YOUR CLUB CAN create its own air show, build membership,
and have fun in the process! Neil Miles’ excellent July 2004 MA
article “Planning and Running a Large Club Event,” about the
Rocky Mountain Big Bird Festival near Fort Collins, Colorado,
inspired our club, and we went from there.
The Arvada Associated Modelers of Arvada, Colorado, is one
of the largest AMA chapters in the world, but with some effort
any club can put on a successful event. Read on to learn how my
club did it.
Decide on a Theme: Air shows are fun, but we don’t want to just
entertain; we want to get people involved. Therefore, our event is
“The Arvada ‘You Too Can Fly’ Model Air Show.” Last year it
was held September 9. We are fortunate to have a good
relationship and field lease from the city of Arvada, and the event
is a nice “thank you” to them.
Excellent regional pilots and a fun atmosphere attract locals,
who then stick around for buddy-box flying. Our club has two
separate flying fields, so we run the show on one runway and
have buddy-box sessions on the other.
Publicity Is Key: There are two core ingredients in an air show:
acts and spectators. It takes good publicity to get both.
Your team can busy itself with all sorts of important logistics
details, but without great publicity you may find yourselves with a
lot of portable toilets and no people! Club member Larry Hansen
has made publicity a priority.
Our club focuses on people who live within an easy driving
distance. Arvada has a classic “big event in a little town,” which
is its annual Harvest Festival. We became an Official Sanctioned
Harvest Festival Event, which means a great deal of free
publicity, free booth space to promote the show, etc.
There is a big parade for the festival, and our club enters two
floats, complete with many airplanes, a bullhorn, and catchy
displays. Members walk beside the floats and hand out candy and
flyers about the air show. We plan the start of the show to give
people time to make it out from the parade.
Handouts, posters, and good signage bring the bulk of our
attendees. Larry and his crew take colorful posters around to area
hobby shops and many businesses. They also leave and then
restock piles of circulars at the hobby shops.
The posters supply the who, what, where, and when of the air
show. They also feature a map and a member’s cell phone number
to call if someone gets lost. The posters are general in nature
because our crowd wouldn’t know a Top Gun winner from an
IMAC (International Miniature Aerobatic Club) champ.
The road signs are put out the day of the show. They are on
sawhorses at intersections with arrows pointing the way. Heavy
rains dropped attendance in 2006, but in 2005 there were 300 cars
in the parking lot and attendance of approximately 2,000.
Club members are encouraged to attend and bring friends and
neighbors. We were happy when single moms started showing up
with kids in tow.
“Like having wild animals come to your salt lick,” one club
member said.
June 2007 39
BY CHRISTOPHER J. BART
“You Too Can Fly”
MODEL AIR SHOW
Brian O’Meara’s striking Top Gun Spitfire
pleases the crowd’s World War II buffs.
Bert Sutton’s “CAP USA” paints a
patriotic picture against the Rocky
Mountains in the background.
Silent electric-powered 3-D aerobatic
demonstrations are a big hit.
What one club did to attract more people to the hobby
06sig2.QXD 4/23/07 1:06 PM Page 39
40 MODEL AVIATION
Left: Air Show
Chairman Chris
Bart provides
colorful show
c o m m e n t a r y .
Frank Dilatush
photo.
Right: The personal
touch of handing
out flyers with
maps at the parade
is a crucial crowd
builder. Note the
sign!
Having plenty of simulators provides a great ground school. It
also keeps restless kids happy, particularly if the weather turns
temporarily sour.
CL demos are a great change of pace at the show. The crowd
pressed hard against the fence and applauded loudly every time
a model went up.
The air show is timed for right after the parade. The families
have just enough time to pack up their lawn chairs and drive out
to the field.
Photos by Lee Jay Fingersh and Darren Bryant except as noted
06sig2.QXD 4/23/07 12:36 PM Page 40
June 2007 41
Colorado Rotor-Heads President Eric Balay
performed eye-popping helicopter demos
that helped show the hobby’s diversity.
United Airlines Captain Gary Jones’
AeroWorks Acrojet brought requests to
“Turn off the music so we can hear it.”
Bert Sutton’s opening act ended with a
Harrier landing at stage center.
Unaccustomed to 3-D, the crowd burst
into applause.
The bigger the trainer, the happier the
student! Learning to fly is the part that
really excites the crowd.
Each year an RTF is given away in a raffle. All is quiet when the
winning number is read.
A benefit of the family-friendly approach is having more women
come out each year to learn about modeling and give flying a try.
The crowd appreciated partial access to the pit area. The pilots appreciated tables to keep
their models safe. Giant Scale models that were too big for the tables were roped off.
06sig2.QXD 4/23/07 1:09 PM Page 41
Our success has been mainly with
fathers and with their sons. We knew that if
they came out they might bring their entire
families. If mom or one of the kids asks to
go home, we lose our chance to recruit dad.
Our farsighted board, headed by
chairman Jim Wallen, approved a no-fee
approach to everything. Even the food is
almost free; a family of four eats for $12!
A local real estate firm runs the entire
concession stand and donates all the
ingredients—and lets the club keep the
proceeds! We also offer free chilled bottled
water and sunscreen.
Local television and radio stations
might be effective means of publicity if
you have connections, but they have not
been for us. The Arvada newspaper gives
us good coverage, but the big Denver
papers have not been interested. Clubmember
contacts work better than a
shotgun approach.
Get Special Interest Groups Involved:
Successful community theater and choral
groups get as many people involved as
possible in their events because their
friends will go see them. We do the same.
The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) handles our
parking, does an effective flag-raising
ceremony at the opening, and runs its own
booth in the midway. We get the cadets to
walk through the crowd with each major
prize item just before it is awarded.
A local rocket club uses our field for
launches, and we want to involve it next
year, perhaps at the half-time break. We
figure the more groups that are involved,
the more members we recruit. The process
can take time, and few people sign up as
members at the show, but it definitely
works.
Two years ago we invited the Rocky
Mountain Electric Flyers of Arvada to
come and do a demonstration. It was
enthusiastically received, and the club’s
booth was busy. A friendly dialogue grew
between our groups, and when the club lost
its flying field the members joined our
club!
This year we plan to invite a local
model-car club to put on a demonstration
on the main runway at half-time. The group
can have free pavilion space for a static
display, etc. While it is signing up new
members, maybe we’ll do the same.
Layout: Traffic flow and visibility are
important. Our greeter welcomes each
carload and finds out if there is a club
member aboard. If so, he or she gets a
special prize ticket (see the prizes section,
which follows) and all others get a general
crowd ticket. The greeter tells the visitors
about the two fields and then directs them
to the CAP cadets for parking.
We usually have a portable toilet at each
flying field, but we bring in extras for the
show. We make sure at least one is labeled
“Women.”
Next year we are thinking about buying
bleachers to make the crowd more
42 MODEL AVIATION
The roster changes as new acts come up.
Howard Siebenrock placed this simple
magnetic system in the pits to keep it
straight.
AMA District IX Vice President Mark
Smith (L) presents Jim Wallen with an
award for outstanding achievement from
the Arvada Associated Modelers.
Model Air Show Tips
1) Decide on a theme.
2) Publicity is key. Use informative posters, flyers, and signs to advertise to
people within an easy driving distance. Encourage club members to bring a
neighbor family.
3) Consider free admission.
4) Get special interest groups involved. Feature them and they will support you.
5) Make your layout crowd-friendly so they can see the models as much of
the time as possible.
6) Have a midway. People love the feel and they stay longer.
7) Use catchy static displays to feature special interest groups and to build
interest.
8) Have RTFs as raffle prizes and keep the drawing simple.
9) Get a good PA system and a good DJ. Move the generator far away to
prevent distracting noise.
10) Have a flexible flight schedule and put up a new act every four to six minutes.
11) Brief the pilots for safety: “Fly at 80%.”
12) Use a blend of acts. Crowds want something new all the time.
13) Use simulators to prepare the student pilots and to occupy them while
they wait to be called to their buddy boxes.
14) You can’t have too many aircraft and buddy-box instructors. Make each
pilot responsible for his or her own trainer.
15) Get the names and information from student pilots and follow up with
them after the show. Invite them to training night and to meetings. MA
—Christopher J. Bart
06sig2.QXD 4/23/07 12:38 PM Page 42
comfortable. Father-and-son members Lee
and Brent Aga bring in portable cattle
fencing each year to supplement our
existing flightline fence.
We generally avoid having any
buildings, banners, or tents that block the
crowd’s view. Club-member “sag” areas
are toward the ends of the runway, and the
public-address (PA) stand is back from the
flightline.
No county fair is complete without a
midway, so we planned one too. Special
permission to sell goods and free booth
space swells vendor attendance. Every
spectator walks through the midway to
enter or leave.
Booths such as ours that have sign-up
areas are placed next to high-volume
producers such as hobby shops. We
position all the booths on the side away
from the runway so the crowd and the
booth tenders can see the show.
We always want a static display that is
a big crowd draw. One year we featured a
world-record-setting sailplane, complete
with full computer gear to replay the flight.
Another popular exhibit was the NASA
CO2 rocket-powered proof-of-concept
Mars airplane.
Prizes and Drawings: We have one or
two RTF models as prizes for the crowd
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and shift all other donations to a low-key
club-member drawing. The main drawing
winner must be present to win. Since the
tickets must be deposited in a drum to be
eligible, only those who are interested have
a chance to win.
The member prize awards can be picked
up for 90 days after the show. That
prevents club members from feeling
slighted if they are on duty at the buddybox
line and don’t hear the announcements.
Equipment: A powerful PA system is a
big benefit. We use eight speakers and a
professional DJ. We have patriotic music
for the flag-raising, and a copy of taps for a
humorous approach to crashes.
Our anchor announcer carries the show
along, and remote commentators get the
story where the action is. The DJ area and
announcer’s stand are on a raised platform
back from the flightline.
Our noisy generator needs 400 feet of
heavy wire to get it away from the crowd.
If you combine shorter cords, tie them
together with slack at the plugs. Does the
generator run on diesel or gas? We found
out about that one the hard way!
Transmitter Impound: Some of our older
members like the chance to make a serious
contribution by tending the impound, and
they don’t have to do much walking
around. We use split shifts so no one gets
pinned down for too long.
A Team Approach: The parade and other
promotional activities have their own
leaders. Club Treasurer Jerry Johnson
budgets for a rain-out every three years.
Even so, we broke even with iffy weather
last year.
Now we have Events Chairman Don
Sikkema overseeing the entire process.
That has freed me to focus on the air show,
which is my first love.
Don’t be surprised if people are cautious
at first. We decided that our first year
would be sort of a dry run. This defused
many initial criticisms, and when a sizable
crowd showed up we were pleased.
Scheduling: We spend hundreds of hours
on preparation, but things never go as
planned. We do much of the show setup the
day before and allow time in the morning
to do it all again if there is a weather
problem.
There is a big pilots’ party the night
before the event, with free food for all who
help. It gives newer members a chance to
see the “big guns” up close and learn a few
tips. Many of the air show acts like the
chance to use the field ahead of time, and
sometimes we have night fliers.
For one reason or another roughly 30% of
the pledged air show acts do not actually fly.
Rescheduling impacts pilots and the crowd.
No one wants a .40-sized glow model to
follow a 40% 3-D gas-powered aircraft with
full smoke, so one scratch can ripple through
the lineup as we consider the right sequence to
44 MODEL AVIATION
06sig2.QXD 4/23/07 12:38 PM Page 44
please the pilots and the crowd.
To help we placed a metal board with
magnetic plates on it in the pits, where the
flightline boss posts the flying order. The
scheduler runs each pilot’s information
sheet back to the main announcer.
Flightline: Americans are used to a “Top
40 radio style,” so a new act takes off every
four to six minutes. Flightline controller
Howard Siebenrock and his team
orchestrate a smooth, fast flow of pilots and
airplanes. One taxiway is for models going
out and another is for those coming in.
The scheduler must collect the pilot data
and run it back to the PA stand every 15
minutes or so. The crew members are
usually exhausted at the end of the day and
swear they will never do it again, but they
come back year after year.
The Big Day: We have a pilot briefing just
before the air show. Safety is the focus. We
emphasize fun and grace over technical
prowess. We want “80% flying,” not the
wildest stuff a pilot can do.
Our crowd does not know the difference
between knife-edge Snap Rolls in a Rolling
Circle 5 feet above ground level and a nice
basic 3-D demo, but they know a crash
when they see one. Pilots love to fly at our
show because they can do a nice routine,
not risk their models, and get strong
applause.
Popular local pilot Bert Sutton is the
“pied piper” who led other pilots to us. His
40% Carden CAP that is finished in a
patriotic theme with full smoke and
accompanied by great music tracks opens
the show every year.
Last year Brian Copfer and friends from
Salt Lake City, Utah, orchestrated a fourmodel
3-D display that awed the crowd.
Mark Dennis and Rocco Mariani of
AeroWorks have also been featured pilots.
Club member and Top Gun winner
Brian O’Meara entertains with his
warbirds, and Gary Jones’ jet draws cheers
every time he flies it. Eric Balay gives
dazzling helicopter displays and drops toy
soldiers by parachute. Watching the kids
run out to claim their prizes after the
helicopter is safely away is a real treat.
Ted Hughes and Leif Casey have two
acts: one is a gas-powered model towing
up a sailplane and the other is a “gaselectric
shootout.” Incidentally, the electric
pilot won last year!
Members also put on a great display of
CL flying, including a Speed demo. The
crowd pressed up close when the fast little
airplane was brought past last year.
Involve the Whole Club: In early years
some felt this was not a “total club” event.
Now we reserve the time while the crowd is
rolling in and break it into separate 15-
minute windows for electric-, glow-, and
gas-powered models. Any club member can
strut his or her stuff. We reopen the field
immediately at the show’s end, and a good
crowd stays to watch.
We run two complete grandstand shows
in the afternoon so people and volunteers
who are down at the training field get a
chance to see a full performance. This also
spreads out the buddy-box time so we can
accommodate all interested new pilots.
“You Too Can Fly”: Stewart Garrett’s
family sets up computers that run simulator
software, which keeps the kids from getting
bored. It also lets nervous would-be buddybox
pilots practice before tackling the real
thing.
In early years the enthusiastic crowd
quickly depleted airplanes, flight packs, and
instructors. That created lines of frustrated
would-be pilots. Pat Vachon and his team
now use a dozen instructors and models, and
staging occurs from the simulator area with
a radio link to call small busloads of
students down as buddy boxes free up.
Do It! As do numerous clubs, we have
many wonderful “graying” members—and
we have a nice mix of younger people
coming along. Get involved and make the
same thing happen at your club!
The 2007 Arvada “You Too Can Fly”
Model Air Show will be held Saturday,
September 8. To learn more, contact me via
E-mail or call me at (303) 246-0536 (8 a.m.-
8 p.m. Mountain Time). MA
Christopher J. Bart
[email protected]
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