"At this time we are unable to accommodate fly-in traffic on Friday – Sunday."

Jay Honeck

Jay Honeck

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Jay Honeck
Grrrr!

Is there ANYTHING more aggravating than an airshow that bars GA attendance? Alliance/Ft. Worth's big 2-day airshow this weekend has banned fly-in attendance! Here it is on their webpage: http://www.allianceairshow.com/GuestInformation/ParkingInfoDirections.aspx

That's like banning drive-in attendance at a car show, IMHO. Idjits. :mad2:

Oh, well -- why should this surprise me? This is the same airport that has NO tiedowns on their enormous ramp. No ropes, no metal hooks for your own ropes -- nothing, nada, zip. When we were there for the Red Bull Air Races a few weeks ago, there were literally hundreds of aircraft on the ramp, totally unsecured, when a major line of storms blew threw. It was sheer luck that they didn't have millions of dollars in damage.

Stupid is as stupid does. :mad:
 
Airshows are not for pilots. Airshows are for wannabes. Could haves, would haves if not for a lack of balls.
 
Big airshow at Grand Junction (KGJT) last year had same announcement. They recommended GA park at other airports but didn't offer any transportation from the outlying airports to GJT.

So very few pilots went.

Of course GJT has been on everyone's s**tlist for quite some time. Last November, the FBI swooped in and grabbed everything out of the offices, the airport director quit/fired/it was a race and to this day, no one's talking.
 
Here's another bizarre thing. On their webpage, under "Schedule", it says:

"For security reasons, we are unable to provide a schedule in advance of the show. We thank you, in advance, for your understanding."

WTF? Never saw THAT before!

Sounds like code for "We don't know WTF we're doing..."
 
I don't see any restrictions on Sherman tanks.
 
Have they ever allowed fly-in for the Alliance airshow? I know a few folks who fly-in for static displays, but other than that, the place is usually pretty full and I don't even know where'd they park more planes. Either way, it's certainly not hurting attendance. And not publishing the schedule has been going on for at least 5 years. I thought they used to at least give the order of performances, but I'm not sure. The headliners usually go on at about 2:30.
 
Jay Honeck said:
When, tomorrow? They're not on any of the sites.
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Petit Jean is also happening this weekend. I plan on arriving there in time for lunch on Saturday and camping overnight. It's mostly an RV fly-in with about 90 RVs signed up and 60 already there tonight. Airport identifier is KMPJ in central Arkansas.
 
Lindberg said:
Have they ever allowed fly-in for the Alliance airshow? I know a few folks who fly-in for static displays, but other than that, the place is usually pretty full and I don't even know where'd they park more planes. Either way, it's certainly not hurting attendance. And not publishing the schedule has been going on for at least 5 years. I thought they used to at least give the order of performances, but I'm not sure. The headliners usually go on at about 2:30.
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Being in a metro area with millions of people, all they need is the Thunderbirds/Blue Angels, and they will have all the attendees they want or need, I suppose.

It just kills me how virtually all the people who put on these shows are pilots, and then every now and then one of them forgets their roots and actually bans fly-in guests. It's just a kick in the nads.
 
TomRV4 said:
Excellent choice. Reklaw is great. You'll love it. I'm heading that way too...
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It's funny -- Reklaw is not listed on ANY of the "fly-in" websites.

I get the feeling they are "take it or leave it" kind of folks? :lol:
 
Recklaw will have some 500 aircraft showing up. Arrival and departure traffic can get somewhat on the intense side, especially when a bunch of low passes get mixed in. That's why I've avoided this particular fly-in and choose to go to Petit Jean instead.
 
Reno doesn't allow fly-in traffic either. That was also disappointing.
 
dans2992 said:
Reno doesn't allow fly-in traffic either. That was also disappointing.
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Yeah, when we flew to Reno back in '04, I was fairly amazed that we couldn't fly into Stead. Its not like they didn't have, oh, I don't know -- four MILLION acres available for parking. lol
 
murphey said:
Of course GJT has been on everyone's s**tlist for quite some time. Last November, the FBI swooped in and grabbed everything out of the offices, the airport director quit/fired/it was a race and to this day, no one's talking.
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I think he made a lot of FedGov enemies over that whole ID card debacle a while back. Hadn't heard about the raid nor his quitting.

Him asking if the cows that bust through the barbed wire needed airport ID cards, to the two TSA goons who he invited over from Denver (and were stupid enough to show up... in a black Suburban) and stood at a podium in front of a crowd of ****ed off airport users, was one of the funniest things I've heard for years.
 
Neal Howard said:
Recklaw will have some 500 aircraft showing up. Arrival and departure traffic can get somewhat on the intense side, especially when a bunch of low passes get mixed in. That's why I've avoided this particular fly-in and choose to go to Petit Jean instead.
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See my thread on it. Man, you sure called that one right! :)
 
from the event organizer's perspective, what's the big deal? If there is a grand prix race on the streets of your town, those streets are closed to normal traffic and the people who live on those streets are inconvenienced. As for losing attendance because of not allowing fly-in's, I guess the organizers will have to live without those 0.1% of the spectators. Many of those people probably skip paying admission anyway.
 
JHW said:
from the event organizer's perspective, what's the big deal? If there is a grand prix race on the streets of your town, those streets are closed to normal traffic and the people who live on those streets are inconvenienced. As for losing attendance because of not allowing fly-in's, I guess the organizers will have to live without those 0.1% of the spectators. Many of those people probably skip paying admission anyway.
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I never said they would lose appreciable attendance by banning fly-ins. In fact, just the opposite -- I said the reason they feel free to ban fly-ins is because there are so few of us left flying. Our numbers are sadly insignificant, even to the promoters or an AIRshow.
 
JHW said:
from the event organizer's perspective, what's the big deal? If there is a grand prix race on the streets of your town, those streets are closed to normal traffic and the people who live on those streets are inconvenienced. As for losing attendance because of not allowing fly-in's, I guess the organizers will have to live without those 0.1% of the spectators. Many of those people probably skip paying admission anyway.
Click to expand...
There's technically no admission unless you want a seat in one of the special sections. You just pay for parking. So all fly-ins would avoid paying (unless they charged a landing fee for the weekend), but you're right that the tiny number would have no affect. This show is always packed.
 
I'm wondering if you asked earlier if you would get permission. Calling a day or two before, all the parking might have been booked. Besides, I'm sure they don't want some hapless GA blowing in at noon just to catch the show.
Barring day of arrivals I can understand. What would they do if you showed up a couple of days before and left the plane on the ramp overnight?
 
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