NO EAA in Sun n' Fun?

[jclark]

Bob,

The dust is no worse (in my opinion) than any place where you have lots of planes and less grass. The grass thickness is a function of how much rain there was in Florida the weeks before.

I have seem people with a couple of bottles of water rinsing it off.

Also, there are some nice parking areas where I have been with NO "black abraisive dust".

I am sure you know but there may be people who are thinking about going for the first time and may be turned off. I am just providing a different perspective.

James
...no affiliation with SnF

Originally Posted by Bob Axsom

I read the Sport Aviation Position Report and saw the clear separation between the two organizations as well. Like someone else in the thread I recall this always being the case. I was surprised however when I received my Sun 100 entry fee check back from Aircraft Spruce saying the the race has been cancelled by Sun 'n Fun Management. Unfortunately I had already purchased my week long admission tickets before this news came out. After hearing about the black abrasive dust I think I will just write off the $135 to experience and save the plane.

Bob Axsom

[jimpappas]

Guys,

I'm sorry if anyone took my post as a hit on Sun N Fun. It wasn't meant that way at all.

I'm going this year and looking forward to it.

Yes, it was very dry the year I went and there was dust but as was mentioned a little water solves it, just don't rub BEFORE rinsing was what I probably should have said the first time.

Right now it has WARMED up to about 32 degrees here so going to an airshow in the 80's or warmer and having to put up with a little heat and dust is not a bad thing.

I hope you guys all attend that can and that I'll see you guys there.

Sorry again if anybody took offense.

[f1rocket]

Jim,

They were probably taking more offense to my posts.

Don't get me wrong, if you've never been to it, by all means go to it. But if you've been to AirVenture, just don't expect this to be the same. I've been a couple of times and it just doesn't float my boat.

.....and try to arrive over Lake Parker when no one else is there (if that's possible!)

[Bob Axsom]

After giving it a LOT of thought we decided to go to Sun 'n Fun in spite of the concerns and the lack of a race. After Making the decision I received a nice call from a man named Harbaugh explaining the race situation as a decision made to allow changes to be made with time to evaluate them before implementation. He did explain (as one of the earlier posts described) that they are working very hard to make Sun 'n Fun into a year round operation with a focus on getting young people to understand and become involved in aviation. It sounds like a good objective and I wish them well but they have got their work cut out for them. Lest we think that Mr. Harbaugh might be a dreamer not accustomed to difficult tasks I should add that he was an astronaut who did EVAs (space walks) to repair the Hubble telescope before he retired in 2001 and went to work for Sun 'n Fun.

Bob Axsom

[atreff]

Bob,
I'm glad that the dust did not deter you from coming to SnF. It's a great show, and some years (like last year) it rained hard two days before the opening. Not much dust at all where I was camped. I think you'll like it a great deal. RV's just keep arriving all week, the trade show floor has all the aviation vendors, and the hands-on workshops run continuously. Oh, I forgot the airshow every day, is usually worth watchng at least one day during your stay. I also love the Factory demo fly-by's at 11:00am each day.

I have never had a difficult time with the arrival procecure, but I usually arrive late in the day, or very early in the am. At those times, I've had anywhere from 0-3 aircraft in front of me, pretty easy to deal with. Memorize the approach instructions, so you can keep your head out of the cockpit, pay attention to the radio call outs from the tower, and keep your head on a swivel. You'll do just fine. I've never had any airborne "close calls" in 7 years of arriving.