins every year as well. It's a lot of work, hard to not go in the hole financially, but dang it's a lot of fun. lol
 
Thank you all for the responses. It gives me much to think about.

At this point, we aren't sure how far to try to go with this. The initial thought was "we should have a fly-in." Naturally my response was to try to make it awesome. We think we can drum up a fair amount dough from local businesses, but there's no way we could afford a full blown airshow with a bunch of paid performers. Realistically, for the first attempt, I think we would be doing good to get the local CAF Fairchild PT-19s and PT-26, a handful of the fairly local privately owned warbirds/trainers and other cool old birds like a Waco and a Stearman, and maybe score a military fly-over or two. I think we could afford to pay a couple performers, but we would likely be looking to focus on folks who will fly for food, oil, and gas.

I know there are groups of guys and gals in OKC, Tulsa, Dallas, perhaps the Wichita area that fly cool birds and would be within an hour or two flight from home base. I just need to find them and ask if they'd come let us gawk at their birds, and what would it take to get them here.

People here in rural OK, especially the kids just don't often get an opportunity to get up close to anything other than a Cessna. Just having a good assortment of interesting aircraft on the ground would please me. Any actual flight performers, formation flights, fly-overs, or aerobatics would be a sweet bonus.

The sooner I can find out what we need, the sooner we can start raising cash. There's a lot to do.
 
You could contact organizations like the red star pilots and see if they'd be interested in coming by. https://flyredstar.org/
 
Here's what I would do if I were in your shoes, I'd have a fly-in. Pool your resources to pre-sell rides and try to get one of the travelling planes (B-17, B-25, Trimotor, etc.) from the CAF or EAA to come to your fly-in for tours and rides. Find one of your local charity groups to put on a pancake/hamburger/chili feed.

Take it from someone who has done fly-ins and airshows alike. Once you cross into performances, it gets complicated and expensive in a hurry. You won't find many performers who will work for food and gas, they need income too. Even a small airshow can cost $10s of thousands. There are waivers, insurance, emergency plans, etc. It can take 12-18 months of planning and approvals. Last one I was involved in was over $100,000 budget, and was mostly GA acts and some warbirds, no military or jets involved. Not saying it can't be done, but you need to get involved with someone who's done it before.
 
midwestpa24 said:
Here's what I would do if I were in your shoes, I'd have a fly-in.
Click to expand...

I think that makes sense. Start with a fly in. Make it bigger and better every year. If it grows in size and popularity to the point where it begs to have an airshow added, you (and the performers) will know you've got the attendance numbers to justify it.
 
midwestpa24 said:
Here's what I would do if I were in your shoes, I'd have a fly-in. Pool your resources to pre-sell rides and try to get one of the travelling planes (B-17, B-25, Trimotor, etc.) from the CAF or EAA to come to your fly-in for tours and rides. Find one of your local charity groups to put on a pancake/hamburger/chili feed.
Click to expand...

Makes good sense, and honestly, I didn't really expect much more than that. As I said earlier, I'd be well pleased with having some neat planes on the ground for folks to look at. We can't do B-17,B-25, and the like due to the 3000 ft runway.

The main goal is to attempt to make it more than just a plaine ol' fly-in/pancake breakfast kind of thing. We want to draw folks out to the airport to see things they don't normally get to see.

As I continue to ponder and talk about this, I think a realistic goal will be to track down as many vintage, warbird, and otherwise interesting aircraft owners and invite them personally to come display their aircraft, and offer gas, oil, food, etc. if necessary. We should at least be able to get the CAF Fairchild birds. Should be able to get a Stearman, Waco, maybe a T-6, maybe a Junior Electra, a Sikorsky H-34. Would love to get some interesting homebuilts as well. We won't worry about performers. We will most likely do Young Eagles flights. We'll have and RC Jet show, car show, a concert, several food trucks/trailers, and a whole bunce of potties.

Maybe that'll be enough to entertain a good crowd and expose them to aviation.

GaryM said:
I think that makes sense. Start with a fly in. Make it bigger and better every year. If it grows in size and popularity to the point where it begs to have an airshow added, you (and the performers) will know you've got the attendance numbers to justify it.
Click to expand...

Probably a solid plan.
 
I know a group of guys that do formation flying in their RV's. I'm sure they'd be happy to smoke your field for you.
 
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