NorthEast Fly-In 2012

[kitfoxnick]

Bummer.....

[Dorsal]

I am depressed, I so wanted to play airplanes this weekend

[dholly]

Yes, a disappointment as the group has grow nicely from last year. Looking forward to the 'rain date'.

[Lion8]

One guy drove 4.5 hrs up from N.J. last night. A friend and I flew up this morning only to find no one there. What a waste of time. Sorry but we can't afford to do this again. Must have a better way of notifing people in advance before they travel all that distance. -Tom from N.J.

[Dorsal]

I am so very very sorry, we went back and forth based on the forecast and made the call we thought was safest. I would appreciate any ideas on how to do this better as this approach is stressful and clearly wasted other peoples time. Again most sincere apologies.

[Esser]

I would say let it go on and make sure the tie downs are ready. You might not get the turn out you wanted but it is the pilot's decision to fly or not. You don't see them postponing big fly ins because of the weather. Nothing kills an event more than flakiness. Why should people plan a month in advance for something that has been known to be cancelled at the last minute. Just my two cents.

[CDE2FLY]

Cancelling was a tough call for sure and Finn and I feel terrible especially for the folks who didn't get the info that we scrubbed for the weekend. The local forecast most of the week was excellent only to turn very bad Thursday and Friday with predicted rain all day Saturday and thunderstorms on Sunday. When we're socked in here as was forecast, it ofter includes mountain obscuring with clouds which Finn and I discussed. The last thig we wanted it for folks to try to push through the forecast conditions and not arrive safely. As it turned out, it rained all morning here but began to break up in the afternoon so the weather turned out to be better than forecast.

Going forward, I still feel the right thing to do is cancel if the forecast includes weather that isn't safe for a 1-2 day event (unlike a large event with a week long weather window). We'll post any cancellations a day in advance on the forum and you're welcome to call me to confirm if there is any quesiton. If you want to forward a contact numer to me off line, I'd be happy to call everyone in the event plans change.

Hoping for blue skys and favorable winds for the rain date!

[Lion8]

In regards to the Kitfox East Coast Fly In cancellation
I appriciate how much planning goes into a fly in. We do that a few times a year as well. Well, I can't lay blame on anyone other than myself as I had the contact phone number in my cell the morning before we departed. When we checked the radar for that area in the am, I should have been a little more proactive and made the call. Paraphrasing what the rules state, its the pilots responsibility to use every method available to ensure a safe flight, so I have to lay claim to this error. .
A recorded phone message or a group email text alert message to state weather of not the event is to go off would be an asset. I will be sure to use that rule next time. Sorry if I sounded a bit rash in my previous post.
-Tom- South Jersey

[rwaltman]

With regards to the cancellation, I believe the organizers did the right thing.
I checked the weather forecast daily and saw it turn from good, to 20% chance of thunderstorms, to 50% chance of thunderstorms, to ...
I was planning to go by car. Had I been flying instead, I would have cancelled my own flight even if the fly-in was still going on.

For next time, a few suggestions:

People can subscribe to a thread in this forum and have any new post e-mailed automatically. Encourage anybody interested in the fly-in to use this feature, by describing it clearly on every announcement.

Directly calling all interested participants is not a big deal if the phone list is divided between 3 or 4 guys. I can help with that.

Till next time,

Roberto Waltman

[jamesmil]

hi guys, sorry to see the northeast fly-in was weathered out, was trying to work out getting there but the dates did not work for me.
my wife and i were planing a trip out west the end of june but have had to move the trip to after the fourth of july and will visit famliy in western pa. instead and plan to go up the mid part of new york state and on in to maine.
will be watching the forum for the new date, thanks for the hard work to the folks putting on the fly-in