TidBits of Arlington

[hydroguy2]

Picture taking is not my strong point, but managed to shoot about 100 over 3 days of Arlington. Here's a few:

I think this RV belonged to the previous owner of Dougs scooter


Randy's RV-3(had to wait for the judges to step aside to snap this pic)


RV's at sunrise


Incase no one has seen FrankH's RV straight and level


Not RV's but, Balloons in the morning are always cool


Other highlights:
Meeting and talking with Rod Bower. When a builder of his caliber will spend a few minutes with a nobody like me, I take notice. His stuff is outstanding. He had a display for his new improved RamAir system...NICE!, VERY NICE.

Bob Honig of Eagle Engines/American Propeller is always full of info and time.

Aerosport Power had another nice display (i managed to keep my wallet shut for now)

AvMap-nice unit but still no word on weather capability

Dynon180-EFIS for me. The rep holding down the booth while I stopped by was a newbie and didn't know much more than I.

I got to NWEAA fly-in after 18+hours on the road with a pitstop at Vans. Wed, Thurs, were very quiet and great for a relaxing time. Friday things picked up a little. Just when we were getting worried about the state of aviation, Saturday openned with a flurry of folks flying in. But I had to work the next day and with a big drive ahead I hit the road again. Roundtrip ~1800miles, 30hrs of windshield, 110gals($4.15ave)...next time I hope to fly it!

[vlittle]

I was disappointed this year in Arlington. I last attended 5 years ago, and it had long lines to enter, throngs of people, a lot more aircraft, many more warbirds and more airshow performances.

I think Avgas prices are taking their toll. Other than the B-25, I saw no classic warbirds (P-51s, Bearcats etc). I saw one L-39 (there may have been more) and few biplane classics (no Staggerwings for example). I attended Saturday, and I may have missed some.

The F1/Harmon Rocket aerobatics was something new, and very exciting.

Lots of LSAs and potential LSAs on display. This may be the future of aviation for most people simply because of the lower capital and operating costs.

The Cessna 400 on display was phenomenal! At about $640,000 plus taxes, it represented an unreachable ideal. My comment was "It used to be that you could mortgage your house to buy an airplane, but now you'll need to mortgage your airplane to buy a house!" The Cessna rep was not amused.

Same friendly atmosphere, helpful volunteers and heart-attack-on-a-bun food!

Vern

[hydroguy2]

I've gone the last 3yrs and agree the numbers were down this year. Bob at EagleEngines thought it was 20-30% fewer, which he said was about how much their GA business is down. Warbirds weren't there last year either. The Airshow was pretty much identical to last years show<--good time to kickback under your buddies LSA highwing and reduce the sun damage to my head.

No reason to be disappointed though. I like the more relaxed atmosphere, no lines to talk about gps's, props or whatever. I enjoy waking before sunrise, perc some coffee and walk around while most are still sleeping. Go back cook some breakfast or flyout to Harvey(S43 ), then another lap or watch all the arrivals. In 3yrs I have not spent one dime at the grease....oops... food court. Of course we always have a vehicle to run into the store to buy steaks and other BBQ stuff.

I'll be back again next year, hopefully with wind under my wings.

[Aden Rich]

I heard that Arlington is not paying for the gas for the warbirds to show as they have in the past. Last year, they came down to the Kelso fly-in instead. This is a rumor and may not be the case.

[vlittle]

Originally Posted by Aden Rich

I heard that Arlington is not paying for the gas for the warbirds to show as they have in the past. Last year, they came down to the Kelso fly-in instead. This is a rumor and may not be the case.

I heard that Paul Allen had a dispute with AWO and will no longer participate with his aircraft. Apparently it had something to do with expanding his facilities there. No more detail. I have a friend who's chummy with Paul, so maybe I can find out.

Vern

[craigvince]

This was my first year going to Arlington. I participated this year as an exhibitor, showing 2 of the new LSAs that we sell, but I did have an opportunity to walk around and see everything. I particularly enjoyed the military display area (mostly ground vehicles, etc). This was the largest fly-in I've attended to date, but I could tell from talking with others that the attendance was way down. I still had a great time, and am looking forward to going to Oshkosh next week for the first time. Hopefully the economic crunch hasn't taken it's toll there as well.

Speaking of economics, I spent almost $150 in a week eating at the Arlington Airshow. There were a lot of food choices, but the prices were the highest I've seen at any airshow this year. Also, if you ever fly into Arlington, don't buy any fuel from Castle & Crook Aviation. They were charging us $6.74/gal for 100LL . Talk about taking advantage!

[hydroguy2]

Doh! I forgot to mention meeting CraigV at his booth "Skyview Aviation". They had a pretty good location as everybody had to walk past them. The Skylark LSA looked real good.

After 3yrs of Arlington here's my Tip O'day:
1. Bring sunscreen and raingear(you'll need one of them)
2. Do Not eat more than once at the Food court(unless you're already going sportpilot and have dropped your medical)
3. Go to Snohomish Harvey (S43) for fuel. (saving $1/gal will cover breakfast)

thanks again for the brake lines

[kbehrent]

I've been camping at the Arlington Air show for almost 10 years and this year was definitely a low turnout for both vendors and spectators.

Many will blame the high fuels prices, bad economy, and close proximity to AirVenture as some of the reasons for low turnout. I could mention a couple more, but I will bite my tongue on them and keep them to myself.

I believe that Arlington is at a crossroads of either failing or moving to the next step. I believe the next year or two will tell.

I believe for Arlington to succeed they need to:
1. Provide better facilities for vendors. I know of a few vendors that refuse to come because they don't want to be responsible for providing their own tent/generator/etc just to display their product(s). Yes, I know this takes money to bring in more self-contained tents, but is it really that impossible?

2. Need to reschedule event so that there is a longer period between this show and AirVenture in order to give the vendors time to recover and be ready for Airventure. Yes, I know weather is supposedly better in July, but June can be pretty good as well and besides, I've been rained (Heavily) on several times at Airventure. In fact, I really have to think hard when the weather was ever perfect.

3. Get back to some of the grass roots. I remember a time when our chapter could take a check to them for 20-30 camping spots and they would happily get us all together. Now, we're on our own, trying to use their website to so the same things which can be impossible at times do to the site crashing or loosing reservations. Heck, it's hard enough trying to find their phone # on their website and getting someone on the phone, well, let's just say I have a greater chance to win the lotto.

4. Time for a regime change. Although the old guard has done well in the past, I believe it's time for a change in management and an environment where new ideas can be seriously considered and tried. I believe there is still a role for the old guard, but it's time for them to pass the gavel and give "control" to a new group.

As long as there is an Airshow, we will continue camping there because for us it all about getting together with friends and having a good time. I gave up a long time ago trying to use Arlington as a way to keep up with new gadgets or builder ideas. If you expectations are any higher, you may likely be disappointed.

Just my $.02.