In the local Pocatello paper: "Permission was denied to a car club, that had been holding the event for 18 years, to hold their annual Auto-X Event. The article is written in the usual Idaho State Journal garbled fashion, but it would appear that in past years, they "just did it". With the blessings of the local airport manager of course. But, someone decided to ask permission, possibly the new(er) airport manager (KYA in action), whoever the boat rocker was, permission was denied. The airport manager mentioned "possible loss of federal funding" etc. Now he is claiming he will further research the subject and see if it can be permitted, he should have just kept his trap shut! Looks like he just made himself a little more job security!

It's ALWAYS better to ask forgiveness than to ask for permission!

But there is another side to this. What if the airport manager was genuinely looking out for the airport, specifically wanting to not put any of the federal funding at risk? Let's say the manager just kept quiet and had the car event, and the little old lady living near the airport complained about the car noise, so the feds looked into it, and cut off airport funding until it was all worked out. I guarantee the pilots would be a lot more angry over that!

The correct way to do this would have been to have the car show "newly expanded" to include aviation (the EAA Young Eagles kids intro flights would be a big winner here), and thus the event magically no longer presents a risk to ther airport.

EZFlap wrote:But there is another side to this. What if the airport manager was genuinely looking out for the airport, specifically wanting to not put any of the federal funding at risk? Let's say the manager just kept quiet and had the car event, and the little old lady living near the airport complained about the car noise, so the feds looked into it, and cut off airport funding until it was all worked out. I guarantee the pilots would be a lot more angry over that!

The correct way to do this would have been to have the car show "newly expanded" to include aviation (the EAA Young Eagles kids intro flights would be a big winner here), and thus the event magically no longer presents a risk to ther airport.

I agree 100 % with this idea... it is all how you 'package' your proposal to the feds.. Making it aviation related will get your foot in the door, adding a car 'demonstration' is just a sidelite to the event. And, hey,,, most car nuts have entire family participation and getting more kids hooked using the young eagle approach is a viable way to introduce our addiction and is always a great thing..

Ben.

A while back (8-10yrs?) they used to have 1/8 mi drags on rwy 34 @ KRAL organized by some club. Rwy 26 was in use and this happened south bound south of rwy 26. I just googled to see what happened to them but no info. And there is a FSDO on field so I know they had knowledge of them.

EZFlap wrote:The correct way to do this would have been to have the car show "newly expanded" to include aviation (the EAA Young Eagles kids intro flights would be a big winner here), and thus the event magically no longer presents a risk to ther airport.

That sure works here!
Cars motorcycles planes all on the field. http://www.travelsd.com/Newsroom/Multim ... int=1&o=31

Packaging is everything.

45 years ago I used to go to the road races at Santa Barbara Airport. They had them every Memorial and Labor Day.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~fsheff/covsb960.htm

Tim

qmdv wrote:45 years ago I used to go to the road races at Santa Barbara Airport. They had them every Memorial and Labor Day.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~fsheff/covsb960.htm

Tim

Were you just a couple years old back then?

We have drag races twice a year at St. Anthony(u12). Frankly it's a PITA for me because they set the bleachers/starting tree in front of my hanger door and trash my lawn but it's only 2 days out of 365. I always throw out extension cords and hoses for them and I actually find it entertaining. Last year there was an expensive paint job of so and so RACEING (yup, with an "e", how many rednecks does it take to spot a spelling mistake in a $5000 paint job?)I figure the more people that have a fond memory of our little airport the better, a lot of airports have been closed because 95% of voting citizens didn't care if it lived or died. As mentioned, fly-ins and young eagles is a super way to reach out to the non-flying public, our airport manager does a good job with PR. I suppose someone will eventually fink us off to the feds but they know we'll ask for money to keep the riff-raff out so maybe they'll turn their head.

Hey, Nosedragger.. Can ya PM me the dates for the races ???

Thanks in advance.

Ben
www.haaspowerair.com

Nosedragger wrote:I figure the more people that have a fond memory of our little airport the better, a lot of airports have been closed because 95% of voting citizens didn't care if it lived or died. As mentioned, fly-ins and young eagles is a super way to reach out to the non-flying public, our airport manager does a good job with PR.

There's your blueprint for small airport survival right there, folks. Pay attention to what the man said.