VAF'ers,
On behalf of Team RV allow me to clear up a few things.
First, your support of Team RV is very special to all of us and it means more to us than you will ever know.
The large formations at Osh are not Team RV. They are RV'ers from around the country. These have been led by Stu McCurdy of Round Rock Texas. We have participated in them as RV pilots. Members of these flights can be found in these archives. You can look at videos and pictures of those flights and see the professionalism and discipline of those. Put them up against any other large formations done anywhere, they will speak for themselves for eternity.
Team RV is a flight of 12 RV's, performing at venues mostly east of the Mississippi. 2012 is our 10th year anniversary year performing at air shows. Our goal is to provide the best formation air show act in the business. We want to set the bar in safety, discipline, character, and professionalism. We routinely have our act critiqued by professionals in the business for safety and entertainment value. We are very transparent. We never settle. This year, virtually every venue director we flew at told us we were the best act they had ever seen. We use these show directors as litmus tests for how we are doing, how we can improve for them. Its not just about the flying. Its the entire program which includes our interaction on the ground with media, sponsors, kids, crowd, FAA, air bosses and so on.
We have not been selected to fly in the air show at Osh. We have been told that we are "under review." The Osh decision team was at the ICAS convention in Vegas a couple of weeks ago, as was Team RV(we have a booth there), and as far as we can tell, most if not all of the performers selected for Osh 2012 have been told they have been selected to perform in the air show. It is normal course of business that performers are selected at or before the ICAS convention in Vegas in the first week of December, so that they can prepare and plan their season accordingly. As the weeks go by past the ICAS convention, and into 2012, it become far less likely that we will be offered a position. A huge amount of work goes into planning to make Osh, both on EAA's end in marketing and logistics, and on ours.
Osh has their own team of reviewers and selection process, and rightfully so. All venues have a process.
We DO NOT want to be selected because of Vans 40th. We are either worthy of being offered a spot in the largest air show in the world, or not. We let our performance, character, and professionalism speak for itself. Van's 40th is special, but it should not be a criteria for the selection of our team.
Im happy to answer any questions here that I can. We love you guys and gals. We want to be the best representation of RV'ers, VAF'ers, and pilots that we can be.
