On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 09:02:50 -0400, john smith wrote:

In article . com,
Jay Honeck wrote:

I think everyone was disappointed by their absence. I wonder who peed
in the warbird's Wheaties, to make them stay home with their toys?

My guess is the cost of getting to SNF and back home.
Those are the costs they themselves have to bear.
Once they get to SNF, all the fuel and oil they can burn is free.
If you don't have a sponsor to pay your bills, you have to budget for
the events you are really committed to attending.
When you are looking at 30 gallons per hour for fuel and 1/2 gallon per
hour of oil through a radial engine, todays costs are high.

The warbirds also were mostly missing at Arlington last year. Word was that the
fly-in could no longer fund the other items previously supplied to the owners
(hotel rooms, etc.). This was probably partially due to the lawsuit over the
RV-6 crash.

I'd guess this doesn't affect the attendance figures for aircraft owners/pilots,
but does matter to the general populace. A major factor for both SnF and
Arlington, since they're directly adjacent to major population centers and
depend upon general admission for a large part of their income. Not so
significant for Oshkosh, I'd think.

Ron Wanttaja