All_In;n1134580 said:
The reason is again because of what I heard which may also not be true.
When Gary Goldsberry used his own money and donated the airport to PRA it added maintenance cost and many said they will never come to Mentone and use the airport.
I'm told we had over 3,000 members in PRA at that time and we lost 2,300 members over owning the airport.
I do not wish to lose any more members because we spend PRA's surpluses money on an airport.
So every time we need to spend money on the airport I feel we need to have the members tells us that is what they want.
It's their money we only earn it for them.
John: I asked Gary Goldsberry while @ Mentone several years back how the airport was acquired. The PRA had more than $50K (how much I do not know), and the former owner of the airport (an ATP) was wanting to sell. The price was $150K, so the terms was for that $50K down, and the balance was to be paid off @ $1K month for whoever many years that took to pay off. Don't know the interest rate.
The runway @ that time was in sad shape, from reports I'd heard, and some $$ was spent, as well as volunteer & professional labor to make it better.
I asked Gary who paid for that manufactured home/office sitting on the airport grounds. He replied that he & Art Evans both put up the money to buy that as well as to have it installed & hooked up to utilities.
He answered my next question as to that expense: $30K. I then asked him if the two of them have ever been repaid for any of that, and he replied "No". I gathered by his quiet demeanor that he & Art Evans were spending those funds out of their own pocket to HELP the PRA. They also guaranteed the loan for the airport purchase's payments using their own personal credit.
From my observations of the vocal, outspoken detractors of the PRA purchasing it's own airport is that almost everyone who bad mouthed the purchase was/is some PRA members (as well as some non-members) who live almost exclusively in the southeastern portions of the US.
Many comments made orientated around how the PRA funds were used to buy Gary an airport (which happens to be some 100 miles north of where he lives in Indiana), and how the airport should be sold and the monies returned to the PRA members, so that Gary & his friends wouldn't have their airport to use anymore.
Not having been to the Greencastle area of Indiana (western suburbs of Indianapolis), I find it hard to believe the logic of the detractors who believed the PRA bought Gary an airport. The Greencastle area certainly must have better airports that Gary would have liked to own, since they are so close to his home!
I've been to Mentone three times. Each time I saw Gary & his wife,Sue, work tirelessly in the little cantina serving food to the crowds in attendance. I saw the sweat pouring off their faces. Hours later, when I happened by again, they were still there working just as hard. Other workers (VOLUNTEERS-ALL) were working just as hard. Quietly giving of their time and sweat in the summertime heat.
I believe all the bad-mouthers owe a gigantic apology to Gary, his wife Sue, Art Evans, and all the other hard workers. They certainly didn't do all that work for pay. I do know Gary has opened his wallet several times and donated money to the PRA. So have others.
The loud-mouth detractors I would highly suspect of not even helping out, let alone parting with any of their precious dollars to help the all-volunteer PRA out. LeRoy Hardee of Tennessee might be an exception to my generalization of southern complainers. If there are other southerners who supported the PRA in that decision, then I'm not aware of them.
Since the airport purchase, has the PRA ever been not allowed to hold a gyroplane/helicopter event because of liability fears from municipalities who own their airports, like what happened to the PRA in other states right before it was scheduled to start? NO.
John: I do question the reason for large membership drop being entirely the reason being the Mentone airport purchase. We've had several downturns/recessions in the economy over these last 30 years. Several have stated that aviation in general has gone through large losses in pilots flying, aircraft purchases, and membership rolls of flying organizations reducing.