Gastons / Windwood Poll

Should Windwood and Gastons be held in alternating years?

  • Yes, it makes it easier and more affordable to attend both.

    Votes: 2 12.5%

  • No, I'm likely to attend both even in the same year.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No, I'll likely only ever go to Gastons and want to do it every year

    Votes: 10 62.5%

  • No, I'll likely only ever go to Windwood and want to do it every year.

    Votes: 4 25.0%
  • Total voters
    16
AdamZ

AdamZ

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Adam Zucker
While POA does not hold flyins there are of course several flyins that POAers enjoy attending together. They are really more like impromptu get togethers ,Wings FlyBQ in May, 6Y9er Labor Day weekend, Windwood in October and now Gastons in October. Troy and I were talking today about what would give POAers the best ability to meet as many other POAers as possible.

With Gastons moving the to the fall recently it came within a week or two of the Windwood Fly In. They are both very similar types of events with lodging with a restaurant adjacent to the field.
Gastons is of course in Arkansas and Windwood is in West Virginia. The reason folks started going to Windwood was because there were no flyins in the fall.

Dates: Windwood is always the first weekend in October, much past that and the color is gone from the trees. Gastons seems to fall the second week of October. So I was talking to Troy today and we were discussing if it would make sense to attend the two flyins in alternate years so as not to dilute attendance at each. Attending both in one year may well be difficult time wise and financially. Or shold they just be left as they are. Troy and I figured the attendees of each should decide. So we created a poll. Please ONLY vote in the poll if you have or plan on attending Windwood and/or Gastons. We don't want to skew the results with folks not likely to attend either.
 
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I guess I'm way behind on these flyins and how they work. I know The Kosh and Sun N Fun are major, non-PoA events, but I kinda got the impression that gastons and windwood were PoA driven. is that not the case? I got the impression windwood wasn't happening for some other reason besides it being too close to gastons, but now I'm thinking that was exactly the reason. when windwood was mentioned I was really interested in it, so I say if separating them (not necessarily alternating years, maybe just spreading them out a few weeks or months) will help more people attend either one, then I say separate them. but that's all dependent if they are PoA driven events or not.
 
re
timwinters said:
There are four fly-ins,

There are twelve months.

Just sayin'
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Yea but not all are great for flyins, Nov through March and half of April are not so great.

eman1200 said:
I guess I'm way behind on these flyins and how they work. I know The Kosh and Sun N Fun are major, non-PoA events, but I kinda got the impression that gastons and windwood were PoA driven. is that not the case? I got the impression windwood wasn't happening for some other reason besides it being too close to gastons, but now I'm thinking that was exactly the reason. when windwood was mentioned I was really interested in it, so I say if separating them (not necessarily alternating years, maybe just spreading them out a few weeks or months) will help more people attend either one, then I say separate them. but that's all dependent if they are PoA driven events or not.
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So traditionally there are 4 flyins in which POAers were all or the majority of attendees. They are:
1)Wings FlyBQ ( Southeaster PA) Always the weekend of the 3rd Saturday in May ( It got weathered out for the first time in like 12 years this year)
2) 6Y9 ( Michigan UP) Always Labor Day weekend.
3) Gastons ( North Central AR) - Used to be June now October ( cause June was Humid and HELL)
4) Windwood ( West Virginia) - First full weekend in October

Windwood was not canceled due to Gastons this year. It was basically a glitch in communications. In the past when Gastons was in June it competed somewhat with the FlyBQ so it may not be an issue but thats what we are trying to figure out.
 
AdamZ said:
Yea but not all are great for flyins, Nov through March and half of April are not so great.
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It was really just a joke, Adam.

But, seriously, my vote is "none of the above."

My vote would be to adjust the dates so that none are right on top of each other...which wasn't an option.

Like your last two choices allude to, some people living in E & NE will likely never attend Gaston's and some living in TX, OK, etc. will likely never attend Windwood. So I would definitely oppose the notion of having ANY of the fly-ins every other year if done simply for coordination purposes.
 
Windwood is the only one I would consider going to so my suggestion like others is to spread them apart by a month or so.
 
Grum.Man said:
Windwood is the only one I would consider going to so my suggestion like others is to spread them apart by a month or so.
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Boolsheet. We're going to Gastons at some point.
 
Proximity would be a limiting factor on some of them regardless of date
 
It's tough being a pilot.

I'm committed to Oshkosh for the foreseeable future. S-N-F is a permanent maybe. I'll go but I won't blow off work. For Osh, the clients will wait a week. :)

October is rough... seems to be some overlap. This year Gastons and Petit Jean were the same weekend (~75km apart). If the weather allowed I'd have been at PJ because it is RV Mountain and has a hard surface runway. Perhaps if the weather was good AND I get my grass chops up to where they should be I could do both, but not camping.

We are fortunate to have such considerations.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Proximity would be a limiting factor on some of them regardless of date
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True but for those that sort of fall in the in between states the timing and scheduling may be a factor. Gastons is pretty far from me but I still went. ( Remind me to tell you about 9.3 one way in a warrior to Gastons , over a few beers) I've even flown commercial to some flyins ( actually flew commercial to meet up with folks who I then flew in with GA.) But that's why we are asking.
 
I have been to Windwood once. 6Y9 once. Gaston's all but once. Flew to 6Y9 when we lived in Dubuque. Flew commercial to Windwood. Windwood was apparently a bad year because we were only one of three, maybe 4 couples to show up.

Bottom line to this is I attend whatever is convenient. For me Windwood is not convenient, and 6Y9 is only marginally convenient. If I had enough time, I would go to 6Y9, but working it into my schedule is problematic. Gaston's is most convenient because if it came down to it, I can drive. Which I did this last week.

Chances of me making any of them over the next three years is slim to none because of our move.
 
I've only been to Gastons once and the other fly-ins not at all, although I've been to other get-togethers with POA members. It seems to me that Gastons is publicized on this board far more than Windwood. In fact, until this thread, I had no idea that Windwood was in West Virginia. I would be more likely to attend Gastons than Windwood, but the October date is difficult because my counterpart always claims that week for a family vacation due to his wife's job. Of course everything may be different by next year. Chances are I'll have a freer schedule but will need to come from a further distance. Why are all the fly-ins east of the Mississippi?
 
Everskyward said:
I've only been to Gastons once and the other fly-ins not at all, although I've been to other get-togethers with POA members. It seems to me that Gastons is publicized on this board far more than Windwood. In fact, until this thread, I had no idea that Windwood was in West Virginia. I would be more likely to attend Gastons than Windwood, but the October date is difficult because my counterpart always claims that week for a family vacation due to his wife's job. Of course everything may be different by next year. Chances are I'll have a freer schedule but will need to come from a further distance. Why are all the fly-ins east of the Mississippi?
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Isn't Gastons in AR which is west of the big river? Besides Gastons, there has to be plenty of other fly-ins west of the Mississippi.
 
SkyDog58 said:
Isn't Gastons in AR which is west of the big river? Besides Gastons, there has to be plenty of other fly-ins west of the Mississippi.
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You're right, bad geography on my part. But I still think of AR as east.
 
Everskyward said:
Why are all the fly-ins east of the Mississippi?
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Ive wondered the same thing (with the correction that others have already made re: Gaston's). There's nothing stopping the western front from putting together their own fly-in. A Jan or Feb fly-in in Arizona or S. Cal would be enticing........
 
timwinters said:
Ive wondered the same thing (with the correction that others have already made re: Gaston's). There's nothing stopping the western front from putting together their own fly-in. A Jan or Feb fly-in in Arizona or S. Cal would be enticing........
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A good fly-in needs grass.

If you look at most of the fly-ins in the east, they all have plenty of grass. Oshkosh, Gastons, Tullahoma Beech Party, Lee Bottom, Waco Club Reunion, Triple Tree....etc

There just aren't many airports like those out west and not too many folks want to hang out on asphalt, gravel or dirt.
 
All of the Flyins are poorly publicized. Lots of discussion about Gaston's, much less for the others. I also never heard of Windwood until this thread, and I lived in WV for nine years . . . I'd have gone! But alas, it's a good 3 to 3-1/2 hours each way now . . . Not going that far for an uncertain turnout. Four couples?
 
Heck, we're all still waiting for the sub forum title "Air Venture" to be changed to one word!

;)
 
Everskyward said:
Why are all the fly-ins east of the Mississippi?
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Idaho is thick with fly-ins. Johnson Creek probably has a major fly-in every weekend during the summer. Texas STOL roundup, Caveman, Alaska Airman's show (commonly just called "Valdez"). There are plenty.
 
gasfiltered said:
Idaho is thick with fly-ins. Johnson Creek probably has a major fly-in every weekend during the summer. Texas STOL roundup, Caveman, Alaska Airman's show (commonly just called "Valdez"). There are plenty.
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I meant the ones mentioned in this thread, not fly-ins in general. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Chances of me making any of them over the next three years is slim to none because of our move.
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This needs a dislike button. :(

We made our only Gastons the year fuel prices were soaring and attendance was weak in June. Moving it to Oct is tough for us usually. I don't know why. But we loved it. We badly wanted to come this year, but other stuff got in the way.

Well heck, everything is tough for us. Karen's rehearsal and competition schedule is massive and we work around that. Poorly. If she has an open weekend we have to plan to board the dogs, and go. And we're bad at that.

I've toyed with the idea of organizing something further west, but Colorado is difficult -- nothing that's really attractive other than the mountains and I wouldn't feel good organizing a fly-in to somewhere where folks might get themselves into trouble with DA in summer.

But Steamboat in summertime is awesome.

I definitely agree, grass is even more awesome... we don't have that here.

OSH isn't optional. Everything else is.

All the stuff out east is always "someday when we both have enough time off" which never seems to work.

Everything is just a long way from here... need a faster airplane! Heh.
 
Would Windwood be cooler than Gaston's in June? I do want to do Windwood, but it is a likely one off for me as that is six hour territory, at least until I buy a Mooney.
 
eman1200 said:
I guess I'm way behind on these flyins and how they work. I know The Kosh and Sun N Fun are major, non-PoA events, but I kinda got the impression that gastons and windwood were PoA driven. is that not the case?
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No one in PoA wants the liability of them being official events. So they are events that members of PoA self organize rather than events that the MC sponsors.
 
172andyou said:
No one in PoA wants the liability of them being official events. So they are events that members of PoA self organize rather than events that the MC sponsors.
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Right, sorry, I was never expecting the PoA mods specifically to organize anything. Just PoAers in general.
 
A few data points:

- Fall/winter is flying season in South Texas. There are fly ins every weekend here.

- I never heard of Windwood until this thread.

- Gaston's was the same weekend as the Harvest Moon Regatta, the biggest sailing event in the Gulf. We were packed with high-dollar yachtsmen, so there was no way for us to attend.

- I don't think very many POAers think of fly-ins through or via the site. Heck, until last year I didn't know there *were* POA fly-ins, and even at OSH between Grant's and our parties we see, what, maybe 50 - 75 (?) POAers each year?

50, at the biggest aviation event on Earth, out of the hundreds or thousands (?) of pilots who visit POA is not a stellar turnout.

- We've been approached by some of y'all to do a POA fly-in at our hotel on Mustang Island. Unfortunately, we sell out every weekend through mid-November, and most of the country experiences crap weather thereafter. So, the reality is that before November I can't afford to hold rooms off-line (turning non-POAers away) for a fly-in that could be scrubbed by weather, and after November no one North of Dallas could attend.

Midweek would work for us, but would eliminate 90% of possible attendees. So, when everything is added up, we simply have no way to do a POA fly-in here.

Some day we hope to do Gastons. I haven't flown in there since 2002, and Mary has never seen the place. it's well past time!
 
Made it 31 replies before the weed jokes.

This must be a serious discussion! (CA and MI have some favorable laws too)
 
Hopefully, after next month, it'll be legal in a dozen or so more states!

#gomaryjane!

:)
 
timwinters said:
Hopefully, after next month, it'll be legal in a dozen or so more states!

#gomaryjane!

:)
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Fine by me.

We would love to send the really heavy users or deadbeats that just have nothing better to do, without jobs or visible means of support back wherever they came from.

Short the strip mall REITs in CO the more States pass it. ;)
 
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