How much support are people looking for on a fly-in / how to make fly-ins work

Having just returned from organising another successful ‘Fly Out’ (in initially atrocious weather!) to Overnighter_Chartres_pdf and having also ploughed through all the entries in this forum page(!) perhaps a few simple comments might help:

• The venue must, I believe, be a ‘Tour In’ as well as a ‘Fly In’. This is particularly to attract partners.
• The distance must be reasonably flyable for low-hour pilots to attract.
• The field need not necessarily be Instrument rated but doable.
• The date must be announced well in advance.
• Hotels must be booked by the people themselves who are coming. We used a chain/system that allowed cancellation/change without penalty. This proved a life-saver this time.
• A group meal should be attempted but people must recognise that a successful attendance creates problems: I booked a restaurant for 25 – only to have to cancel it because weather meant most people didn’t get there until the second day – when getting a table for 17 on the Saturday night was impossible. Hence they ate in groups; but we had pre & post meal drinks together.
• I use a WhatsApp page for those who say they are coming. This proved invaluable when dealing with delays, weather reports and gathering people together at short notice in Chartres.
• Useful to have an ‘attraction’ – this case a talk on the cathedral – which is ‘optional’, so in the end everyone comes!

Although we had 12 planes/25 people initially booked, we ended up with 9 planes/17 people. Not bad in the circumstances.

Peter wrote:

And if say 50 are “interested” then the fly-in dies because almost no place can park 50.

Complete nonsense @Peter, and the best way to scare eventual candidates away, well done
For one thing, 50 “interested” will lead to 1 up to maybe 20 attending. Now I have difficulty to call out fields not providing that capacity, out of high season that is.
As for ““going places” pilots having dropped out during covid”, that has been mentioned quite a few times by now, but is certainly not constructive for future fly-ins.

But what about looking back at the successful EuroGA fly-ins of the past? If you took part in some, please list them, and try to remember what made them great. This would provide some tools for future events.

I’ll start, and it’s gonna be real quick since I only attended the Andorra–La Seu d’Urgell, 16-17 October 2021.

1. location. Attractive since most had not been there previously, making the destination “exotic”
2. group reliability. Means we knew in advance that a few people would fly-in. Most of us won’t be going if there will only be one other isolated flyer going. I even covered my rosy buttocks by asking a trusty brother in arms to join with his steed
3. the airfield itself. IFR capable for those unable to VFR, and concrete for those unable grass or other surface. Parking capacity of 50 would probably have worked nicely
4. out of airfield attraction. A city gives numerous opportunities. Choice of hotels, restaurants, eventual places to visit for those so inclined
5. popular people promised to join… in this case Peter & Aart, whom I had communicated with, but was looking forward to meet face to face

I can’t imagine getting on CAT to go somewhere to talk about the hobby I’ve just left behind.
Especially when it’s costing me money sitting there.
My journey to the airfield is a fraction of the time and cost to Gatwick or Stansted.
We all have so many variables to consider, and life is getting more complicated for most people, not less.
I don’t think there is a secret formula to be discovered. It is what it is.
Some destinations/timings/wx will work out and some won’t.
Within the scope of what is likely to be done, I’m not convinced there’s much to be done, to specifically induce a greater turn out.

Dan wrote:

I’m sure some will agree, and some, mostly owners, will not be interested. I for one will certainly not board some stinky airliner to fly to some place in EU, when I have my own steed

Indeed, and very understandable. But I suspect that if we look, we might be able to find locations that fit both. Those who can fly there, can do so knowing that they won’t be the only one there, given that there should be some members who will arrive by CAT/Rail/Road.

dublinpilot wrote:

But I wondered, would there be an interest in doing a “meetup” rather than a “flyin”? That is, as a group, meeting up somewhere that is well served by loco commercial traffic where people were encouraged to “get there by any means possible” rather than simply fly in?

I’m sure some will agree, and some, mostly owners, will not be interested. I for one will certainly not board some stinky airliner to fly to some place in EU, when I have my own steed (yes I’m lucky, but I made most of the choices myself during my life )…
Loving to fly, I wanna fly A fly-in, as for instance a EuroGA one, just gives me the excuse to plan, and undertake the flight, having a goal in mind, a mission. Meeting people once arrived is just the icing on the cake.

Peter wrote:

I think some nominal amount like €20-50 would limit the size of the group to those who want to come and are in a position to do so.

I still don’t think it would make a difference in the amount of the people attending. Assuming the practice is introduced here, I would still be interested in trying to make a EuroGA fly-in. But I would delay the go/no-go decision to the day of the event, or maybe the day before.

Post #129 of 16 pages of ideas and suggestions
Any way to set up polls in a part of the forum? That would give us an indication of what the majority of people think about all these brain storming results… maybe.

Wx has proven to be the main factor. I think @ibra makes a valid point regarding sharing seats. It would make a VFR pilot less dependant on wx if he could join an IR pilot/aircraft. In the end it’s not about the number of aircraft but about the number of people joining. And there is a cost advantage that could tip the scale too.