This years air show was LAMEO compared to last year. These guys knocked it out of the park. The night show was awesome.
TELL EAA TO BRING THEM BACK.
This year was my first time, but I was surprised at how tall the grass was. We got there on Sun and it was already several inches tall. By Thursday I was reminded of Patagonian Pampas. It was taking a lot of power to taxi which was causing its own problems.
Unless there is some factor I am missing, I think they should scalp the lawns down nice and low right before the arrivals.
As a camper I didn't care, but sitting with my airplane there were several folks who were interested in seeing as many of a particular model of aircraft as they could that mentioned how nice it would be if they were more congregated by type rather than intermingled hither and yon. I know it would be impossible to keep type purity, but they should have a pretty good idea from year to year how many of various types typically show up and set up rows to attempt to keep like models roughly together.
One last gripe while I'm on a roll. Sitting at the aircraft and watching the airshows was nice, but the dad gum tour helicopter made it impossible to hear the show announcer half the time. During mandatory nap time I had reoccurring dreams of a shot gun if not a shoulder fired missile.
All in all though, it was a great experience for this first timer. Wifey and I both developed a taste for Wisconsin Cheese Curds which neither of us had heard of and initially sounded disgusting.
You didn't specifically mention, but I assume your were in homebuilt camping? If so, understand that they (and I'm one of them) do endeavor to keep like types together as much as possible. It's not as easy as you might think, and given that we have very limited space to work with (we came awfully close to filling up this year) that makes it even harder to designate areas for each type.As a camper I didn't care, but sitting with my airplane there were several folks who were interested in seeing as many of a particular model of aircraft as they could that mentioned how nice it would be if they were more congregated by type rather than intermingled hither and yon. I know it would be impossible to keep type purity, but they should have a pretty good idea from year to year how many of various types typically show up and set up rows to attempt to keep like models roughly together.
Jeff,
What are you going to do for Van's 40th? There won't be enough room on the field for any other type!
Vans 40th was two years ago, in 2012. I was there, it was a great turnout too, 500 RVs showed up.
Plus, this year we rolled out a new procedure (see this thread: http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=114699) that made the task of keeping like types together even more difficult.
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See post #26 in the other thread. We pulled the plug on this about noon Sunday, so you just missed it. The empty areas you passed were probably one of several- 1) wider rows that we designate for really big stuff (think Murphy Moose with their 75 foot wing spans), 2) areas right off the paved taxiway, which we try to save for the really heavy stuff (freshly fueled Defiants and Lancair 4-P types) and 3) areas that might look good but tend to flood pretty easily with sufficient rain.but the new procedure was non-existent when we came in Sunday around 1pm. In fact, there were large areas that were wide open that we would have liked but were told they were reserved.
See post #26 in the other thread. We pulled the plug on this about noon Sunday, so you just missed it.