Sun-n-Fun

Florida Cracker

Florida Cracker

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Florida Cracker
I am attending Sun-n-Fun this week and the attendance seems way down. I am finding no crowds, no matter where I go, including getting a table, at 12:00 noon, at Sunset Grille.

The new Chairman/President of Sun-n-Fun seems like a great guy and after the last group of crappy, grumpy and elitist, he has got to be the best thing to happen to the event in years.

There was a luncheon for some WWII ladies that test flew all the military planes and ferried them to the war zones, to free up pilots to fight. There's a new movie coming out about it, someday soon and they showed the first 20 minutes. It looks interesting.

Seminars are available and good places for the air show are abundant.

I'm having a pretty darn good time.
 
Heading out to Sun n Fun in the morning, looking forward to a great day with fellow aviators.

I have been flying out of Winter Haven (KGIF) all week, the airspace is very busy with folks flying in for the show....unfortunately some pilots think they are the only aircraft in the sky...... :hairraise:
 
Florida Cracker said:
I am attending Sun-n-Fun this week and the attendance seems way down. I am finding no crowds, no matter where I go, including getting a table, at 12:00 noon, at Sunset Grille.

The new Chairman/President of Sun-n-Fun seems like a great guy and after the last group of crappy, grumpy and elitist, he has got to be the best thing to happen to the event in years.

There was a luncheon for some WWII ladies that test flew all the military planes and ferried them to the war zones, to free up pilots to fight. There's a new movie coming out about it, someday soon and they showed the first 20 minutes. It looks interesting.

Seminars are available and good places for the air show are abundant.

I'm having a pretty darn good time.
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IIRC they never left North America or even the United States. They would take the planes from the factory to the coasts where they were either loaded on ships or flown across to the theater. I used to know Betty Faux and Barbara London, you should have seen the collection of planes in their log books.
 
It was pretty mellow, which was fine by me. Don't need crowds for anything. Lots of good stuff to look at, got my ancillary emergency backup GPS updated, even met a few POAers. Definitely got my aviation buzz for the year. Watched the air show from Flyer's camp site. The show is loads better sans the canned music and the announcers announcing how God-like all the pilots are. I though the act with the woman flying around the guy in the wingsuit just a bit cheesy.

My hosts said the city of Lakeland is trying to get rid of the thing, claiming it actually costs the city money.

Flew back yesterday, had a hellacious time in the mountains but back safe and sound.
 
Henning said:
IIRC they never left North America or even the United States. They would take the planes from the factory to the coasts where they were either loaded on ships or flown across to the theater. I used to know Betty Faux and Barbara London, you should have seen the collection of planes in their log books.
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I did say (write) that wrong. They flew the planes to the ports to be shipped to war zones. One of the ladies said she flew the Memphis Belle from Tampa to Charleston, after it came back from Bremen. She said pieces kept falling off it and the Air Force made her fly it over water, to avoid it falling on anyone.

I was amazed at their presentations. Made me appreciate their service and sacrifice.
 
That's great! Enjoy. I wonder if OSH will be less attended as well.
 
Anthony said:
That's great! Enjoy. I wonder if OSH will be less attended as well.
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Sun n Fun has been dying for years. Lots of sponsors / vendors have pulled out. Booth space is outrageously high for the small crowds now. It is a bad fly in to go to any more. The volunteers are just there for themselves and could careless about pilots flying in. Many years in a row I had to walk from the tie down area to the front gate to be picked up, or walk to the rental car place on the field. People running all over in golf carts and not one would stop. Prices for food, hotels, cars, go way up during the show. Just not a fan anymore, burned out on SnF after 15 years in a row. :no:

I go to OSH all week, never gets old.
 
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Seen today at SnF.
 

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Man, I wish I was there. I really, really like SNF. It's like OSH was, in the 1980s...
 
I had a great time. The new president/chairman/really important guy, seems to be the right choice to get back to what worked and get rid of the bloated, ego fest, it became.
Everywhere you turned there was a golf cart, with a volunteer driving, showing a sign that said, "How May I Help You, Today?" And I saw them giving folks rides all over the place. Made it kind of nice for the older folks attending.
Lots of cool toys to see and the air show as always was the big draw.
 
Heh.

I can't help thinking that if carts are the solution, they'll start renting Hoverounds soon and it'll start looking like the Dayton Hamfest.

www.hamsexy.com could branch out as the pilot population ages and create airshowsexy.com ! ;)
 
Just got home from SnF. Still an excellent event, although it does appear to be slightly on the decline. I'd suggest that the show is suffering a "death of a thousand cuts" due to TSA security issues (more fences, taller fences, more rules, etc.), fuel prices, and the declining pilot population.

Security there used to be "There is no rule against that, so go ahead.". Now it is "We don't have any direction allowing that, so you can't do it." That is annoying when gate after gate is closed, the flightline is closed after dark, yada, yada, yada. And the crowd is certainly a rougher crowd these days, with the show's goal of attracting more drive-in business from Tampa, Orlando, etc. Maybe the tightened rules are there to keep the drive-in visitors in line given that they don't understand fly-ins.

Still, there are only two airshows and/or fly-in trade shows worth attending as far as I can tell. SnF and Oshkosh. So I plan to be there as often as possible.
 
Got back today myself. The attendance did seem to be down but we still enjoyed it.
 
I left yesterday and still enroute home (22 hr drive) i never noticed much in the way of lower attendence, all i was looking at was planes :p
 
Florida Cracker said:
There was a luncheon for some WWII ladies that test flew all the military planes and ferried them to the war zones, to free up pilots to fight. There's a new movie coming out about it, someday soon and they showed the first 20 minutes. It looks interesting.
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Find out more about the WASPs here: http://www.amazon.com/Born-Soar-Welles-T-Brandriff/dp/1466480157

It's ten bucks at Amazon.com and written by a friend of mine. it is fiction to be sure, but historically accurate fiction. It is a quick read but a good insight into what these ladies did - and put up with - for this country.

-Skip
 
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denverpilot said:
Heh.

I can't help thinking that if carts are the solution, they'll start renting Hoverounds soon and it'll start looking like the Dayton Hamfest.

www.hamsexy.com could branch out as the pilot population ages and create airshowsexy.com ! ;)
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Yuck, the Hara Arena.
 
pbramlett said:
Yuck, the Hara Arena.
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No joke. We have had a booth at Dayton the last few years, but not this year. Last year ranged from disappointing to disgraceful. When we had a schedule conflict this year I didn't even try to resolve it. We may not be back. Any fly-in would have to work very hard to match that.
 
I enjoyed myself at Sun 'n Fun. It was my first time there so I have no previous experience to compare it to, but I'd definitely go back next year.

IMG_1385.jpg


The approach procedure was NBD. On Tuesday, the pattern was not crowded at all and Wednesday was a bit more so... I came over Lake Parker and ended up being requested to do a big S turn to sequence in behind another airplane, but the spacing worked out great by the time it was time to turn in at the cake tower.

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And outbound after the airshow taxiing towards 9L.

:yikes: LOL... Has anyone totalled their fuel tab yet?? :hairraise:
 
Fuel was inexpensive at my stops on the way back ($5 at BOW and $5.61 at AND). Like I said, I almost met my honored ancestors in the mountains of North Carolina (actually, not that bad but scary nonetheless). The Free Bird gets its annual next week.
 
Geico266 said:
Many years in a row I had to walk from the tie down area to the front gate to be picked up, or walk to the rental car place on the field. People running all over in golf carts and not one would stop. Prices for food, hotels, cars, go way up during the show. Just not a fan anymore, burned out on SnF after 15 years in a row. :no:

I go to OSH all week, never gets old.
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Florida Cracker said:
I had a great time. The new president/chairman/really important guy, seems to be the right choice to get back to what worked and get rid of the bloated, ego fest, it became.
Everywhere you turned there was a golf cart, with a volunteer driving, showing a sign that said, "How May I Help You, Today?" And I saw them giving folks rides all over the place. Made it kind of nice for the older folks attending.
Lots of cool toys to see and the air show as always was the big draw.
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Seems that something changed for the better?
 
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Florida Cracker said:
I think they ALWAYS say that and justify it with gov't math. The last several years have seemed like a decline but I think the new head guy is on the right track. I'm looking forward to god things and hop I'm right.
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If you read the article, they said Friday was a record day. They didn't make any specific overall claims.
 
denverpilot said:
Interesting. They say they set a record for attendance.

http://www.baynews9.com/content/new...es/bn9/2012/4/1/attendance_up_review/?cid=rss
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They are using ( clever ) math.:yesnod:..

Ya see, if you count ALL the people who pass onto the grounds you can create an inflated attendance figure to bolster your image... Apparently they counted all the employees that work on the LAL grounds year round, plus all the volunteers, food service workers, security workers, sanitation workers, vendors, etc... Generally when an organization wantts a snap shot of the "normal" gate they just count paying visitors... In this case it really looks like they counted EVERY warm body and maybe cold ones too to make their numbers look good to the local guvmint to justify their existance... I spoke to a few good friends who display there as booth paying vendors.. They all say it was the least foot traffic they have seen in 20 years, and they ain't happy considering the price they paid for their booth space... Time will tell what next year brings.:hairraise:
 
I'll say one thing for this week, the weather cooperated. It was nice, just about all the time. The Thursday night concert had Aaron Tippen, and it was loud. Friday night air show was packed and fun.
I think they'll get better as the new head guy gets it all together.
 
Florida Cracker said:
I'll say one thing for this week, the weather cooperated. It was nice, just about all the time. The Thursday night concert had Aaron Tippen, and it was loud. Friday night air show was packed and fun.
I think they'll get better as the new head guy gets it all together.
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They're doing fine. Pilot population is dwindling, remember. There will be ongoing and continuous reports of "foot traffic being lower" at all aviation themed events for the rest of my life.
 
denverpilot said:
They're doing fine. Pilot population is dwindling, remember. There will be ongoing and continuous reports of "foot traffic being lower" at all aviation themed events for the rest of my life.
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Which is sad to say. It makes me wonder when we will see a turn around and gain more pilots to our family.
 
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