Fly in
 

Folks,

Myself and another member of my club, the Greater Pittsburgh ARCS, are looking at the idea of hosting a two-day fly in next year. I would welcome any advice on this matter. Thanks.

RE: Fly in
 

If it's giant scale just contact IMAA and they will help you out and usually provide a contest director to work with you from start to finish.

RE: Fly in
 

Pick a theme, get with the right AMA sig if applicable, and promote it to other clubs. It's nice to have an idea of how many people are coming so you can get enough volunteers to keep it all organized. One suggestion I would make is to be specific on the theme of the event. "Just come fly" can be done at anyone's local field, so why would they travel to yours? Give people a reason to indulge in a special interest like pre-WWII planes, jets, aerobatics, etc.

RE: Fly in
 

Yup, figure out what you want to do, find a CD and get the paperwork submitted as early as you can. 90 days minumum lead time to make the AMA mag once so figure 6 mos in advance you should have your paperwork in.

Then work out how many volunteers you have, if you're going to sell food, set some money aside for raffle prizes etc.

RE: Fly in
 

Early paperwork is good advice. Among volunteers make sure you have one designated as a photographer. Everyone likes to see their picture on the website later.
Try to aquire pilot gifts if it's a fun fly or open event.
If you are not a gold leader club and want to be one using an event to generate a donation to a local charity or non-profit will help you with that goal.

I'm thinking about doing a sun-up to sun-down event next year. Where the goal is to have at least one plane in the air the entire time from sun up to sun down. I'm thinking it will be harder than it sounds.

RE: Fly in
 

Thanks guy. We talked about it at the meeting last night. The club members, much to my surprise, were all in favor of the event. What we are thinking is open even. with raffles, 50/50, door prizes, food vendors etc. Thanks for the info about the magazine. I mentioned last night we needed to have a definate date by the end of the year. I may have to move that up to November so we can get paperwork done. Keep the suggestions coming. :)

RE: Fly in
 

This is the form you start with if you want an AMA Sanction

http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/302.pdf

The Magaizine add helps but you can get a lot of info out through this site and the other major site (RCGroups)

Use the AMA club locator and send emails to all the other clubs in your AMA District
http://www.modelaircraft.org/clubsearch.aspx

RE: Fly in
 

You need people that are willing to help and will commit to working the event. For the past 2 years I have been the CD for our clubs Support Our Troops fly in and both years the events have been very successful and the end result have been what I had invisioned. The reason these events have been so successful is because of the club members and volenteers that have helped out. Putting on an event is easy with the proper support, but almost impossible without it. I hope your event is a huge success and good luck, Dave...

RE: Fly in
 

David has given the best comment so far! I have had the same experience as the CD of the speed rally for 4 years now. Without the help and support of my clubmates it would surely have failed. Those guys are great!