3 minutes at an Open House

[RV7A Flyer]

Originally Posted by lr172

I don't agree and feel strongly that this is a slippery slope. This type of logic is used by the government and has bloated the law books with stupid laws designed to protect people from themselves instead of educating them. Heck, in Illiniois they seemed to have outlawed left turns to protect crappy drivers from themselves and others (in most new retail construction the entry/exit will be right turn only unless a stoplight is installed). The rest of us now have to drive in circles to get where we're going.

This is purely on the parents and/or their parents. Who allows their kids to jump and hang on other peoples personal property without permission. That is just plain rude and inconsiderate. It continues to shock me how poorly our society is doing in rearing it's children.

I displayed my plane at an EAA pancake breakfast. The chapter put ropes up and no one crossed them without permission. It worked, but I think it is sad that it is necessary.

sorry for the rant.

Larry

Well, given the choice between trying to change society and putting up signs and ropes and properly staffing an event to prevent damage, injury or death...which do you think is easier to do?

Or, as in my case, just decide not to show one's airplane at all. Yep...it is sad, but that's where I am.

[BCP Boys]

I had the same thing happen to me about 3 years ago. We have a fairly nice Air Show at an airport close to my home field and they encourage/welcome static "display". So much that if you are a proud owner and put your plane in the static display line they wave admission. Long story short the first year I took my -7 there within 10 minutes of the crowd starting to come in it started. I had brought a sign with me that stated "Please do not touch unless permission is given" and a "Do not touch sign" on the prop. It was like a magnet. Grown adults literally leaning their entire body weight on the canopy to look inside and kids crawling all over it. There was an instance when I went to get something to drink and when I got back I had a girl, about 10 years old, using my elevator as a seat. I just about lost it but I contained myself. That not only ruined the show for me because I was stuck there watching my plane the entire time, but it also taught me a lesson not to ever do that again. The general population couldn't know less about how to act around airplanes if they tried. And when you try to teach them the look at you like you are crazy and grumpy.

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by BCP Boys

... The general population couldn't know less about how to act around airplanes if they tried.

Go to a car dealership, and one is encouraged to open the doors, sit inside and play with the buttons.
If one is not familiar with airplanes, how would they know there is any difference?
The one time I agreed to display my airplane, I planned on staying with it for the entire show. That way I could smile, play ambassador for aviation, answer lots of questions, not letting the crowd know my main purpose is security, and I'm watching everybody like a hawk.

[Kyle Boatright]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

Go to a car dealership, and one is encouraged to open the doors, sit inside and play with the buttons.
If one is not familiar with airplanes, how would they know there is any difference?
The one time I agreed to display my airplane, I planned on staying with it for the entire show. That way I could smile, play ambassador for aviation, answer lots of questions, not letting the crowd know my main purpose is security, and I'm watching everybody like a hawk.

On the other hand, what car owner would want his car sat on, climbed on, or used as a changing table? The reality is that many people just don't think about what they are doing. If it wasn't for safety devices, warning labels, and the like, natural selection would take care of the problem. ;-)

[Pat Stewart]

I had a bad experience at a flyin with my first RV8, it was less that a week old and I stopped at a nearby airport for fuel, I went into the FBO for assistance and after returning to the plane witnessed what looked like a three year old running down my wing and jumping into his mothers arm, well needless to say I had a short conversation with the mother, inspected the wing for damage and headed home.

But over the years I have been to hundreds of fly-ins and look forward to them each year. I have learned that it's not local management responsibility to watch my plane at a public access airport, it's mine. Don't let one experience keep you from enjoying what is in my opinion one of the best opportunities we have in this hobby of ours. There are always opportunities to go look around the ramp and still occasionally take a look at your RV. There have been many times when someone was getting too close turned into an opportunity to share this hobby of ours with some excited young potential aviators. If you look at the demographics of the pilots around the GA world it's scary to see how few young people there are.

[n981ms]

Non airplane people:
1. Do not know about airplanes.
2. Like the rest of us, are not paying enough attention to notice all the signs around.
3. Like the rest of us, are careless at times.
4. Like us are sometimes inconsiderate.
5. Contain all of the future aviators.
6. Most importantly outnumber us. When the powers that be come to take away our privilege to fly. We will want them on our side.

I think what we need to do:
1. Teach them about aviation
2. Take our planes to the shows and plan on staying with them.
3. Take our planes to the shows and plan on staying with them.
4. Take our planes to the shows and plan on staying with them.
5. Cultivate any interest we find in someone.
6. Cultivate any interest we find in someone.

If we lock our birds away in hangars and do not engage non-aviators I am afraid the future on aviation is bleak.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

Go to a car dealership, and one is encouraged to open the doors, sit inside and play with the buttons.
If one is not familiar with airplanes, how would they know there is any difference?

Maybe because the assumption at a car dealership is that everything is for sale. A better analogy would be a classic car show, where people bring their vintage autos out and put them on display. How many of those owners are pleased to see you leaning on the hood, opening the door to hop in, etc.?

I did my civic duty twice this year to encourage people to get interested in aviation... Once at a COPA for Kids day (the Canadian version of EAA's Young Eagles program) where I spent the day marshalling. The other was at an airport open house day, where I put my plane on display. I found out when I got there that there would be no ropes, and the planes would be packed in tight so there wasn't much option to get out if you wanted to. Being an RV, I got there before all the Cessnas, so I ended up packed in tight, and right beside where the public entered the ramp.

I resigned myself to having to polish off fingerprints, and by the end of the day there were many. There was only one incident that I had to say something about. A mother had lifted their child up to stand on my wingwalk and look in the cockpit. I watched this from about 100' away as I was eating my lunch. He was staying on the wingwalk, and using his hand to shade his eyes so he could look in through the canopy, and I decided I was okay with that as he seemed to be careful about it.

Then, he decided to *lay down* on top of my canopy, and the father walked around the other side to take a picture. That's when I said, very loudly but remarkably calmly, "EXCUSE ME! DO NOT CLIMB ON THE AIRCRAFT!" Only then did the mother grab the kid and lift him down, and the family quickly shuffled away. No apology, no acknowledgement.

Entitled brats are one problem. Clueless parents are another. But for the entire day I was there, that's the only incident I saw. So I still conclude the problem is minor, and I am still willing to put my plane on display from time to time.

[Jesse]

It?s interesting how this has gone back and forth between respecting other people?s stuff and rearing children correctly. If we want to change society in this way, there is only one place to start, and that is at home, with our children and then their children. I have a lot of people who visit me say something like, ?I need my grandson to come spend a few days here.? We?ll, a few days won?t make a difference. We start training our children to be respectful from day 1, teaching them that it?s not all about them. By the time they reach 17, we still have to remind them of this all the time. Hopefully they will pass this on to their children, and so on, maybe making a very small change in our society in the long run.

[Triple7]

I can sure relate. Was at an EAA breakfast finished eating only to find someone had used the left portion of my stab as a picnic table. If the spilled coffee wasn't bad enough what ever was used to wipe it off scratched both the stab and elevator....my RV8 is polished, no more EAA breakfast fly-in's for me.

Mark Weber

[-goose]

Originally Posted by RV7A Flyer

While I agree with you in principle, it'd be a lot easier to put up some signs at the entrance, and perhaps the "Look But Don't Touch" signs on the planes, and have enough staff to watch for dangerous situations and correct them, than to individually educate every member of the general public on how to raise respectful children.

It won't solve all of these problems, but I think it would go a long way towards preventing a large number of them.

Absolutely right. Instead of assuming every member of the public should know better, clear communication is the key to ensuring the safety of them, your aircraft, and educating people for the next time. The onus is squarely on the organisers to ensure that there is plenty of clear and visible signage to say what's allowed and what's not, along with a few people to police them. It's a no-brainer for events and it works.