GyroRon
Former Gyro know it all
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2003
- Messages
- 16,888
- Location
- Fort Mill South Carolina
- Aircraft
- Vans RV4 / Dominator 582 Ultrawhite
- Total Flight Time
- ALOT
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
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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