Meeting May 1, 2008

City of Yuma Commemorative Fly-in

Committee Minutes

First Annual to be held October 9-11, 2009

Attendees:

Paul Rachels – Interim Chair
Jeanine Rhea
Bob Helfrich
Ken Scott

Meeting called to order at 5:20

MEETING WITH MCAS AND AIRPORT

Reported on meeting from Tuesday:

Paul, Albert and Jeanine met with Craig Williams, Yuma Airport Manager and Greg McShane, MCAS Yuma Airfield Operations Manager. We determined that the old Douglas facility area would be the most likely place to park the planes and cars for small car show. A parking lot outside the gate is large enough to accommodate all drive in traffic. We determined areas that would be best for parking the planes with an overflow parking area. If we have a more than that can even handle we can utilize the FBO’s or planes can land at Somerton and pilots can be bussed to the Yuma Airport. Craig said he believes that water and power are available still in that area but we would have to check on that. Several tents will need to be erected in the area and there should be plenty space for those as well.

We talked about WTI training which is scheduled to be going on during that time frame. This was a major cause of concern for Greg. He said that MCAS will definitely lend as much support as they can (providing that we fill out the necessary request for PR support form and submit through proper channels) during this busy period of time. He said that Sunday would not be a problem but Friday and Saturday are scheduled training days and they will most likely not be able to divert from their programs. Training aircraft will start to depart from MCAS after 11:00am and will be ongoing throughout the day until late evening. We will need to issue NOTAMS directing that all GA aircraft arriving for the fly-in be on the ground by no later than 10:30am as to not interfere with their mission. Any late-comers can be re-directed to Somerton and pilots be bussed over. We determined that we would set a time window for departures should anyone not want to stay over. If flexibility of departure is a concern then we need to suggest they fly into Somerton only. This information, of course, will be posted on our Fly-in website.

Since it is our intention to try to provide a wide variety of events, entertainment and ease of transportation to try to interest pilots in staying over for the weekend we anticipate fewer mid-event departures than a typical Fly-in (hopefully!).

We addressed the topic of security and we felt that the Douglas facility would lend itself to that with its fence surrounding it, open only at the taxi way. We would need to have some security personnel in place to assure that no one strays.

Greg asked what kind of “support” we might be requesting from the Marines. We replied that we would hope to have a few static displays and possibly some personnel on hand to assist. It was also mentioned that it would be a great idea to have someone that was familiar to the bases’ mission to speak at a forum. We could have a local historian talk about the history of MCAS from when it was “Fly Field” and how it transitioned into Marine Corps Air Station Yuma (with the help with our heroes) and the important mission that it serves today. After the historian is finished speaking we have the designated MCAS speaker talk about what is going on with MCAS today. This would be evidenced by the ongoing air traffic of the wide array of military toys flying overhead.

We didn’t think we would need to ask for military aircraft demonstrations as the ongoing training itself will allow attendees to witness plenty of action.

PLANE PARADE

After briefing today’s committee attendees of the aforementioned meeting several other ideas were brought to the table. Paul suggested that perhaps we could have a parade of planes as they do in Palm Springs. We thought perhaps we should limit it to just Aeronca aircraft but this will be TBD. A few possible routes were discussed. We would need to have a fence company temporarily widen the rear exit of the area to allow planes to pass through it. Bob suggested that we could maybe build a ramp over the fence and tow the planes over. After some discussion the widening of the entrance idea was favored. Like the Midnight At the Oasis car show we could request that the route be closed to vehicular traffic and the planes could begin a slow procession around the route with the City of Yuma plane leading the parade and the re-fueling car tailing. The re-fueling car could contain grand marshall town hero pilot Woody Jongeward. Another suggestion was to have an Endurance Days pageant or contest in early Endurance Days (August) and have Ms. Endurance sit in honor in the re-fueling car. Possibly, Civil Air Patrol cadets and/or Border Control Explorer troupe members can serve as wing walkers to keep anyone from walking too close to the taxiing aircraft. (View example of plane parade here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d48L3jPMV2o&feature=related)

POSSIBLE GRANT OPPORTUNITY

Jeanine reported that she had found a Federal match grant opportunity that looked promising called the Preserve America grant. The grant is awarded to projects devoted to the promotion of historic tourism. Sounds like Yuma Endurance Days! Jeanine met with Yuma Heritage and they are willing to help with the grant application process. The grant will need to be submitted by the City and the administration of it can be subbed to Yuma Visitor’s Bureau. Time is of the essence as the grant must be received by June 30^th.

Jeanine asked the committee for a wish list of items we would like to use the grant money for should we win the award.

Banners for 4^th Avenue, Downtown Yuma, the Fly-in fence and temporary directional sign banners were suggested. Brochures and advertising could also be covered with the grant.

ENTERTAINMENT

Jeanine asked the committee if they had any ideas for day or evening activities to entertain pilots and other visitors. It was suggested that we need to have some type of band or bands play. It was also suggested that we may try to partner with Colorado Riverboat Cruises. Another idea was to have a tour bus scheduled for pick-ups for anyone wishing to go to Algadones Mexico for shopping. We would have to post the opportunity on the website with a reminder to make sure attendees bring their passports. The discussion turned to bus service and we felt that we needed to contact YCAT to determine if they would alter or provide temporary bus service to pick up at the Fly-in and drop off at area attractions, restaurants, casinos, hotels and Somerton Airport. A committee member was designated to contact YCAT to find out if this could be arranged.

YUMA ARMY PROVING GROUNDS

We discussed the possibility of asking YPG if we could also get some static display support from them. Weaponry, Hummers or trailer type displays would be a welcome attraction. A committee member was assigned to contact the PR rep at YPG.

PANCAKE MACHINE

Paul Rachels received plans for construction of a pancake turn table griddle which would make pancakes for the Fly-in breakfast extremely fast and easily. He said that the EAA would vote on whether or not to use their own funds to build it and it would be available for use at the Fly-in and other EAA pancake breakfasts.

FBOS

Jeanine reported that she had spoken to Joe at Careflight and let him know of our plan. Joe said to keep him updated and that they would certainly be able to offer discounted fuel for our event. We will need to talk to the other FBOs and see if they can offer the same.

TOWER TOURS

It was discussed that we could possibly arrange tower tours for Sunday. Since it is assumed that the tower would not want to be overwhelmed with visitors they might be amenable to providing tours for 50 or less persons. We could arrange it for Sunday as many attendees that stay over Saturday will most likely wish to fly out early Sunday so we could arrange for people who wanted to visit the tower to stay a little longer. This may help with departure traffic on Sunday.

TRASH SERVICE

We discussed that we would also need to contact C&D or Allied to get bids on the cost of having dumpsters and trash bins placed around the Fly-in area.

ADJOURN

Meeting was adjourned at 6:30 PM.

Meeting April 17, 2008

City of Yuma Commemorative Fly-in

First Annual to be held October 9-11, 2009

Committee minutes

Attendees:

Paul Rachels – Interim Chair
Albert Gardner
Jeanine Rhea
Bob Helfrich
Jim Gillaspie
Ken Scott
Jessica Lawson

Meeting called to order at 5:20

* OLD BUSINESS * GRAPHIC DESIGN * SPONSOR AN AERONCA *
* EAA AND CHAIR * FBOS * TENTS * SOUVENIRS *

OLD BUSINESS

Tent prices and/or donation of use – no updates

Contact Charles Seltzer about Somerton possibilities - Charles is on board. He said they could definitely handle plenty of additional aircraft and would invite wing camping as well. He said whatever he could do to help just ask.

Contact Cocopah - no updates

Contact local car clubs for interest - no updates

Contact City of Yuma about transportation - no updates

Work with Visitor’s Bureau and create “wish list” for national sponsors - no updates

Set up meeting with Craig Williams and Marine base liaison – meeting scheduled Tuesday the 29^th at 1pm airport with Craig and Airfield Ops manager Greg McShane

Contact Shirley Woodhouse to discuss bringing Buick to Fly-in – Shirley told Paul “no problem”

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Paul introduced Jessica Lawson who has much experience in graphic design as it was what she did in the military. Jessica showed us samples of her work and they were very good. She would like to be involved so that she could build up her civilian portfolio of design projects. We are happy to have her! We discussed the Logo for Endurance Days which would most likely be very similar to the Brats logo that was used for the 50^th anniversary. Jeanine said that she would check with Bob Ingram (Ingram Designs) to see where he was on his schedule since he had originally volunteered to do the logo himself. If Bob was too busy then we could give Jessica the honor. Jessica said that the logo would need to be in .eps, .pdf and .jpeg file formats. Jeanine also directed Jessica to be thinking of some one page flyer lay-out ideas that we will eventually use to start posting in the FBO’s and other places. We mentioned that we might want to do a poster as well. Jessica could also get started on the layout of the tie-down sponsor-an-Aeronca signs. We decided that if she could do the layout we could easily take it to a sign shop and have them made up in 18X24 rigid sign board. Paul explained the tie-down signs that we saw at the Cactus Fly-in. Jeanine said she took some pictures of the ones we saw and she would email them to Jessica so she could see the concept.

SPONSOR AN AERONCA

We discussed whether or not we should try to get enough businesses to sponsor all Aeroncas that come or just the sedans. That lead us to trying to figure out how many Aeronca sedans were registered within the 4 state area. Albert and Paul went to work on the laptop and found 7 in AZ, 17 in CA, 1 in NV and 1 in UT, 26 total. Of course, just because they are registered does not mean they are air worthy. So we can probably expect only 3-5 at the most. Paul and Albert crunched the numbers for Champs and Chiefs and found 115 registered. If we estimate 10% attendance we come to roughly 11 or 12 of these. So if we estimate a maximum of 20 total Aeroncas to attend we feel we could easily find sponsors for all their fuel.

EAA AND CHAIR

It was determined that Paul Rachels will be the Interim Chair for the Yuma Fly-in until another interested party is found. Paul would like to find someone who will be passionate about taking on that ultimate responsibility so if anyone knows someone who they could suggest for this position let us know! Jeanine will be attending the next EAA meeting to do a presentation regarding the Fly-in and Endurance Days as well as have them brainstorm on ideas for ground events that will keep pilots entertained and hopefully to opt to stay-over.

FBO'S

It was discussed briefly that we need to go talk to the FBO’S and see if they will be willing to discount fuel prices for the event and/or support or sponsor the Fly-In in other ways.

TENTS

We had more discussion on tents and how many we may possibly need. It was suggested that in addition to seeing if the car dealers could donate use of their tents we could also see if the Marine base had mobile A/C units that we could use.

SOUVENIRS

Short discussion on souvenirs and t-shirts. We will need someone to start working on a good t-shirt design. It was suggested to have t-shirts with a pocket in front. We will need to have further discussion on what types of souvenirs to make up and hopefully have a neat catchy design.

ADJOURN

Meeting was adjourned at about 6:30 PM.

Meeting April 3, 2008

City of Yuma Commemorative Fly-in

First Annual to be held October 9-11, 2009

Committee minutes

Attendees:

Paul Rachels
Albert Gardner
Jeanine Rhea

Meeting called to order at 5:20

EAA SUPPORTS * VISION * AERONCAS * ADOPT AN AERONCA *
* LOCATION * SOMERTON * COCOPAH * TRANSPORTATION *
*TENTS * MARINE SUPPORT * PAID RIDES * TO DO *

EAA SUPPORTS

Paul and Albert said that they had discussed our event at their recent EAA chapter meeting and it was decided that EAA fully support the event and assist with the planning and organization of it. Paul Rachels will be the Fly-in liaison for the chapter. Several other EAA members will be attending future Fly-in Committee meetings. Albert mentioned that the EAA will take responsibility for the pancake breakfast for the Fly-In.

VISION

First order was to discuss our vision of the Fly-in. At this point in time we all agreed that we did not know how large an event this will grow to be but there were a few key aspects that we wanted to have. Jeanine mentioned the Cactus Fly-in as a good reference of how many planes we’d like to attract but with more “on the ground” activities planned. It was also brought up that we be a non-profit organization and just get enough sponsorships to cover all costs.

AERONCAS

One key aspect we all agreed upon was that this event should highlight Aeronca aircraft since this was the model of the City of Yuma plane.

Paul Rachels contacted the national organization of Aeronca owners several weeks ago and they posted his email about our event on their website. There has already been considerable interest in our Fly-in by the association and several mentioned that they felt that this could grow to be their annual West Coast Aeronca event.

ADOPT AN AERONCA

An idea that sprang from attending the Cactus Fly-in last month (all three of us went) was to copy their idea of having local companies sponsor airplane tie-downs. At the Cactus event we saw some planes in the central area had medium-sized signs that had company logos and “this tie-down sponsored by XYZ Company”. Our twist on that would be to have local companies “adopt an Aeronca” and sponsor “the care and feeding” of an Aeronca. They would pay for the gas for one full tank (estimated average cost $100 - $150) and a tie-down sign would be located near the Aeronca stating that they had adopted that particular plane. Paul suggested that we may even want to include “grooming” and get the wash truck out to give the Aeronca’s a free bath as well. Aeronca owners who pre-register for the event by a certain date would be entitled to “adoption” benefit. We believe that this would be a great incentive to get many Aeronca’s to attend. Paul mentioned that he had a contact that is a graphic artist who may be willing to design the signs gratis for us. We will then just need to have them printed.

LOCATION

Next order was to look at the Airport and decide where to hold the event. We brought up the google satellite image map of Yuma Airport and discussed possible areas of the Airport to park planes and have best access for vehicle access. Several areas were identified but we realized we need input from Craig Williams. It was decided that Albert, who is a member of the board for the Yuma Airport Authority, will speak to Craig and the board and find out where best to locate the planes upon landing.

LOCATION – CAR SHOW - SOMERTON

Mentioned during looking at the map was our desire to have a small to medium size Car Show with cars from the same era of the Aeronca and original historic flight. Looking at the Yuma Airport map we saw there might be problems with logistics of doing this. It was suggested that we possibly have a satellite fly-in station at Somerton Airport where we could have the Car Show and pilots could take a hop over there to participate in other events that could run concurrently. We pulled up a map of the Somerton air field and identified areas to park cars and planes. It was mentioned that Charles Seltzer (Somerton Manager) was on board with our Event and was very supportive of it. He offered that if anyone should like to camp over they could do so. An added benefit to having the Car Show located at Somerton is that the undeveloped nature of the tower-less airport and un-paved runway will lend a certain nostalgic air to the event.

COCOPAH TIE IN?

While looking at the map we panned over Cocopah Casino and it was suggested that we talk to them about possibly holding some kind of events over there as it is just down the street from Somerton Airport. Jeanine mentioned that she had already received a media package from a popular San Diego area “zoot suit” swing band and it might be a good idea to see if the Casino was interested in having a band of that type perform. They may be interested in holding other events there too. It was agreed that it wouldn’t hurt to talk to them so Jeanine will contact the Casino and see if they have any interest.

TRANSPORTATION – BUS SERVICE

Transportation would need to be worked out and it was mentioned that the Cocopah may be interested in sponsoring a shuttle to and from both Yuma and Somerton Airports to their Casino. Another transportation issue that needs to be discussed is a possible shuttle service or bus service circuit from Yuma Airport to the mall area, local hotels, Yuma Landing Restaurant and other areas in the city TBD. Jeanine said she would talk to the City about possibilities of temporary bus stops and/or other methods of transporting pilots.

TENTS

Due to the hot weather during the mid-October event we agreed that we would need to provide “areas of respite”. Large air-conditioned tents were mentioned and it was suggested that we try to have vendors (such as Bose, etc) pay to rent the tents. We would need 2 to 3 such tents located at Somerton (run on generators) and at least that many at Yuma Airport. The tents, if large enough, can have several vendors in back and on the sides and have a stage area in front for presenters and such should we bring in guest speakers (idea taken from Sun & Fun Fly-in website). Paul mentioned the possibility of seeing if we can get some of the car dealers in town to donate the use of their tents for the event weekend as trade for sponsorship mentions. Jeanine will check this out and also get pricing for renting tents from party rental companies. We may even be able to get sponsors for providing the A/C and gas to run the generators (in a perfect world!).

MARINE SUPPORT

Albert mentioned that we need to contact the Marine base liaison to see how much they are willing to support our event. Jeanine mentioned that we really need to impress upon them the historical significance of what our Fly-In is commemorating and that if it wasn’t for our record setting flying town heroes, the base may not have been re-commissioned in the first place! Paul mentioned that a possible conflict may be the WTI training schedule and so we needed to get with the Marine base as soon as possible to work out the details. Albert said it would probably be a good thing to meet with Craig Williams and the Marine base at the same time. He will set up a meeting with them both soon.

FLYING – PAID RIDES

Paul said we might want to find out if we can have one or more pilots at our event who specialize in providing site-seeing rides to drive-in attendees. We will look into this and keep in mind for the future.

BALLOONS

Jeanine mentioned that she had talked to Jerry Paulin, the Chair of the Caballero Balloon Festival. He had offered his support and advice as he is familiar with event organizing. He said that his son owns a hot air balloon and he could probably get him and some other local balloonists out for our event and do balloon glows at night. Commercial paid balloon rides may be a great addition as well.

ACTION – TO DO BEFORE NEXT MEETING

Tent prices and/or donation of use
Contact Charles Seltzer about Somerton possibilities
Contact Cocopah
Contact local car clubs for interest
Contact City of Yuma about transportation
Work with Visitor’s Bureau and create “wish list” for national sponsors
Contact Shirley Woodhouse to discuss bringing Buick to Fly-in
Set up meeting with Craig Williams and Marine base liaison

• Identify best area to park planes
• Find out about WTI schedule
• Find out how much support we can get expect from the base
• Static displays
• Demos
• Volunteer personnel
• Find out if we can have them Relax MOA’s

MEETING SCHEDULE

It was decided that we will try to meet every other Thursday at 5:15 at the Hampton Inn & Suites until further notice.

ADJOURN

Meeting was adjourned at about 6:30 PM.