Arlington lays some eggs

This year makes, my 5th or 6th continuous year attending
Arlington. It is my first that I've been there without my kids
(they're off visting Grandma in Michigan), but the only with my
older, non-pilot brother.

As usual, we arrived as early Friday as we could and left early
Sunday morning. I always camp at Arlington as it wouldn't feel right
otherwise.

I didn't see anything new this year that I would say that I objected
to. One constant gripe I always have have (but never have gotten
around to voicing) is that the posted forum schedules are unreadable
from 2 feet away. Why can't they be printed just a bit bigger so you
can see them without elbowing everybody away.

I also have never quite understand their plane parking scheme. Due
to when we came in we ended up being parked a fair way out. I
understand that and its ok. However, there were people who showed up
late Saturday and they still got parked way out, despite there being
ample spots available closer in.

For the first time since going it looks like the fuel provider got
their act togather. You could schedule ahead your fuel purchase and
they actually showed up when they were supposed to. In the past,
they would get you when they could, but you never knew how long that
was going to be.

Another nice thing that hasn't always happened is that the ballon
guys got to fly every morning. In years past weather (I assume) kept
them away. Nothing quite like rolling out from under the wing of the
plane and saying good morning to a couple of guys 30 feet over your
head.


As a contrast, I had attended the Golden West Fly-in in Marysville,
CA a few weeks back. I much prefer Arlington. Much friendlier.
Better organized (IMHO).

Oh wait, there is something that ticked me off about Arlington this
year. We arrived on Friday just as the clouds were breaking up.
Lots of planes over Green Valley. WAS I THE ONLY ONE WHO READ THE
@#$^& NOTAM!?! I was simply amazed at the bozos ahead and behind me
that kept yammering on the radio. I had a (I think) BD-4 come by
(close) against the traffic between Green Valley and the city of
Arlington. Talk to one guy on the ground while he was packing up on
Saturday at about 1:30 PM. Reminded him that the field was closing
at 2:00 for the airshow. "What? Why don't they tell us that!"
When I told him that it was in the NOTAM, he admitted that he had
never seen it. "Couldn't find it on the computer".

--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Hood River, OR

("Frank Stutzman" wrote)
When I told him that it was in the NOTAM, he admitted that he had never
seen it. "Couldn't find it on the computer".


#1 Hit) Google: Arlington 2006 + NOTAM
http://www.nweaa.org/flying.cfm
In pdf.

#4 Hit) Google: Arlington 2006 + NOTAM
http://www.faa.gov/ntap/NTAP06JUN08/as06006.htm
HTML

Geez!


Montblack

On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 06:40:08 +0000 (UTC), Frank Stutzman
wrote:

sinp

Oh wait, there is something that ticked me off about Arlington this
year. We arrived on Friday just as the clouds were breaking up.
Lots of planes over Green Valley. WAS I THE ONLY ONE WHO READ THE
@#$^& NOTAM!?! I was simply amazed at the bozos ahead and behind me
that kept yammering on the radio. I had a (I think) BD-4 come by
(close) against the traffic between Green Valley and the city of
Arlington. Talk to one guy on the ground while he was packing up on
Saturday at about 1:30 PM. Reminded him that the field was closing
at 2:00 for the airshow. "What? Why don't they tell us that!"
When I told him that it was in the NOTAM, he admitted that he had
never seen it. "Couldn't find it on the computer".

We were thinking the same thing. The NOTAM clearly states (I'm
paraphrasing here) to KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND LISTEN.
Drive your airplane to where the NOTAM tells you to drive it (Green
Valley), watch for other aircraft and LISTEN for instructions. I flew
up twice (Friday and then Saturday) and didn't have to say a word to
anyone either day....

I swear 9 out of ten gomers out there were calling "Arlington
Approach" with their aircraft type & full N numbers blabbing on about
where they were and asking for instructions on how to get to the show.
A couple of years ago, we heard a gal call "Arlington Approach" 25
miles south asking for instructions....

As far as the fly-in goes, the organizers and the warbird guys need
to figure things out and quit fighting over money. On the one hand,
if you can afford to own and fly a million dollar Mustang or Corsair
or whatever, you can afford to fill the tanks with your own money. I
understand some warbird guys will often decline free fuel in an
attempt to "help out" the organizers of fun-to-attend events. The
other side of that coin is if you want rare, crowd-pleasing and/or
desirable warbirds to show up to your event, you just might have to
dig into your pockets a bit to make it happen.

Also, I think a lot of the vendors might be struggling with shlepping
their schtuff all the way to the west coast only to have to pack it
all up and head for Oshkosh shortly after Arlington is over.

My personal observation is that I'm not having as much "fun" there as
I have had in years past, but it still made for an enjoyable weekend.
Nice weather always helps! Last year we got there OK but had
to put down in Renton on the way home and sit there for several
hours waiting for a break in the weather...

Bela P. Havasreti

PS: The field closed @ 3:00pm on Saturday for the airshow