Comment

Comment by Obie S. Young on April 16, 2012 at 8:54am

Timothy:  We really do appreciate your input and I will fwd this to the SNF Staff so they will be awair of what happened.  As I said this was a transition year with lots of changes.   Thanks again for your comments.  ***OBIE ***

Comment by Timothy F. Heilig on April 16, 2012 at 8:37am

Obie,the volunteers where doing great, it was the local police and the security guys at the gates that had no clue. I was late getting back to chopper town and my GPS had sent me down the wrong road.  it was about 1 p.m. and the way I needed to go the cops had blocked off. then I they sent me to another gate, and the security guy would not let me in I even had an exhibitor badge on. I was getting so stressed and I guess because I had a biker tee shirt on, these A holes even took down my plate number.  I was personally invited by Safari Helicopters to this event. had proper I.D.  and finely I was able to get a hold of the people from Safari. and they came and got me. stupidest comment one made was, they could let me in but my car did not have a pass so I could not take it in.. excuse me, but that is my Tow car, and had the supplys my Girlfriend needed as she is Handicaped desert storm vet. now I am an old school biker, I can fight with the best of them, but when some a hole in a uniform tells me I can't take my car in that has the supplys for my handicapped girl friend, well that is where I have to draw the line. worse part is not a single cop or security person even knew where chopper town was. I even showed the security people,that if I was not supposed to be able to take my car in, then why did I have the combination to the gate locks.  anyway I know it is not your fault, and honestly I have been around EAA since the late 70's and well Rotorcraft have alway been the kind of bastard children of EAA. but gees you would think the local cops would have known where chopper town was. I even explained it was the helicopter area, so they would not think I was referring to chopper type bikes.

Oh well I juts hope things get better next year. some times Change is not a good thing. I have always read about Sun-n-Fun in sport aviation and had really looked forward to going. needless to say unless we get moved closer,I don't think I will go back. I mean I can't help but think if there had been a crash and EMS needed to get to chopper town and the local cops can't tell a person how to get there, then that don't make a person feel to good about EMS getting there except the life flight Helicopter. like I said the Volunteers did great, it was the out side law enforcement that dropped the ball. I do look forward to seeing the slide shows as honestly where we were, we pretty much could not see much at all and Safari helicopters failed to get the proper passes for my Girlfriend to even enter the event area.  now just so you have some back ground on me, I use to be in CAP as a kid and have a 2 aircraft finds to my credit I have also worked with an airshow team in the past holding the poles for the inverted ribbon cut,I have done airshow announcing at several local airshows and I am a charter member of IAC chapter 19 and have done the Heliops at a few major helicopter fly-in's  so I under stand all that is involved and the hard work that goes into it. but when the local cops can't tell you where an area is and these guys in the black and silver uniforms can't tell you and then when they think you are not looking write down your tag number. then that tells me there is a major issue there. I hope maybe you can get the right people to address it. and thats is all I will say about it as I don't want to come off sounding like some jerk. EAA and the Volunteers did great.  will be looking forward to seeing the Rotorcraft slide show, who knows ya might even have my little Commuter H-1B in there.  

Comment by Obie S. Young on April 16, 2012 at 5:59am

Timothy.   We have daily recap slide shows also.  The one with the Chopper Town is not up yet.  We have some ground and air shots thanks to the folks at Chopper Town.  There were lot of changes at SUN 'n FUN this year.  That is why they put the site maps online, on the iphones, and in the daily news.  Even with all that there was still some confusion. This was a transiton year and there were many changes, I am sorry that you had a bad experience.  Let me assure you that the 3,500 + volunteers were trying very hard to ensure that you and everyone else had a safe and enjoyable time at the event.  *** OBIE ***

Comment by Timothy F. Heilig on April 15, 2012 at 8:22am

Nice Video, would have been great if it had more Rotorcraft in it. first time at Sun N Fun and even the security people did not know how to direct me to chopper town. long story but had a bad experance with security on that issue,when I arrived late in the day and could not get to my aircraft. heard a few rotorcraft vendors say they probably won't return next year,due to no one being able to find them. had to even look hard on the map to find Rotorcraft mentioned. great airshow. only thing that made it worth the long drive to me was seeing my Helicopter flown after a 2+ years rebuild. then the storm made us pack up and leave early.

best part of the airshow was the chipmunk and the beach 18.

Comment by Obie S. Young on April 13, 2012 at 12:01pm

Get yourself a cold drink, kick your feet up and relax as you view a digital recap of SUN 'n FUN 2012. It is just to much to see during the week and a lot of activities go on in the background by staff and volunteers to ensure a safe, educational, enjoyable event. This show is about 10 minutes long.. So go full screen, turn up the speakers a little and relax and enjoy.