Show planes.....vs SHOW planes.....
I've never been to S-n-S but will go some day.... I hope it doesn't go the Way of Oshkosh....oh, wait: AirVenture.
Gonna probably step on some toes here....
I've been going to OSH long enough to have seen some MAJOR changes. Many of you "older" pilots know from where I speak. The Display Hangars at one time had all kinds of cool things like belt buckles, patches, name tags done before you left the show.....
fly-in aviation stuff. Independent vendors that sold stuff they made at home or in their shop back at their home base. There were several T-shirt vendors that made shirts that were
WAY cool, including some that were screened from hand-painted graphics and signed by the artist. Those vanished as they were fierce competition with "other vendors"
. Can't remember the last time I saw them. Remember "Dirt Shirts"? Some of the greatest graphics! Now: a lot of very expensive things and sometimes the same vendor in each building. Or several of the same in ONE building! Aviation related? Yes. Usually. There is a lot in the outside area that used to be inside. I still walk the buildings but it is at a faster pace......
Some if the airplanes have gone that way to an extent as well. I remember when an average Joe/Jane built/restored an airplane in their garage/hangar and did everything themselves. Quality construction and produced a very nice airplane that was an award winner or at least something to be proud of. When I am cruising "the line", I concentrate more on the "down home" builds than those that look like the paint weighs more than the engine. If you need a mirror to show the graphics on the belly of your airplane.......
I might walk past and not really look (Mine: Um.......sir is that straight weight or multigrade oil on your belly?
)
AirVenture is turning that way as well. I remember Paul was talking about having a "small" fly-in somewhere that was not OSH. Do I REALLY like going to OSH? OH, yeah! Will I always go and enjoy myself? Of course! Is mine a well-built, functional airplane I don't have to worry about people leaning over and bumping their camera into the fuselage (have those marks)? Yes. Is it a SHOW plane? Not by a long stretch. But I don't have to truck it in to keep the bugs off (some look like they were!) and can fly it with gay abandon. I wonder how many hours those "perfect" airplanes acquire in a year. Don't want to scratch anything.... That air, you know.....
But I also don't mean to take away from those types of SHOW airplanes. If that is your thing, thank you for bringing them for us to see. But if I find myself saying "I wonder who had THIS airplane built?" I may not pay as much attention as the majority of airplanes that are begging me to look at them. Just saying.....
Off my soapbox.....