Your Chance to Design a Fly-In

Jay Honeck wrote:
Okay, so I've been "volunteered" to be on the board of directors of the
biggest fly-in event in Iowa City's history, the Eastern Iowa Big Kids Toy
Show, scheduled for May 20 - 21, 2006.

Hehe...Jay in a tie...now, that *is* funny. I'm sure that there are
shorts and sandals below the jacket and tie. Holy cow Jay, it looks
like a picture of a law firm ...er, something. "The Eastern Iowa Big
Kids Toy Show, brought to you by the law firm of Yeomans, Young, Honeck,
Clay, Floyd, and Sigafoose". :-)

Sorry man, no ideas...um...other than make it like Oshkosh. :-)


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-IA Student
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

Get a few laptops and biggish video monitors, set them up in suitably
dim or shaded spots, run some of the online near-real-time video map
displays of airline or airport traffic like those at

http://www.passur.com/sites.htm

and others, and just let people watch and talk.

I always find these fascinating, at any rate; also the live ATC Internet
channels.

--AES

Hehe...Jay in a tie...now, that *is* funny. I'm sure that there are
shorts and sandals below the jacket and tie. Holy cow Jay, it looks like
a picture of a law firm ...er, something. "The Eastern Iowa Big Kids Toy
Show, brought to you by the law firm of Yeomans, Young, Honeck, Clay,
Floyd, and Sigafoose". :-)

Yeah, that picture does look like something from "The Firm", no?

Hard to believe we're mostly just a bunch of beer swilling hangar bums -- we
dress up good, no?

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"With this donation, the joy and wonder of flight will be passed on to
our youth, ensuring a place for them in the sky!"

That's funny, I thought kids or some people are naturally disposed to
the 'joy and wonder of flight...' You can't really 'pass it on' with a
museum in my opinion. Unless there are a lot of hands on things that
are somewhat dangerous most kids don't give a hoot.

I would bet an endowment for a bunch of 'first flight' fuel purchases
and Young eagle volunteers would be a better way to keep a steady stream
of kids interested in flight.

It seems to me that today the airports and planes are just not as
accessible as they once were - due to cost, perception of danger,
security concerns, etc. Anything we can do to make it easier for kids
to hang around an airport and watch planes would be a great thing. I am
not necessarily against static displays in museums, but kids usually
want to 'do' stuff.

Just my opinion.

"With this donation, the joy and wonder of flight will be passed on to
our youth, ensuring a place for them in the sky!"

That's funny, I thought kids or some people are naturally disposed to
the 'joy and wonder of flight...' You can't really 'pass it on' with a
museum in my opinion. Unless there are a lot of hands on things that
are somewhat dangerous most kids don't give a hoot.

I think a flight simulator that looks like an airplane, with a stick and
throttle and moving control surfaces, ought to capture the imagination of
the kids, don't you?

I would bet an endowment for a bunch of 'first flight' fuel purchases
and Young eagle volunteers would be a better way to keep a steady stream
of kids interested in flight.

Ah, now you're jumping ahead a couple of years. This will be the second
annual show, and we hope it will (1) raise public awareness of the airport,
and (2) raise money for an great aviation-related charity.

In future years, we would like to fund a flight training scholarship(s) for
worthy youth, among other things! THEN we will really be helping GA, IMHO.

It seems to me that today the airports and planes are just not as
accessible as they once were - due to cost, perception of danger,
security concerns, etc. Anything we can do to make it easier for kids
to hang around an airport and watch planes would be a great thing. I am
not necessarily against static displays in museums, but kids usually
want to 'do' stuff.

The Childrens Museum is located at our local (quite large) shopping mall,
and it is literally mobbed with kids from age 2 - 12 every day. THIS is the
place to capture their imagination, IMHO.

If we catch 'em there, we'll clean 'em and fry 'em later on out at the
airfield!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay -

Some thoughts, in no particular order....

The DNR water bombers are usually popular with both the kids and the
adults. Besides a static display, a demo during the "air show" portion
could be arranged. Be prepared for a quick exit by these folks, if they
get called out. May is already fire season (depending on weather of
course) up here in Minnesota, don't know about Iowa.

For cool fly bys of military arcft - When I was Technical Director our
local Independance Day Celebration (the largest in the state, and
continues to this day, by the way) about a hundred years ago, it took a
few phone calls to get the right general on the phone, but I started
with the National Guard at Camp Ripley, which is our local base. Within
a couple of days, I had a call back and it was all arranged. Arrived
within 20 seconds of scheduled time, too! Those guys are good. (The
first (or second, don't recall now,) they sent a ground crew up with a
radio (Mil UHF, had to use theirs) that we patched into the PA system.
Crowd thought it was very cool to listen to the pilots as they made
their passes - even got a few words directed to the crowd from the lead
plane.

The Duluth MN airshow a few years ago (its scheduled again for 2006, I
understand) had a large turn out of the Military recruiters (Duluth
being a NG air base) who had all kinds of very cool activities for the
kids. My son spent much time in the Marines (inflatable) obsticale
course. This thing was hugh, complete with ropes to climb and things to
crawl under/thru. It even included genuine Marine Drill Sargents with
the "smokey-bear" hat and LOUD voices.

Local flight school/ FBO offering 15-20 minute plane rides, helicopter
rides...

Don't forget to involve at least one local radio station as a sponsor.

Send posters to airports and such in a large radius - what better
reason to get in the plane and fly somewhere?

Randy

And be very careful of what you call the "contests" (i.e. "flour bombing
contest"). Most aircraft insurance policies have clauses regarding
"contests" and I don't think you want to run afoul of this little glitch.

Jim

The Duluth MN airshow a few years ago (its scheduled again for 2006, I
understand) had a large turn out of the Military recruiters (Duluth
being a NG air base) who had all kinds of very cool activities for the
kids. My son spent much time in the Marines (inflatable) obsticale
course. This thing was hugh, complete with ropes to climb and things to
crawl under/thru. It even included genuine Marine Drill Sargents with
the "smokey-bear" hat and LOUD voices.

You mean this thing: http://alexisparkinn.com/november_'05_open_house.htm
??

We had it at our CAP squadron's open house last week. A really remarkable
piece of equipment!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

That would be it!

Let me rain on your parade a minute to be sure you have considered
insurance. We have tried to do things and run into insurance problems.
The city wants to be named on all policies. Everybody want to me named
on each others policy. It just seems to go on and on. There never seems
to be a blanket solution.

Just be sure you consider this. It may be a full time position for someone.


-------------
Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI


Jay Honeck wrote:
Okay, so I've been "volunteered" to be on the board of directors of the
biggest fly-in event in Iowa City's history, the Eastern Iowa Big Kids Toy
Show, scheduled for May 20 - 21, 2006.

See us at www.BigKidToyShow.com (Yes, they made me wear a -- *sob* -- TIE
for the photos... It was awful! ;-)

This will be the second annual show, so we've got a basic template of events
that looks like this:

Saturday, 7 A-2P
- Fly-In/Drive-In Pancake Breakfast
- Static displays of aircraft (and all sorts of other "Big Kid Toys" like
exotic sports cars, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, motorhomes, boats, etc.
Many car dealers participated last year, naturally)
- Fly-overs by yet-to-be-named aircraft...
- Lunch served by (of course) the Johnson County Pork Producers
- Custom car show
- Lots of stuff for kids (inflatable thingies, etc.)
- Hangar Dance, 8P- ??

Sunday, 7 A-2P
- Fly-In/Drive-In Pancake Breakfast
- Static displays of aircraft (and all sorts of other "Big Kid Toys" like
exotic sports cars, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, motorhomes, boats, etc.)
- Fly-overs by yet-to-be-named aircraft...
- Lunch served by (of course) Johnson County Pork Producers

Show sponsorships are sold to anyone who wants to display their "big kid
toy." So, for example, if a Ferrari dealer wants to put one of his cars on
display, he will have to cough up a few bucks. All proceeds from the show
will go to the Iowa Children's Museum for the construction of an aviation
display! (Isn't that awesome? :-)

We were thinking our local EAA chapter could help construct a nice flight
simulator for the kids, but the museum has given us a HUGE area to fill, so
we could even display a full-sized aircraft along with it!

I'm looking for ideas! I've been to a zillion fly-ins, some terrific,
others lame, and I would sure like to hear from those who have done this
before, so I don't have to learn from my mistakes. What makes a great
fly-in? (Besides good weather, of course) I'm hoping we can get a bunch
of World War II aircraft on display, and maybe some military fly-overs
during the show -- who should one contact for stuff like that?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!