New Years Vote

Bottom line is you can discuss anything you want, for as long as you want. But decisions like these need to be made BY VOTE AT THE CLUB MEETINGS. If you can't make it to a meeting, then write a letter to a club officer to cast a vote or opinion to consider in advance of the meeting.

So saying that, I have no issue at all with this being discussed on the forum, just so as long as we all agree that this is not a vote on where to have it thread as this is not a official meeting if you catch my drift.

Now as for my own personal opinion as to the new years fly-in....

1. If you want this club to grow and be a more fun and more successful club ( and having 10+ grand in the bank and a group of happy "Wauchula Morons" ;) I mean pilots could be called successful ) but if no one hasn't noticed I will remind you that there has been less attendance at Club fly-ins and meetings over the years, and part of why I think that has happened is the older guys are either getting too old to fly or are simply passing on, and your not replacing them with new young blood as fast as the elders are leaving.

Why is this?

Because this is not a family friendly activity, nor a really family friendly club. We have the main event at a airport in the middle of nowhere, and there is NOTHING there for the family to do.

Scott Lewis has shown a great effort in trying to do what he can do, by bringing blow up pools and bounce houses for the young kids, but otherwise there isn't nothing for the kids and ESPECIALLY the wives to do at these events ( other than to be stuck doing what none of the guys want to do such as run a registration tent or cook us food etc.... )

So when the club decided to try having at least one fly-in at River Ranch, at least here was one event you could bring your wife and kids to and there is plenty of stuff for them to do. Meanwhile as pilots we have a good place to fly from, as good as Wauchula possibly even better ( due to more interesting scenery to fly over )

Is River Ranch ideal? Maybe not, sure they have a rodeo and some noise late into the night.... And even though it didn't seem to bother those in tents who camped closer to the noise, the guys in the motorhomes complained about the noise.

And as for the "David Seace " thing that went down last year.... Hell I don't blame them. It is a private strip on private property and no one there signed any waivers taking blame away from River Ranch if a accident were to happen. Davey is flying what we know is a safe aircraft, but to 99 percent of the rest of the people on Earth would look at as a certain death trap if there ever was.... And here he is taking other River Ranch guests for paid rides out of their airport, and he carries ZERO insurance. They told him he could fly all he wanted but not to be charging for rides out of their airport. I think they were in the right to do so and they would have been nuts if they had not said something. Had by some weird chance, Davey had a accident and a passenger got hurt, River Ranch would have certainly been sued.

Anyway, River Ranch is a place that offers something for the whole family. I was very happy with the place. Wauchula offers nothing for the family - Jim, please don't take offense, I like you and what you have done for the airport, but the truth is the truth -

Now it was brought up and discussed ( I thought a vote was taken, but I guess not? ) to do New years at Pine Island. Pine Island most likely doesn't have as much to offer as River Ranch for the families, but surely has alot more to offer than Wauchula.

My family personally was looking forward to coming down to Florida after Christmas to do a family oriented gyro fly-in. But I am not going to burn 4$ a gallon gas to drag my gyro and family down to spend a weekend at Wauchula.

To make this club a better club and a more successful club in the future, you best be thinking of getting new blood into the club, and especially young blood. Making the club something that involves and entertains the whole family is key
 
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Maybe I should reword VOTE to suggestions--SORRY I'm not word friendly. Man you got blowen on that hey RON? I never took in consideration for RON'S vacation day's and like I've said not many bring families to flyins. I'm thinking about the local FLORIDA members who have the chance to do more than two flyins a year. Scott does a great job to accomadate family oreantation and the kids are great but I don't think we should base the club around families. Even though I'm all for family events.Young people have never been part of the Gyro world and if you can find a way to bring them I'm your right hand man . Ron man life is good so have fun with it and change is part of it.
 
Jake, I used to argue that Bensen Days at Wauchula was the biggest mistake the gyro community made ( same with Mentone held at Mentone ) that our fly-ins should be held at places where we can get maximum exposure to our machines and our way of flying, to other types of pilots and to as much of the general public as possible. I still feel the same way........

But I have decided to be selfish and have decided that as far as what is best for ME, right here and now, is to have these fly-ins at off the beaten path airports in small towns, so we have less air traffic to deal with, more open areas to fly over, and less chance of a FAA type there busting our balls on how we fly or if were even legal to fly.

So I can see how this selfishness and greed can easily sway people into saying SCREW EVERYONE, let's have this fly-in where it suits me and to hell with everyone else. That is what is pretty much happening just about everywhere else in life as it is.

But.... Look you guys can have a fly-in at Wauchula anytime. Why not have one this summer, say a Labor day weekend fly-in at Wauchula?

Can't the New Years fly-in be at least the one family friendly fly-in the club puts on? I mean it is right after Christmas and over the New Years day holiday, this is prime family time. The fact that we have always been able to get away from our familys to go to this fly-in is pretty surprising when you think about it.

Look don't base your plans on me directly. I may not even go this year. But just food for thought, and Wauchula only benifits those in the club that are already in the club. Jake as a new club board member, you ought to know that sometimes you need to sacrifice what YOU want to make it better for what someone else wants. think about it
 
Man Ron thet was great when you sit back to take the time to word yourself you make sence. I'm all for the family fun, and am pleased to see you understand my point. Being a board member allows me nothing in anyway other than officer voting. I've been an active member for almost 20 years and we use to have our flyins all over the state. We had our meetings at our flyins. now we have meetings with no planned flying or cammping or cooking events. We worked for our money we would have swap meets and all the money I made went to the club. I use to bring fresh fish and Ms Annie and Ora would cook it up in the best way. We would have hog roast and on and on and on. Still till this day if I make money at an event most of it or all of it went to the club. I've done things to help the club that you or anyone else no's anything about . I'm not about the glory I'm for the club. Now that I'm old and board I'll probably be more active in overt actions for the club less labor, thats for you young guy's.

Back to topic. This thread is for popular wants for our flying and group fun. Can't find out with the system we have, and this seems to work we have more attention about more flyins than ever. Since Cat fish and Scott have been Pres. our flyins went down hill. Bud had it going on and was THE BEST PRES. EVER. Not saying Scott sucks just that he is different and needs to consider how thing use to be and get back on track.
 
Just remember Jake.... you speak fondly of the " good ole days " but I think the club needs to be looking to get new younger guys and families involved so there will be more good ole days 2 years, 5 years, 20 years from now...
 
New year flyin used to be held in Okeechobee every year when I first joined the club Why? I don't know just tradition I suppose. We contuined to do so for several years untill they changed city manangers and we had no insurance.Emery Riddle has students into and out of Okeechobee and the most of them don't even have a basic understanding of the english language. We are our own worst enemy. Most won't use raidos or want get on the airport frec and do a lot of chatter so that the fixed wing traffic cannot get a edge in cross ways. Don't pay any attention to the flags and seem to think that is not for me must be for some one else! Airplane drivers complain and we are asked not to come back.
Avon Park don't want us there they are a big place for sky divers and parachutes and rotors don't mix well at all.
Pine Island is a very nice place to visit but not gyro friendly. I lived the most of my life in the Ft.Myers/Pine Island area and and I know that there is no place for a engine out there,Not to mention that Pine Island is a retirement area and the people who live there don't want thier little "piece of heaven" disturbed by a bunch of noisy gyros disturbing thier sleep or thier golf game. Cape Coral is not a good place to go down eithor,if there is such a place! Power lines are like spider webs. And if the landing strip has not been improved it is very rough.The gyros with out a good supension system will have a rough time there.There is not any over run area at all. Don't get me wrong,I like the area but it is not the place to hold a gyro flyin.
The Immokalee airport has opened up to us for camping again I understand. And there is miles of open areas to fly in.
River Ranch is pretty good but if we are to further our sport how can it happen if no one can give or sell rides to get people interested? They don't want to see a machine way off the airport doing what they do but most want to be able to take a ride. The most of us wanted to at some time did'nt we? I know that this is not what we want to hear but come on our choice is very limited as where we can go,off field landing being the most important. And untill we clean up our act and fly as responsible pilots and be a bit more airport friendly and use radios even if it is a non controled airport remember that there is more than us in the air.What is all this rambleing? I'm pointing out that our areas to fly have been cut way down.
Before the flyins were family frendly,Just that the family wanted to hang around and visit with the other familys , no one wanted to go to the beach or disney land just to be together and have a cook out and catch up with the news from other areas. we were allways for the family and and most of our knowledge came from listening to the older guys tell of thier experances and not repeating the bad ones.The most of the "old" guys are gone from us now,there are very few left any more,Chuch Beaty, Ernie Boyette,Skip Komlodi,Jake,Lee scattergood,Pappy McNear just a few names that come to mind who attend our flyins any more.
Wauchula welcomes us and we need them. They have gone to a lot of expence to keep us there. The electric and water was not donated to them.A lot of money was spent to make us more comfortable and we should use it.
 
So we could go to River Ranch, and expose our gyros, our hobby and our club to hundreds of other people - most of them with the finacial means to afford to buy a gyro and take lessons - But we can't offer rides since the only way they will allow it is if you have insurance. So we can get good exposure, and we could tell interested people to see their closest gyro CFI for a ride and join the PRA and hope to see you at the next Sunstate function......

Or we can go to Wauchula and expose ourselves to no one but the Gators, and maybe a stray Wauchula area resident who just happened to stop by the airport by chance and saw us there - which due to the fact that there is a hangar full of gyros there year round, I would think would pretty well cover all the exposure needs the Wauchula area demands personally.


We could go to Immokolee and have a good time, but again, expose ourselves to no one....


Hey whatever, you guys do what you think you should do. Like I said, who knows if I will even be able to afford the gas to drive down this winter anyway and I certainly don't think the club should base something as important as where to hold club functions based on my behalf. I just know that River Ranch was a great place in my opinion, and going to Pine Island sounded like it might also be a good option too for all the same reasons.
 
The Immokalee airport is where I did my solo flight in a gyro. I would like to come down and camp for a week. flyin or not what do you say Jake?

Brent
 

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Brent my man. Been good I hope . Long time no see. Call me and we can go anytime you want. I'll even bring the motor home for ya so you could camp old man style!! Yeah alot of folks were brought to the gyro world in Immakolee, crap even Ron was there. Still owe Catfish a good BUTT WOPPIN for that!! :) We are going to have breakfast flyins twice a month and I'll post the dates. Everyone is welcome. That air port has had more gyro's in it's time than anywhere-else. So get with me and we'll make a weekend out of it.

Jake--239 695-2145
239-404-5112

No other calls please unless it's PORN related!!
 
We still get folks come to Immakolee to check out the gyro's and it's in the middle of nowhere.
 
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