Conducting Aeronautical Special Events at Airports (2013)

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

3 The U.S. civil aviation industry, at more than 100 years old, has grown into a $1.3 trillion industry supporting more than 10 million jobs and accounting for 5.2% of total U.S. Gross Domestic Product. The nation’s airports support this activity by providing runways and taxiways, apron areas, terminal build- ings, automobile parking areas, and more. Generally, the public has been well aware, and supportive, of commercial-service airports, because they regularly use these airports as they catch a flight to a business meeting or begin a vacation. Even indi- viduals who do not fly typically recognize the benefits of an airport with scheduled airline service. However, only a fraction of airports have scheduled airline service. According to the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS), of the 5,179 airports in the United States open to the public, only 503 have commercial service. There- fore, the vast majority of public-use airports do not enjoy the visibility and community support accorded commercial- service airports. Additionally, according to Thatcher (2011, p. 2), “For almost four decades, the number of public-use air- ports in the United States has been in decline.” In summary, “America’s airports face more challenges than ever before” (AOPA 2007, p. 1). Indeed, these general aviation (GA) air- ports have often found the public either unaware or uncon- cerned about their facilities. This may result in the public organizing an effort to close the airport or resisting any and all development of the airport. In general, GA airports are often not visible or perceived as unwelcoming to the nonflying pub- lic. It is important, therefore, for these airports to pro actively engage the community to generate positive exposure and stim- ulate support for the airport [AOPA 2007; Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 2010a; FAA 2011]. The most common method of engaging the community and possibly generating revenue for the airport or community/ charitable organization is through a special event. In broad terms, a special event may be aeronautical or nonaeronautical, an aeronautical special event being one which involves aviation activities or aircraft, such as fly-ins, air shows, Young Eagles or Eagle Flight events, and community appreciation events with aircraft. Aircraft need not be flying, however. An aircraft static display is also categorized as an aeronautical special event, as is an airport open house that has aircraft on display. According to the event calendars of the Airport Owners and Pilots Associa- tion (AOPA), Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), and International Council of Air Shows (ICAS), there were more than 200 aeronautical special events held nationwide in 2012, with such titles as Salute to Veterans, Chili at the Airport, Plane Crazy, Festival of Flight, Wings, Wheels, and Warriors, and Airport Appreciation Days. A nonaeronautical event employs the airport facilities as a venue but does not involve aviation activities or aircraft. Pilots may be in attendance, but not necessarily. In effect, a non- aeronautical event could be held anywhere, but is located at the airport generally because of the space available. Although there are some similarities in planning for and organizing aero- nautical and nonaeronautical events, this report addresses only the unique considerations that are required for most aeronauti- cal events. Although similarities exist among these events, the differ- ences can be pronounced. For instance, the event may be held at a large commercial-service airport; at a small community airport; or possibly at or near a local venue or landmark (such as the Ohio River). The event may only last one day, or may span several days or a week. The event may be coordinated by the airport or by an aviation organization. The event sponsor may be holding the event purely to give back to the commu- nity, so waive an admission fee. On the other hand, the event sponsor may budget for thousands of dollars in expenses and hope to realize substantial net revenues through admission and/or parking fees. The event may allow overnight camping on airport grounds or may expressly prohibit such activity. Regardless of the type of event, certain phases are associ- ated with event success, beginning with the initial planning phase. This first phase, generally held 12 months before the event, consists of the preliminary discussions on the reasons for holding the event, possible locations for the event, and pos- sible attractions. During this phase, airports will often consult The Complete Guide to Holding an Airport Open House, pro- duced by the AOPA, or seek guidance through state aviation agencies. The second, organizing phase generally lasts from 11 months up to the day before the event, during which time airports and sponsors consider the planning timeline, commit- tees, budgeting, marketing and promotion, support facilities, corporate sponsorships and hospitality, admission fees, special invitations, volunteers, parking, insurance and indemnification, concessions and vendors, aircraft rides, security and emer- gency planning, media plan, static aircraft display, nonaero- nautical attractions, air shows, and more. Eventually, it will be time to move into the event phase, which technically only occurs while the event is actually being held and involves chapter one INTRODUCTION

4 concerns unique to the event such as weather, scheduling, park- ing, crowd control, first aid, concessions, and vendors. The fourth phase, during which the airport returns to normal opera- tions and the event’s success is analyzed, occurs after conclu- sion of the event. Though it typically only takes a few hours or a day or so to return to normal operations [including clean-up and Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) cancellation], analyzing and debriefing, including a financial analysis of the event, may last for several weeks. For airports considering holding an aeronautical special event, the four phases and the many considerations may appear daunting. Indeed, much of the knowledge about planning, organizing, and conducting aeronautical special events resides in experts in this area. Although these individuals have made themselves available as consultants and contract event organiz- ers, not all airports have the funds or desire to arrange with such an expert or organizer. Without such an expert on staff, airports often are in search of guidance, especially if planning to con- duct an aeronautical special event for the first time. Although guidance is available from a number of different sources, such as the FAA, AOPA, EAA, ICAS, the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP), and various state aviation agencies and DOTs, there is currently not a single source document on the topic of aeronautical special events that can be referenced by airports and others in organizing such an event. This synthesis attempts to meet the need for a single source document on conducting aeronautical special events by consol- idating the information currently available on planning, orga- nizing, and conducting aeronautical special events, including event analysis and the return to normal operations. To do so, this synthesis focuses on the entirety of aeronautical special events, not just air shows (which are admittedly the most visible of all aeronautical special events). Accordingly, the available literature on this topic was reviewed from a variety of sources and organizations, including the FAA, AOPA, EAA, ICAS, and military performing flight teams. Additionally, the airport manager or EAA chapter president at 35 airports nationwide were surveyed. These airports were randomly selected from aeronautical events listed on AOPA, EAA, and ICAS event cal- endars, as well as panel insight, to allow for geographic diver- sity. The airport managers or event organizers at five additional airports were interviewed for the purpose of developing case examples highlighting their experiences and lessons learned. These case example airports were specifically selected based on panel insight. Six event organizers were also surveyed to gather insight from professional event organizing firms. Two unique surveys were developed for this synthesis. First, the “ACRP Aeronautical Event Survey of Airport Oper- ators” was administered to the 35 airport managers and event sponsors; 34 responded (a 97% success rate). Five of the six organizing firms responded to the “ACRP Aeronautical Event Survey of Event Organizers” (83%). As shown in Figure 1, among respondents holding air shows, almost half (four of nine) of these events had 20,000 or fewer attendees, while the same had more than 50,000. Among respondents holding events other that air shows, 19 of 23 (82%) had 5,000 or fewer attendees. (The remaining respondent reported attendance between 20,001 and 35,000.) Among event organizing firms, three of five organized three or fewer aeronautical special events annually, whereas the other two organized 20 or more events annually. This synthesis has been developed with a wide audience in mind, including airport managers, aeronautical special event organizers, state aviation agencies, and others interested in holding an aeronautical special event. The report is organized in the following chapters: • Chapter One—Introduction • Chapter Two—Event Planning Phase • Chapter Three—Event Organizing Phase • Chapter Four—Event Phase • Chapter Five—Return to Normal Operations and Event Analysis Phase • Chapter Six—Case examples • Chapter Seven—Conclusions and Further Research In an effort to standardize references to the responsible organization, in this report, the phrase “event sponsor” is used to refer to the entity organizing and holding an aeronautical special event. Likewise, the phrase “corporate sponsor” is used to refer to an organization providing financial and/or in-kind contributions, whether or not this organization is a corporation. The Appendices contain additional reference material. 1 1 2 1 0 4 19 2 1 0 0 1 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Air Show Non-Air Show FIGURE 1 Number of attendees.