SnF's Decade Long Attempts To Evade Responsibility For Its MANY Problems Has To Stop

Observation/Opinion by ANN Editor-in-Chief, Jim Campbell

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

Ronald Reagan

ANN Update: 04.05.10: Another year, another bizarre display of unamerican censorship--by all those associated with the so-called Sun 'n Fun Fly-In. I've been told that the definition (one of them, anyway) of insanity is to keep repeating the same action and expecting a different result. Sun 'n Fun keeps attacking a journalist's RIGHT to report on their event, warts and all, and apparently expects something different to happen. We haven't backed down, we haven't been quieted and we certainly seem to be thriving despite their attacks on our rights and responsibilities. Still, it's a shame that one of aviation's greatest embarrassments continues unabated... but no matter what they do, we assure you that we are not remotely ready to knuckle under to Sun 'n Fun and Lakeland City Officials demand that we "only write nice things."

 All my life I have aspired to meet a number of lofty standards -- but none more important than that set before me by my Grandfather... an MD of the old school who practiced the true art of healing with humanity, honor, humor and integrity... and I loved him beyond all measure.

Medicine was not to be my life -- though I have always found it fascinating. Instead, I found the sky to offer me the life I wanted -- a pursuit filled with passion, precision, excitement, challenge and more wonder than any other I could conceive of. I can't tell you how much I have loved each and every second I've been aloft... only that the seconds I fly now are even more precious than ever... and I find that the only way that I can repay karma for the amazing life I lead is to serve that which gives me the life I love... flight -- and all those who fly.

So, imagine if you will taking on a great fight for all the right reasons -- to help others be safer, happier and more enriched by aviation... and to be attacked for it, year after year after year, and in some of the most spiteful, occasionally criminal, ways. To be slandered, threatened, libeled, assaulted, called crazy, a liar, even "Jewboy..." -- all in an attempt to blunt the fact that even when it was a risk to do so and unpopular to some, I told the truth as I know it to be, verified each of my words and claims, and was vilified for it all by the very people who have, in many ways, made aviation so very unpleasant, unsafe and less than it could be for the thousands they are supposed to serve.

And when direct attacks upon my person were not enough for them, they attacked my staff (even reducing one of my staff to tears after a blistering/threatening verbal assault on her that personally distresses me more than anything they have done to me directly). They have vandalized my office, my vehicles, threatened my friends and staff, interfered with sponsors and partners, and committed at least one documented assault.

And it has been going on for years.

And its not stopping. We have been told and have witnessed various diatribes that make us concerned about having our airplane anywhere near this event and know for a fact that our movements and aircraft are to be reported if anywhere near the event... one of my senior staffers, in light of this and associated nonsense, had voiced serious concerns about the safety of our aircraft while SnF personnel are in a position to be anywhere near it. I hate to admit that I share that concern (especially with the SnF history of vehicular damage and tampering). And most recently, they have started working outside of their usual environment… a person who has served on the SnF Board accosted one of my Senior Staff at a prominent National Aviation event well outside Lakeland (the 2008 AOPA Expo), ridiculing his decision to work for ANN, slandering myself and my company, and telling him to remove himself from our organization.

Our crime? Our great sin?

We told the truth.

When we saw something dangerous, we told you.

When we caught them lying, we told you.

When we saw them acting in ways that did not seem to be in the best interests of the aviation world, we told you...

...and for that, they have apparently decided to do their best to harm our company, our mission and ignore the other harms that they've allowed through their refusal to deal with legitimate concerns and complaints.

In a nutshell, that's the guts of the Sun 'n Fun situation. I know that they tell a different story (mostly based on personal attacks that sway way wide of the issues at hand) but the undeniable facts are these...
At NO other event in the world, am I banned or have I been so threatened (and indeed, I can not possibly hope to consent to all the many invitations I receive from those who want ANN's staff and I to attend their events).

• NO other event has the accident history that this event does... especially after the numerous warnings and safety issues were brought to light by ANN or my other companies.
• NO other aviation event has treated any journalist the way that SnF has treated me (and while my treatment is the worst, they have victimized others).
• NO other event has gone so far out of their way to obfuscate the truth and create a smokescreen around their problems and "issues".
• NO other event has seen the frequency and severity of complaints as we have noted about the Lakeland event (we have hundreds on file... from the smallest aero-vendor to mighty GA manufacturers).
• NO other event has seen the decline in attendance, prominence and industry trust as has SnF... and those are just some of the issues involved.
• NO other event has lied to the public so blatantly or foolishly... from their false and fraudulent attendance figures to outright lies about Florida Use taxes (in response to our warnings to the contrary).
• NO other event has received the condemnation this action has received... with the heads of innumerable aviation organizations and associations not only repudiating the action, but several took steps to help overturn it... to no avail.

EVERY SINGLE ONE of our primary safety warnings and concerns has been verified in the most horrible way... by the undeniable fact that our concerns for future hazards came true with a series of terrifying accidents, one after another, and all after we had expended incredible effort to seek less dangerous remedies.

We warned about specific safety issues in the LightPlane area and within days of one of the most aggressive of our announcements one person died and another was injured specifically as we had warned. While SnF officials were making snide and judgmental comments about why the pilot crashed that day, my heart sank and as I learned the details of what had happened… a pilot told to use a short runway, with too many obstacles at both ends, and dispatched with a significant downwind component (despite the advice of many there) by a staff that failed to turn the pattern around… folks, I went home and literally cried. 

Really. Real frustration. Real tears. Real regret.

It was a pointless accident… and we warned them… and they wouldn't do a damned thing about it.
We warned about issues with incoming air traffic (and were joined in this concern by a number of controllers who contacted ANN to tell us of their great concerns), and within weeks of our warnings, a number of near midairs occurred and one actual midair took place -- injuring one and (again) killing another. Again, it was an emotional low… such frustration, such needless destruction, and as our fears were literally echoed by FAA controllers who also warned of impending troubles, we suffered the worst kind of emotional low… that of knowing that there was something wrong, and feeling powerless to affect a fix.

We warned about necessary site improvements for the safety of moving airplanes -- and aircraft still wind up damaged for no good reason while operating through the less than ideal environs controlled by the SnF organization. Good friends have reported time and time again of their issues… and the damages their planes have faced as a result… and we could nothing but shake our head and sympathize.

We have repeatedly warned about the danger to pedestrians while walking the area at SnF -- and within days of one year's (repeated) warning, two persons were struck down by moving aircraft -- improperly supervised by an ill-prepared operations protocol that, at that time, still put innocent attendees closer to moving aircraft than at any other event in our recollection. One of those struck was a child… and after the first few calls to our offices to report the incident to us that day, I literally had to walk away from the phone for a while, to take a long, long walk with my dog… to try to shake a sense of powerless that is just not in my nature.

And the complaints, I have to tell you... we have heard amazing, blistering complaints from vendors -- including some of the biggest names in aviation, that are finding it overly unpleasant, unprofessional and expensive to do the SnF event... to the point where many are curtailing their participation and quite a number have voiced an intent to do away with future participation altogether. Some of the neatest people in the world… our brothers and sisters in the aviation world are being treated rudely, abusively and driven out of something that want to support and grow-only to face greed, arrogance, intimidation, harassment and a stunning lack of proper professional conduct.

Folks... this event is melting down -- and if you have the gumption to point that out, you may also find yourself under attack in short order. In a survey of well over 100 vendors, conducted over several years, had any of these companies been presented an alternative to the Lakeland follies, they would have taken it and abandoned this failing event. NO other event has so alienated its (formerly) closest allies as has SnF... do you wonder why the EAA name has been omitted from the event's title... why EAA stopped hosting a separate membership tent, why EAA's on-site profile has been on the wane, why EAA has had to distance itself from (and even apologize for) the outright frauds and falsehoods of SnF?
We've not undertaken a number of proper defensive responses before now because of our fear for additional negative press on an industry that did not need more of the same -- and trying to find a solution through the legal system is a joke... we spent months, waiting for responses, spent way too much money and got nowhere. Despite the fear that we have about negative press for or about aviation, other journalists tell me that this is a fear we can not afford to be concerned with. At a time when the standards and ethics of a number of industries, ours included, are under attack, we need to show that what is wrong will still be condemned and held to proper condemnation by those involved. It is the right response to a wrong situation, and so I feel that it is time to take other steps in this matter -- even though the mess causes me no small measure of concern and discomfort.

The fact is this... I could have gone with the flow and done what so many others have done... refuse to tell the emperor that he is sans clothing... and in so doing ignored safety issues of great concern to the flying community as well as the general public as well as other issues of great prominence. Instead; I looked to those I have admired and respected... and sought to do the right thing, the difficult thing, the unpopular thing... and spoken up in order to safeguard the welfare of folks like... well, you.

Each and every one of you.

Aviation can be about doing the right and professional thing... or we can continue to ignore the sickness that pervades it like those exhibited by the actions of this deceitful, untruthful, and often unsafe organization... or we can stand up for our right to say and report what is right and wrong about our world... and in so doing, make for a safer and more enjoyable industry. I can't find anyone outside of the SnF organization's sphere that can countenance what they've done... their actions against ANN and myself have been condemned by EAA (even by direct action of Founder Paul Poberezny), AOPA (then under the administration of the ever-so-classy Phil Boyer), several FATA Presidents, The Reporter's Committee for Freedom Of The Press, The Freedom Forum, former USUA President John Ballantyne (who was an active participant in a number of heroic actions to try to make SnF safer), a number of our brethren in the media, countless vendors, and so many more. 

I'm not sure what else to do.

Complaining gets you nowhere but in more trouble (and I assure you that NO ONE is more sick of discussing this than I). The consequences of actual deaths, injuries and other damage seems to have been ignored to the point where we've been told that our complaints were bogus... once within hours of someone becoming a fatality in a manner that so closely paralleled our concerns as to be positively spooky. And while no one will support SnF's actions, so many organizations are afraid of SnF taking out their displeasure on them (yes, I have heard these concerns from organizations as large as EAA and AOPA as well as from vendors who have actually been threatened with expulsion for complaining), few seem willing to rock the boat and make a bigger issue out of it... We believe that the SnF organization has so mismanaged their event, and created such a negative situation that they are doomed to failure. We think that failure will do great harm to aviation, directly and indirectly... while also noting that their continual issues over safety, as well as the horrific falsehoods transmitted by their managers, hasn't helped the matter, either.

We'd love nothing more than to help fix this mess -- and we have always said so... but if it can't or won't be fixed, then it's time to stick a fork in it and declare it DONE, once and for all.

It is time (still) to demand better from those who ask for our support, our money, our trust, and our participation... and if they won't step up and deliver, it's time to pass them by and move on to those who will. I remember writing that I thought that's where we were then... and that if they continue to act as they have for the last few years, then it was time for those who would step up to do the right thing, to take direct measures to bring about a more positive and proper solution.

Like everyone else, we're doing what we have to do (and no more) in regards to Lakeland. And each year, that's less and less, as the Fly-In continues its slide toward ultimate and (IMO) nearly certain failure. We're going to do what we have to, to cover this year's actual news, as it occurs at Lakeland and then go home to do far more important things and get ready for a truly deserving event -- Oshkosh. We strongly believe that from here on out, that the trend will continue in which we devote less of our time and resources to a stumbling event... and other media outlets tell me that they agree -- And that's no one but Lakeland's own fault. ANN is one of the most widely read Daily/RealTime Aviation and Aerospace news services extant... interfering with our effort, as they have done for years, cheats the public, cheats their vendors (who, I believe, should ask for a partial refund of their exorbitant exhibit fees) and is a poor attempt to fraudulently hide from the truth... that this is a crumbling edifice sliding off a shaky foundation that seems doomed to collapse at any moment -- and take the hopes and dreams of many aviators with it.

We still believe (even more so as each year passes) that if the event continues as it has, it will shortly find itself without sufficient support, credibility (what little remains), vendors, attendees, and having to compete with aggressive efforts to replace them with a far more ethical and positive alternative... not out of some sense of "Payback" for being untruthful, unsafe, unpleasant and unethical... but because we desperately need an event that works on behalf of us all rather than being obedient to the arrogant and misguided aims of those who can not deal fairly with criticism or provide a safe and positive environment for the aviation community. It either has to change for the better or be forgotten and replaced with something far better.

Period.

We have long talked about our thoughts and research into the establishment of a replacement event... and we firmly beleive that this is not only viable, but necessary... but with the economy in as much trouble as it has been, of late, such plans should best be held in abeyance until more assured times come about. But make no mistake, we have an amazing plan and truly impressive support... ready, willing and able... to produce something RADICALLY different, intensely creative and anchored in the needs of TODAY's aviators and wannabe flyers... we call it Aero-Fest... 

It has one goal in mind... to SERVE aviation. When the world calms down and the financial turmoil abates, expect to hear much more about it... but in the meantime, we remain as we have always been... here to tell the truth, here to warn you of hazards and here to make sure that you get as much out of the aviation world as you possible can.

FMI: What This All About?? Read It Here, www.usconstitution.net/const.html