Jay Honeck
Touchdown! Greaser!
Today was a perfect case in point, illustrating why there are so few service businesses and attractions built around pilots.
Our Grand Opening Party for our new aviation themed hotel, Amelia's Landing, was today. We had a fabulously successful party, with nearly a hundred people enjoying food, drink, and celebration at poolside. Everyone enjoyed the tours of the new aviation theme-rooms, and most seemed impressed by how far we've come. The newspaper was here taking pictures, blah blah blah.
The weather in Port Aransas was nearly-perfect, with temperatures in the upper 70s, and light winds. It was a spectacularly gorgeous day for a poolside cookout.
Despite this, we had one (1) fly-in guest attend. Two pilots, in an Arrow. All the rest cancelled, leaving our hotel half empty tonight.
Why? IFR conditions prevailed over a wide area of Texas, both yesterday and today, and conditions are predicted to deteriorate overnight and into tomorrow. Judging by the prog charts, anyone flying in today may well be with us for a couple of days.
And that, in a nutshell, is why any successful aviation-related service business, be it a hotel, restaurant, museum, or anything else MUST be designed so that the majority of its business comes from the non-pilot crowd.
Had we built this party entirely around the notion of a fly-in, we would have wasted $500 worth of food and drink (and that's not counting the meat, which was entirely donated by a local pilot-owned restaurant), not to mention our time.
Next time you wonder whatever happened to that great on-field restaurant we used to fly into, the answer doesn't necessarily lie with the pilots -- it probably lies with the general public who were no longer coming out to see the few-and-far-between airplanes.
BTW: For those of you in drought-stricken areas, Mary and I are now selling our services for a mere $500 per day. All it seems to take to bring rain to an area is for us to plan a fly in!
It really is amazing. I think we had about 300 straight VFR days down here -- until THIS weekend.
Our Grand Opening Party for our new aviation themed hotel, Amelia's Landing, was today. We had a fabulously successful party, with nearly a hundred people enjoying food, drink, and celebration at poolside. Everyone enjoyed the tours of the new aviation theme-rooms, and most seemed impressed by how far we've come. The newspaper was here taking pictures, blah blah blah.
The weather in Port Aransas was nearly-perfect, with temperatures in the upper 70s, and light winds. It was a spectacularly gorgeous day for a poolside cookout.
Despite this, we had one (1) fly-in guest attend. Two pilots, in an Arrow. All the rest cancelled, leaving our hotel half empty tonight.
Why? IFR conditions prevailed over a wide area of Texas, both yesterday and today, and conditions are predicted to deteriorate overnight and into tomorrow. Judging by the prog charts, anyone flying in today may well be with us for a couple of days.
And that, in a nutshell, is why any successful aviation-related service business, be it a hotel, restaurant, museum, or anything else MUST be designed so that the majority of its business comes from the non-pilot crowd.
Had we built this party entirely around the notion of a fly-in, we would have wasted $500 worth of food and drink (and that's not counting the meat, which was entirely donated by a local pilot-owned restaurant), not to mention our time.
Next time you wonder whatever happened to that great on-field restaurant we used to fly into, the answer doesn't necessarily lie with the pilots -- it probably lies with the general public who were no longer coming out to see the few-and-far-between airplanes.
BTW: For those of you in drought-stricken areas, Mary and I are now selling our services for a mere $500 per day. All it seems to take to bring rain to an area is for us to plan a fly in!
It really is amazing. I think we had about 300 straight VFR days down here -- until THIS weekend.
yikes
