Mark V wrote:
Me too. can anyone offer any explanation why this venue was chosen which appears to be very close to the east coast of the United States. It seems hard to imagine too many owners based on the west coast wanting to undertake such a long trek, sponsored or not.
There are a lot more factors at work here than simply geography.
As Lauderback explained in the media conference, airspace, ramp space, and local infrastructure were significant components of the selection. A RFP was put out -- meaning, anyone at any location meeting the qualifications was eligible to apply to host the event. Apparently the Rickenbacker folks were the ones with the best facility and were the most enthusiastic to host the event and offer their cooperation.
I'm sure it would have been nice to have the event in a Central or Western US location...if the rest of the aspects were right. In this case, they weren't.
Stallion didn't go and plan this thing blindly...I'm sure owners and operators from all over were consulted in the planning process. They'd be stupid to organize such an event without consulting the people who will really make it happen (the Mustang owners/operators). Otherwise you'd have one of those "what if you held an airshow and nobody showed up" situations.
The event sounds like it's going to be fantastic to me. I was especially pleased to hear that they're going to do individual "portraits" of all the attending aircraft and legends/aces. It'll also be cool to see Heritage Flight there as well as the Horsemen aerobatic routine.