Next Year's Planning Starts Next Week

By Aleta Vinas ANN Correspondent

The smooth, seamless appearance to aviation fans attending AirVenture this week is a credit to the behind the scenes teamwork of the EAA staff and volunteers.

After the gates close and the last transient aircraft has lifted off, the planning begins for next year. Says Karen Fenner who works in Convention Headquarters, "It's one continuous cycle."

EAA staffers often have several balls to juggle in addition to AirVenture planning. Charlie Becker and Mark Forss cover the Forums. Both are EAA staff and work in EAA Aviation Services. They answer member phone calls, run the EAA sport air traveling workshops, keep the homebuilders site on the EAA website and more. Becker, on staff for six years says, "This is my dream job. I turned my hobby into a career."

Forss gives a typical schedule for the AirVenture side of the job. "During AirVenture, we're taking notes." In September there's a debriefing with staff and chairpeople. In December they start organizing to start contacting the presenters. In January and February the letters are sent to the presenters. Late March and early April a tentative schedule is made. The "final" schedule is ready for printing by mid-June. The difficult part is weaving the intricate tapestry that becomes the Forum schedule. The presenters are all volunteers but there's no trouble getting even the heavy hitters like Burt Rutan and Mike Melvill or Brian Binnie to speak.

Becker likes to see the FAA Administrator and her staff at the events, and "Getting them away from the cocoon in Washington." He knows that the Administration's interaction with the pilots and non-pilots is an invaluable tool to help them see what's really going on.

Dennis Hasha, Chairman at the Homebuilt registration, has been returning for 18 years. "Everyone's got their own little niche and they come in and they take care of it and it all just melts together to this wonderful airshow."

Pat Casetta, another 18 year volunteer, has been EAA Membership Chairwoman for four years. After the show, she fills out an EAA questionnaire on the show and offers suggestions. She also sends thank you notes to her volunteers. She waits for the September debriefing. February will start her next call to meet with the EAA staff. The meetings continue to May.

In June, Casetta starts to send out the letters to her volunteers. Her husband Dave helps her behind the scenes. Orientation and training sessions follow, and then double checking all the schedules. Casetta offers the fringe benefit of home cooking for lunch. She cooks a few weeks in advance then freezes the meals. From September to June she puts in about 30 hours. The total after the show is about 200 hours.

Manager of EAA Facilities, Steve Taylor's phone doesn't stop ringing. His work quadruples during AirVenture. The phone calls are mostly little incidentals that crop up. Taylor and his staff of 25 full time, 25 part time and 400 volunteers are ready to handle whatever job comes up. Taylor also starts planning for the next year "right after the convention's over." He and his crew take care of any issues so they're done before next spring. He tries to keep in contact with his volunteers throughout the year. The work party weekends generally start in May.

No matter what job people hold, everyone mentioned not being able to have an airshow without the 4,500 volunteers. Also mentioned were the relationships and the people; staff, volunteers and visitors. Says Casetta " the best part is the people, it's like a big reunion." Taylor says "It's the people you become associated with that make it interesting."

Hasha sums it up, "I like airplanes, being around airplanes, flying airplanes, talking about airplanes and I like being around people that like airplanes. This is heaven to me for a week."

There are many people that work hard to make AirVenture heaven for everyone for the week.

FMI: www.airventure.org