Warbird Information Exchange

The Indianapolis Air Show uses local (Indy & Indiana) warbirds including several AT-6's, PT-17's, BT-13's, T-1, CJ-6, L-17's, PV-2, PT-26, F4U, P-51, A-37, T-28, T-34.

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"Keep 'em Flying!"

I agree with Rick H. You have to have a great act. Wendover had the great luck of having two local guys with an Edge 540 and an Extra 300. They are both former F-18 pilots and they can fly the birds out of the air! We had them booked every year until 2006 (they disbanded ) and it was always fresh and blew the socks off even the jaded "been there done that" performers we booked from out of state. We are fortunate to have some great folks in the region who are always willing to help the show. I just wish I could get someone with a B-17 or Corsair to move to Utah! BTW - we have a local guy with an awesome Howard that comes every year, man is that thing bright yellow! having said that - Marine Air, if you are ever in the rocky mountain area in August let me know!

Tom P.

I can't agree more. I'm a member of ICAS, but I really can't justify the cost of going and displaying so I can make a buck. It's not like Ground/Flight Line Operations is seen as a necessity or a large ticket item.
When we go to California for a show, it's a good chunk of change to fly nine guys out there! That's even before we can do any "paying" work.

An aircraft can show up and have one or a few people with it and it's easy to coordinate. We're like a circus troupe, and most promoters/producers don't see the need for that level of safety, so it's a hard sell for me. To go to ICAS would cost me a minimum of 3K. At the present rate, I'd have to book about six shows to break even on what we pull in after expenses!

Unless we are willing to "ramp it up" and go for it full time, it's not cost effective for us to attend ICAS. I willsay when I have gone, it's a great time and can be very helpful and informative.
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Thanks for the invite Tom! I have only seen Utah from the air book it looks very pristine and majestic, particularly the mountains.
Of course, I oversimplified my explanation. I have been going to airshows in some shape or fashion, a few a year, since 1968, when my dad and I fly his Champ over to Sewart Air Force Base for the Nashville Air Show. The airshow business seems to be trending away from the super high quality, try to do something special, or get one of everything type shows, like Michigan and the CAF's show, and towards the canned shows with canned acts, funded by military, a municipality, or other funding source.
Years ago they were often put on by the local Rotarians, EAA'rs, Kiwanis Club or whatever and they treated the locals with tents and seating and airplane parking, free beer passes and passes to the hangar party if you flew your warbird, antique, or homebuilt in for display.It was also more family friendly/spouse friendly. They also had air displays where they let all the EAA'rs fly around the pattern and display the airplanes to the local crowd. It was a lot of fun.
The trend is towards more "shock and awe" noise, 10 acts at 10 grand a pop flown in from somewhere else, and less support for the local guys tryng to get their antiques and warbirds flying. YOu know, fewer flying wires singing on the old biplanes and fewer neat old pistons and more "Stuff Bubba wants to take his kids to see a crash just like Nascar" themes.

Let me throw this one out there for everyone to chew on -

In the late 80’s - early 90’s a trend started where someone from the show would ask me not to sell Blues or T-Bird souvenirs at our aircraft. This was never a big deal because we always had plenty of other things to sell, as well as aircraft tours.

A few years later that morphs into being restricted to selling only items that are specific to the aircraft alone. You can imagine what this did to our budget.

Here’s what was happening. A concession company would put up the seed money to sign up acts, but would also have a clause in their contract stating they have exclusive rights to souvenirs.

Oddly enough, this was even happening at military base shows. At one time there was a directive that local 501(c)3 organizations could not be prevented from being part of a base event. I thought I might be able to get this interpreted as “any” 501(c)3, but when I tried to contact the Liaison office at the Pentagon I discovered that that office had been shut down.

I’ve talked to John Cudahy at ICAS, other operators, etc. The concession companies will not budge. I’ve even offered to come in a day early for VIP rides if someone would sponsor our appearance fee. I’m not active in airshows like I once was, but I don’t believe this problem has disappeared.

I was talking to the guy who has my old job not long ago, and he confided to me that another large warbird operator has been throwing their weight around a bit as well. You guys know who you are, shame on you. That’s not good for the long term viability of warbirds at airshows.

Thoughts?

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I know that there was a fight at Wings Over Houston several years ago over wing PXes. The show wanted the individual wing PXes to pay a vendor fee to the airshow mangement just like the for profit outfits selling souvenirs. This is a regular CAF show !

Apparently cooler heads prevailed and the problem was eventually worked out.

I don't know about woh working it out. They still want a huge vendor fee and % last time I tried to go. But they want your plane (CAF) and give you a whopping 500 bucks and all the gas you can carry out (all 70 gal) for one of the rarest planes in the fleet. It's just mother nature taking her course, the parents eat their young.

Obergrafeter, I was strictly relating to the mobile wing PX trailers, booths etc,...

The aircraft issue is a whole 'nother subject. The show has suffered because of local policys .