Lumberton Airshow News

News

Fly-in profit $40,000

By Roxana Ross - Staff writer for The Robesonian

06/12/2005 -- LUMBERTON - Organizers still have a few bills to pay, but say that last month's Mid-Atlantic Fly-In and Sport Aviation Convention made a $40,000 net profit, despite a lower-than-anticipated turnout. The event, which is in its third year, made about $35,000 in 2004.

Fly-In Director Dale Faux said the event could have made even more money this year except for weather concerns. The state's Pilot Weather Briefing Center received a call almost every 10 seconds from people checking the weather on the Saturday of the four-day event.

Unfortunately for organizers, what people found out about the overcast skies and possible rain kept some home. Then the threat of bad weather on Sunday, the final day of the event, might have worried pilots concerned about being able to leave the Lumberton Municipal Airport.

"The thing we were hoping to do was bring in a little more money this year so we could start building some infrastructure, but the weather killed us, so we didn't make nearly the money we were anticipating,'' Faux said.

"We're so totally weather dependent, all you can do is pick the dates and hope that the weather cooperates with you. We got the local crowd there real easily, but the aircraft fly-in crowd couldn't get in because of weather or it had them scared off on Sunday."

Less than expected

Organizers hoped for 60,000 people and 1,000 planes over the four-day event that was held May 12 through May 15, but estimate that 45,000 people and 500 aircraft attended.

Faux added that those who did attend four-day event seemed pleased.

"We were getting a lot of positive e-mails and the response that we got down there at Sun N' Fun were very much showing us people were intending to be here," Faux said. "I got a lot of e-mails afterward from people just disappointed. They had the airplane loaded, the camping gear in and everything else, they just couldn't get here."

Money matters

Faux said the budget for next year's event will be discussed at the next board of directors meeting on June 20.

This year's fly-in and air show had a budget of $220,000, with the majority of the cost going to hiring performers, fuel, garbage clean-up and renting equipment such as tents and portable showers and portable toilets. Faux, the event's only paid employee, draws a salary in the $30,000 range. Faux declined to release the exact amount.

"You can basically look at the same scenario for next year," Faux said. "We don't assume costs will vary that much. We'll probably rearrange a few things. I don't see a big jump in any of our overall costs."

Story courtesy of The Robesonian Newspaper

The Robesonian Newspaper

Plane That Led to D.C. Evacuations Was Bound for N.C.

By The Associated Press

(05/11/05 -- SMOKETOWN, PA.) — A pilot and student pilot whose small plane strayed over Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and forced evacuations at the White House and the Capitol where believed on their way to a North Carolina air show, the show's director said.

The Mid-Atlantic Fly-In and Sport Aviation Convention expects to draw between at many as 60,000 people, and 1,200 to 1,500 aircraft, from across the United State and Canada, said show director Dale Faux. The show opens Thursday, he said.

"The only response that I have is that anybody that is coming to this show is responsible to know where he's at. We don't flight plan for people and we don't control their course and navigation," Faux said. "As a pilot of an aircraft, he's responsible for his own navigation.

The plane was registered to Vintage Aero Club, a group of about 10 people who fly from Smoketown Airport in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County, said club member Merv King. Former club member John E. Henderson said the plane was to be flown by Hayden Sheaffer, of Lititz, Pa., and Troy Martin, of Akron, Pa., to an air show in Lumberton.

Their flight aboard a two-seat Cessna 152 began at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The previous day, Sheaffer and Henderson cleaned and prepared the aircraft for its 400-mile flight to Lumberton, where Sheaffer and Martin planned to attend and volunteer at the gathering.

Faux said show organizers have been working with the airport, local officials, and the Federal Aviation Administration to prepare for the event.

"I know once people find out about it, they'll feel sorry for this poor guy who blundered into this air space when he shouldn't have," Faux said. "I'm sure it will be mentioned in some of the seminars and forums the FAA is holding this weekend."

The government decided not to press charges after interviewing the men and determining the incident was an accident.

"They were navigating by sight and were lost," said Justice Department spokesman Kevin Madden.

The plane's proximity to the Executive Mansion and the Capitol sent military jets scrambling to intercept the aircraft and firing flares to steer it away.

The White House raised its threat level to red -- the highest -- for eight minutes, said spokesman Scott McClellan. Vice President Dick Cheney, first lady Laura Bush and former first lady Nancy Reagan, overnighting at the White House for a special event, were moved to secure locations.

President Bush was biking with a high school friend in suburban Maryland during the midday, 15-minute scare.

Event draws 700 planes, 60,000 people

The Mid-Atlantic Fly-In Website

By Tim Wilkins and Matt Elofson - Staff writers for The Robesonian Newspaper

June 2004 -- LUMBERTON - An announcement by air boss George Cline on Sunday afternoon said it all: The Lumberton Municipal Airport was the busiest airport in the state this weekend.

Organizers of the inaugural Mid-Atlantic Fly-In & Sport Aviation Convention said the three-day event attracted more than 60,000 visitors and 700 airplanes to the airport.

One of the aviation buffs in attendance was Carl Forbisher, who flew his Cessna all the way from Reno, Nev., for the three-day event. A veteran of airshows, Forbisher called the fly-in "one of the best I've seen."

"I've never been to Lumberton until now and I don't know what other kinds of happenings you have here, but this is world class," Forbisher said. "I've been going to airshows for about 30 years and this ranks right up there with the best. I'll definitely be back next year."

Dale Faux, the fly-in's director, echoed Forbisher's comments, calling the weekend a "huge success."

"It surpassed all our expectations," Faux said. "We're still counting, but we think between 60,000 and 65,000 people came here, and they came from all over the country. Lumberton and Robeson County should be very proud of what took place this weekend."

And all those visitors pumped millions of dollars into the local economy - perhaps as much as $3 million, said Michael Walden, an economics professor at North Carolina State University.

'Fantastic airshow'

Taking part in the weekend's economic largess was Lena Templeton and her husband Jim, who traveled to the fly-in all the way from Petersburg, Ill., to hawk hat pins, model airplanes and T-shirts.

"If I can do my business and watch the airplanes both, then I'm in plane heaven," Lena Templeton said.

Templeton said she and her husband average three fly-ins a month, traveling up and down the East Coast from April to November. The couple arrived in Lumberton on Wednesday in their motor home for the weekend fly-in, with plans to stay through Tuesday. Templeton said they're a flying family, with Jim working as a pilot, airplane mechanic and inspector during the months of the year they aren't traveling to fly-ins selling their "airplane stuff."

"We're always on the lookout for new airplane stuff at each show we go to," she said.

Templeton said she was pleased with the variety of planes at the fly-in - especially the military aircraft and antique planes - and is already thinking ahead to next year's fly-in.

"This show has a lot of potential ... I see it getting really big in the next few years," Jim Templeton said. "It was a fantastic airshow. We don't see 'em like that everywhere."

In addition to folks from far-flung locales, there were also plenty of locals on hand, such as Barsil Brain of Lumberton. Brain said this was his first airshow - but not his last.

"I'm definitely going to come back next year," Brain said. "You see something spectacular one time, you gotta' come back and see it again."

Cary Locklear of Pembroke brought his three sons on Saturday and liked it so much he came back on Sunday with his brother, Gerald Locklear.

"I dragged him out from in front of the TV," Cary said, hooking his thumb toward Gerald as they both looked skyward at the Aeroshell Acrobatic Team performing breathtaking loop-the-loops hundreds of feet in the air. "I figured he needed to see this ... it's a heck of a lot better than re-runs."

Educating the public

The event was also a family affair for Al Ramsay, who flew his wife and daughter down from Franklin County aboard his 1948 Stinson Voyager.

"Airshows are good ... it gives the public an understanding about planes," Ramsay said.

Ramsay, who said he has been attending airshows since he was 3 years old - his father was in the Air Force - says airshows foster local economic growth.

"As this airshow grows, it will help the local community," he said.

Ramsay said he was particularly impressed by the number of antique planes at the fly-in - planes like the P-51 B Mustang replica flown by Maj. John Sherbert of Timmonsville, S.C.

Sherbert, who is retired from the Army, says he travels to six or eight airshows a year.

"It's all about keeping the World War II era alive and educating the young people," Sherbert said.

Among those being "educated" was 8-year-old Shawn Carver of Red Springs, who was fascinated by the missiles and machine guns that sprouted from an F-16 Fighting Falcon.

"It's scary," Carver said. "It could blow up the world."

Story courtesy of The Robesonian Newspaper

The Robesonian Newspaper