MyCockpit Informal "MEET-N-GREET"

Hi Guys,

We have been toying around with a North American "Meet-N-Greet" for the last little bit. In doing so we tried to pick a location that is very affordable for all to get to. According to most of the Airlines and Travel agencies the Cheapest place to fly in North America is Orlando Florida.

We are looking at January/February!

If we can get enough interest we can book a block of rooms in a hotel that we would all stay at, and use one of their conference rooms for our "show and Tell" get together.

Would any of you be interested in doing this? This way we can get an idea if this is worth pursuing.

Let us Know your thoughts.

Trev

I know of 2 guys right up the road a few hours from Orlando (myself and Ron) that would definately make plans to attend, life allowing!

I'll be there, LOL :) :) :)

Matt O.

Blimey, Gee Wizz and Crikey!! I was planning to go to Avalon in Australia in March but this sounds sooooo tempting. It's a long way but what an excuse! Keep me informed as to the the date.

Highly tempted,

Ken.

I would certainly love to attend and represent the UK!
keep me posted on the dates
Steve

Cool, sounds good to me, got enough airmiles for a round trip to Florida and we have a holiday home there aswell.

There may be 2 UK reps, i will look into it:D

Great location Trevor!

Looks like the bash will be at Phil's summer home;)

Count me and my family in for sure.

Joe

WOW This can be a lot of fun.

Beware, maybe the norwegians show up:D

Yep.. us norwegians will show up, be aware :!:

Hey guys Im really green around these parts but I would love to go, maybe next time though since my vacation time is already accounted for.

I would really like to see a functioning sim. Recently I decided I'm gonna build a triple 7. Some face time with a prolific builder would be very helpful. Anybody close to the Philadelphia area?:lol:

If I do not crash too hard in the meantime, count me in...good cure for the Canadian Winter blues.

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Originally Posted by Joe Cygan

Great location Trevor!

Looks like the bash will be at Phil's summer home;)

Count me and my family in for sure.

Joe

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Yep, we norwegians bring the beer. Phils place will be more like Valhall. So americans, hide your women and guard your properties. The vikings is returning:mrgreen:

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Originally Posted by ivar hestnes

Yep, we norwegians bring the beer. Phils place will be more like Valhall. So americans, hide your women and guard your properties. The vikings is returning:mrgreen:

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Sounds good, maybe I should leave mine at home,LOL.

Don't tell her I said that.

Joe

Hey! What about Hawaii!? Just because its a small island.... Man, you pilot types should be drooling over the chance to come see the real Dillingham that Bill Womack modeled his after...

(I'm feeling like a PR rep for the islands now... :D )

Just to give you an idea of our thoughts on "Meet-N-Greet"; Meet Saturday and Sunday so folks with a short leash can fly in on Friday night and go back out Sunday, that's if you have to.

One topic that we would definitely like to discuss would be how we would do future conferences. But would like to keep this one informal and certainly show and tell :) Perhaps the only formality, scheduled talks by our fellow builders and have them share some of their building techniques.

That's just to give you a general impression of our thoughts of the "Meet-N-Greet"

Matt Olieman

Excellent Matt, and I am I understanding you right that you have now moved to FL? Wow, what a change! Youre not far from me at all now. Im just above the FL/GA border. In fact, I had a great $100 hamburger at the Ocala airport one day after flying with a buddy from college several years ago. Great burger there, go check it out!

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Originally Posted by Tomlin

I had a great $100 hamburger at the Ocala airport !

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Eric, This must have been a HUGE hamburger for that price.

Matt and I have talked about this over the past few years when we first started as IFSBI. Issues is always where? I would suggest Milwaukee, Wisconsin might be a good start. It's near the middle of the US and close to Canada as well. Area cost may be lower there compared to the coastal area's.

I have attended both an AVSIM and IFC convention in Denver. Both were very good having United there. However the availability of United's sim facility is no longer available.

There are a lot of video's out there of conventions. Sure would be nice to see that category added to Mycockpitvideos.com

LOL someone had to do the (Nah don't want to go)

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Originally Posted by Matt Olieman

Just to give you an idea of our thoughts on "Meet-N-Greet"; Meet Saturday and Sunday so folks with a short leash can fly in on Friday night and go back out Sunday, that's if you have to.

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This would make it so I could go. I'll still be under a years time at my current job, so vacation pay wouldn't have kicked in yet. I work a mile away from the airport, so I could be on a flight in short order after I get off shift at 3:30pm. Hopefully be back into town by 10pm sunday to make 7am shift monday. As a more central alternative maybe Denver, Dallas or Chicago?

I'd also throw out there Wichita, KS...but then I'd just be lazy. Wichita could be cool if I'd be able to get tours at a few plants though. I could probably swing a few tours through my college SME chapter connections. Last year we toured Hawker-Beechcraft and Spirit Aerosystems. Both took up most of the day with personal tours. The 787 section-41 plant building was very organized. Contrasting that with the 737 production line which was in decades old buildings was very confusing. Interesting to see those manufacturing contrasts in the same plant. Most all of Hawker-Beechcraft is very linear and structured production lines. Also could meet most days and do about anything from the Kansas Aviation Museum. Maybe even we could get access to the McConnell AFB static display airpark given enough notice. Also one day at the Kansas Cosmosphere with Apollo 13 and other space goodies less than an hour down the road from Wichita. The aerospace engineering building at WSU might be worth touring also with the wind tunnel and other interesting things. Wichita is centrally located in the US. For being the "Air Capitol" it sure isn't that cheap to fly into though. That'd be the only downside imho. It would be pretty easy to block up nonstop days of aerospace activities there for 3-4 days dispite how small Wichita is. Donno that I'd shoot for this for the first meet-n-greet though. Maybe year 2 or 3.

Just throwing around ideas. :)

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Originally Posted by W9XE/Project777

Eric, This must have been a HUGE hamburger for that price.

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I know those kinds of burgers. 1% mechanically separated meat product and 99% avgas.

Actually, you may all think that central may be closer. This is True, However beleive it or not the reason we selected Orlando, is it is "Cheapest" to fly there. Especially in those months.

There are always seat sales, and most people I have talked to can offer tickets to Orlando cheaper then anywhere else, so although it may take longer to fly there, we are looking to get people together that are watching their budgets more then anything.

Just a thought.

Looks like we have quite a bit of interest.

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Originally Posted by QF6228

LOL someone had to do the (Nah don't want to go)

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That was me :mrgreen:

Just kidding...it wasn't

Please make this event in a weekend there is shuttle launch:D Mycockpit members at Nasa for the shuttle launch would be awesome. Would get us in the right mood for sure:D

Ohhh, never thought of that. Although, depending on weather, it may not work out, but your right, it would be kinda neat to see!

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Originally Posted by Trevor Hale

it would be kinda neat to see!

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It's spectacular. Will bring tears to a grown man's eyes.

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Originally Posted by Tomlin

It's spectacular. Will bring tears to a grown man's eyes.

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Yep, seen it twice, always better at night after a few beers!!

However it is true regarding the flight price, its cheaper for us brits to fly to Orlando Sanford than it is flying to Denver or anywhere else in the US, dunnow why?

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Originally Posted by Tomlin

It's spectacular. Will bring tears to a grown man's eyes.

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I agree with you Eric. I've seen a total of 4. Seen two at the Cape (daytime), and I live about 60 miles (as the crow flies) west. Have seen the last night launch and lit up the Eastern sky from home, and saw the flame up to 20 minutes after lift off. The last one we saw the day from home only saw it for about 5 minutes.

It's spectacular :) :) :)

Matt Olieman

I checked with SAS and the tickets to Orlando is affordable. Hope you make a desicion in good time before the event if there will be such an event. Would be very nice to come.

:)

Unfortunately NASA is not showing any launch schedules for 2009, although there is one in November and December (which is under review), 2008.

Prices for Orlando may go down even more. Last I heard, because of fuel prices, people are not traveling as much, so the theme parks are slow.

Matt Olieman

Sounds good :)
Keep us posted on the dates!

I remember i went to see a shuttle launch when i was 6 years old, went all the way to america and went to watch the launch and was supposed to see it on the last night i was there. Went to the beach to watch the launch and after about 4 hours of delays they were ready to go...... They cancelled it on 3 seconds to launch and posponed it until the next day. of course I went home that morning and never got to see the shuttle launch.


That shuttle was challenger i dont think I need to say anymore.

And yes sanford is probably the cheapest american flight from the UK and its cheap because it doesnt come under the same rules regarding home airlines flying transatlantic. Strange but true...

So, it's been a few months since this was last proposed. Im hoping that there are still plans to make this event happen.

We'll I'll be there. Here is the NASA shuttle and rocket launch schedule:

Date: Jan. 15
Mission: OCO
Launch Vehicle: Orbital Sciences Taurus Rocket
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base - Launch Pad SLC 576-E
Description: The Orbiting Carbon Observatory is a new Earth orbiting mission sponsored by NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder Program.

Date: Feb. 4
Mission: NOAA-N Prime
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base - Launch Pad SLC-2
Description: NOAA-N Prime is the latest polar-orbiting satellite developed by NASA/Goddard Spaceflight Center for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA uses two satellites, a morning and afternoon satellite, to ensure every part of the Earth is observed at least twice every 12 hours. NOAA-N will collect information about Earth's atmosphere and environment to improve weather prediction and climate research across the globe.

Date: Feb. 12 +
Mission: STS-119
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Discovery launching on assembly flight 15A, will deliver the fourth starboard truss segment to the International Space Station.

Date: Feb. 16
Mission: Kepler
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station - Launch Complex 17 - Pad 17-B
Description: The Kepler Mission, a NASA Discovery mission, is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to detect and characterize hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone.

Date: April 30
Mission: STSS ATRR - Missile Defense Agency
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base - Launch Pad SLC-2
Description: STSS ATRR serves as a pathfinder for future launch and mission technology for the Missile Defense Agency. To be launched by NASA for the MDA.

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Originally Posted by Tomlin

So, it's been a few months since this was last proposed. Im hoping that there are still plans to make this event happen.

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Absolutely still open, particularly now with DAL900 posting a Shuttle Schedule, we have a date to shoot for.

I'm meeting with a few folks from the Orlando area on Friday, hopefully they'll have some information or give me some direction in setting up a small conference.

One of the criteria is to have shuttle service from the Airport, for the folks not wanting to rent a car. And second, of course low room rates and arrangement for a conference room. Trying to keep it simple, at least this time around :)

Matt Olieman