my LOE 2010 brain dump (debrief)
Some of my other notes and commentary about my experience at LOE this year:
Wow, what a great setup, organization, and experience. This is our third year. I'm very happy we had hard surface parking with the nose dragger. Maybe the locals are interested in just how psycho some of us nose draggers are about staying on the hard surface. That worked, for me anyway. I was super impressed with the enthusiasm and just how happy all the locals were that we were there. That is rare, and a definite improvement noted from previous years. Brian was cruising around in the golf cart giving new arrivals (us) rides across the ramp to check-in. Many thanks. Check-in was totally painless and was our first interaction with Sharon. She had each of a zillion tasks under control all at once. She needs a raise quickly, and is a big part of the reason we're coming back next year and every trip in between that takes us north. Then to get the rental car. Also just as painless as one could ever imagine. Five steps, three signatures, initial for inspection, and keys at the front door. Vehicle access to the ramp was very much appreciated. Drop off of the car on departure morning (Sunday) as easy as handing the keys to Sharon was even better. Did she ever leave? And the always on smile really impressed me. We had to make an effort to duck out of the wind a couple times on Saturday. Perfect use for Football. I don't care about the game, but it was a great wind escape for a while. Gotta' expect wind when you can see the wind farm from the field. And, this year, it didn't involve blowing sand! The big cooler of iced water bottles was GREAT while it lasted. We definitely felt the pain of the cooler running dry Saturday afternoon. I thought about hijacking a golf cart and replenishing the cooler from the pallets of water in the hangar. Yep, there were stickers in the grass... That has already been said. I'm from south Texas, I wasn't surprised. Tanya was when she got a couple in the ***. More airplanes can be parked on the hard surface if parked wing to tail. Tanya already passed that along to John. Just make sure we can all get out and back in easily if we want to go fly, which we could. Blurp... back up, when registering, Sharon, "do you want fuel", Yep, she picked up the radio ... 22C... We were back collecting our bags with the car 10min later, and the fuel truck was topping us off. Sweet. The guy that was fueling said "Thank you guys very much for coming. If you need anything at all, don't be shy, let us know. You can flag down someone on a gator, golf cart, or fuel truck." That set very well with me. I returned a big smile and nod.
Oh, the hotels are literally just 3min from the airfield as opposed to a 20min drive away. I woke up Sunday morning with a big smile to the sound of early departing RVs. Saturday was filled with wandering the ramp yapping, and the ever awaited 4pm call. I don't know who paid for the beer, but the two hour service is a massive improvement from previous years. And there were just as many smiles from those pouring. I just can't tell you how cool that is to see happy locals. Vendors; I really enjoy seeing vendors not there to sell their wares, but there to be a part of the community, yet willing to work too, answering questions, debugging problems, etc., in a very relaxed friendly environment, while drinking a beer. Even if I run screaming from the product, the vendor has my respect for quietly showing up to this event as one of "us". Hey, you better buy a raffle ticket too. The BBQ smoker was a beacon for the whole event all of Saturday. There is something special about seeing the smoke plume all day, and not having the food shipped in. There is no way it couldn't be good if you have to see and smell the cooker all day. The BBQ master was there really working the whole weekend. Saturday BBQ food service was faster than previous years, and much less crowded seating. There was no basic chilled water (only tea?) at the banquet. Tanya was picking water bottles off of the pallet. She is a water only person, surely not the only one. Maybe that could be done a little better. The food was great. I liked the zero decision efficiency of the BBQ line. I liked the better hangar lighting over previous years. Sure makes for better pictures to entice others to want to go and give to the charities next year. Although, the Preacher, sure didn't fit my vision of this event or my intentions of charity direction. One person's perspective. You can give as much or as little as you want based on your own criteria. Like Doug says, "you can't please everybody", me included.
In the last two years, we were taken under the wing of the veteran Ziliks and Rosales clan, and provided real life enhancing experiences from almost a thousand miles away throughout the year, all because of LOE. My single primary objective this year was to attempt to fill the biggest RV flying shoes I've ever come across, Rosie, for his passion for ice cream after LOE. He couldn't make it this year so somebody had to step up. A little research, onsite recon, and embedded strategy, and I think we pulled it off. Ice cream after the banquet was really a big deal for me. My sincere thanks to all that showed up, maybe even though you didn't know you were suckered into something big for someone. The employees at the local Braum's ice cream asked me where we all came from all the sudden this Saturday night. We said we were from a fly-in at the airport down the street. I think I visited each table of 30-40 people, never sat down, and delivered the word to HQ in Rosemond. All the while, munching on my simple vanilla soft serve in a waffle cone, Van's simplicity. This from a person that drops into a crippling panic attack when in a crowd of more than 10 people that I don't know. It is good to have 200+ close friends
. I'm not a name tag person, but I will give kudos for whoever came up with the idea to give those 200+ close friends name tags so I didn't confuse Ross with Russ. I think the clip-on name tag was successfully more likely to be worn than a stick-on (that falls off) or risking drawing blood with a pin. I hope you slept as well as I did Saturday night. Zonked... I really did have a warm fuzzy, waking up, early, Sunday morning to the faint sound of RVs launching. You people that live on an airpark have my envy, but I get to build multiples. The local airport crew were there at the crack of dawn with the doors open and gators running. Major improvement from the local ghost town of past years. You just have to expect with 100+ airplanes on the field launching on the same morning that surely someone will have some kind of mechanical issue that is a BIG deal when you are that far from home. It is nice to see and feel the help of the locals when the moment of truth comes to get airborne for home. That was another moment that made me smile as I watched my prop crank two blades much more slowly in the cold air than I'm used to. Help was alive, awake, and looking at me crank no more than 50 feet away. Vroooommmm! "it sure cranked slow in this cold air didn't it." "yep, but it is all green, just waiting on some oil temp."
Weatherford, John, and especially Sharon, Thank you. Your smiles, energy, and interest have topped any fly-in that I've ever been to.
