So...did anyone attend this year? How was it?

First time I can ever remember not seeing ANY mention of the event in this
newsgroup.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote
> So...did anyone attend this year? How was it?

Yep! I made the obligatory one day visit from my home in Tarpon Springs,
only about 50 miles west of Lakeland.

Not much going on for the likes of the homebuilders/ultralighters such
as myself who used to spend all week there. Paradise City was dead as a
doornail. Wind was down and still never saw more than a couple of trikes
or powered parachutes in the pattern at any time.

In the main flyby pattern over the main runway, nothing but fast
turboprops. Glass Cockpits and Kerosene have taken over SnF.

Many unoccupied outdoor display booths. Attendance way down on Wednesday.

What a shame...I well remember when 20 MiniMaxs would show up and do battle
in the u/l pattern....at the same time. :)

Bob Moore

I was there on the last Friday, from early morning until around 3:30. When
I left in the afternoon, the parking lot was better than 3/4 full - it
looked about the same to me as last year for the same day. I left part way
through the airshow, I've seen enough airshow stuff that it's not a big draw
for me. After more than 8 hours out in the sun, I was ready for a nice
cold beer, and off-site they were substantially less than $6 (small) and $9
('large').

A good number of fly-in aircraft, including the homebuilts. The warbirds
were a little more sparse than last year, LSA's were well represented.
Though I didn't run through a checklist, I didn't see any of the major
players missing (Cessna, Piper, Cirrus, etc.). Van's didn't have their new
sport aircraft on display this year, but were busy as always. They told me
last year it was a long trek for them from Oregon, and they weren't sure if
they were going to keep doing it. The exhibition tents were crowded when I
peeked in - but it was midday, so I'm sure a lot of people were just
escaping the heat for a while. The economy being what it is, I don't think
cutting back on this type of targeted exposure is in any
manufacturer/distributor's best interest right now.

Ultralights were fairly busy when I was over there - they had five in the
air doing circuits.

It was pretty much as I expected, though the turnout (flying and driving)
was higher than I expected this year. I enjoyed it, but after having been
to more than a few of these (various locales) I don't spend more that a day
at any of them anymore. For me the main enjoyment is seeing what other
people are building and how they do it, as well as keeping up with what's
new in engines, avionics, etc.


"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:ttgLl.86223$DP1.18752@attbi_s22...
> So...did anyone attend this year? How was it?
>
> First time I can ever remember not seeing ANY mention of the event in this
> newsgroup.

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:ttgLl.86223$DP1.18752@attbi_s22...
> So...did anyone attend this year? How was it?
>
> First time I can ever remember not seeing ANY mention of the event in this
> newsgroup.
Seems as though I remember seeing a fair amount of talk and pictures over
at alt.binaries.pictures.aviation

AvWeb seemed to think the crowd was close to last year, with heavy LSA new
aircraft manufacturers represented.
--
Jim in NC

> Many unoccupied outdoor display booths. Attendance way down on Wednesday.

That's about what I've heard elsewhere -- that attendance was down early in
the week, but picked up by the weekend.

Glad you could make it. We had intended to go this year, but other business
came up that precluded our attendance...

You going to OSH this year?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote
> You going to OSH this year?

Nope :(

Bob