Why Do We Continue to Have Aviation Gatherings in MN and AK?

I have had people, the last few years, remark that Gatherings, whether they be the Great Alaska Aviation Gathering or the Great Minnesota Aviation Gathering, are no longer necessary. The advent and application of Zoom meetings, webinars and the like all make it easy to listen to a speaker in the comfort of our own homes or hangars (if we have wifi). This enables us to decrease the need to travel to a specific site, allows us an excellent opportunity to exercise "social distancing". So why do we continue to hold events like the GMAG?

The ability to bump into fellow pilots and catch up on mods they have made on their airplanes, share a few hangar flying "true stories" and put our eyes and hands on aviation products are far superior, in my opinion, to networking via wifi modalities. Sitting around the food court to eat a bratwurst or bbq, visiting with the exhibitors to learn about new products, having the ability to ask questions face-to-face...all these and more are why I think we need to support gatherings like ours.

Thanks to you for supporting the Great MN Aviation Gathering, and the Great Alaska Aviation Gathering. We don't take your support for granted.

Randy Corfman
President, MN Pilots Assn

You don't know what little guy has come up with if you don't go. Example: the new 185 tail repair and trim wheel. Had I not seen Bill and Joe at the show last year I would not know they had these parts coming out.

Yea, seeing all you guys and gals is the real reason to go. Again, you bump into folks you might not have seen for YEARS!

Unfortunately the Trade Show/Great Ak Aviation Gathering has been canceled or postponed this year.

With many folks working from home across many industries, I have heard discussion about how this will change the work environment and make office buildings and location-dependent work obsolete. It’s an interesting point, but...

If that were really the case, would we have such an explosion of quarantine memes thinking about life without quarantine restrictions? The reality is that humans do occasionally like the presence of other humans, and we do like connection, whether virtual or in-person.

Personally, I value my in-person communication so much more after reducing it.

Looking forward to the return of shows and fly-ins,

—Amy

Nothing beats sitting around a campfire and listening to tall tales......

While there are a lot of "flagship" events, the fact remains that there are a lot of smaller gatherings of import in the Cub community throughout the year. They are great opportunities to ditch social media for a few and enjoy life in real time. Plus, you haven't lived until you've sat around a camp fire on a lovely August night in Maine, sipping a local IPA and listening to Cliff argue with Real Airline Pilots about how they should fly the jets.....

For me the Alaska Airmen's Show is as much about seeing flying friends from over the years as it is all the product. It's a great time and it will be missed this year.

Paul Persinger Jr. said:

For me the Alaska Airmen's Show is as much about seeing flying friends from over the years as it is all the product. It's a great time and it will be missed this year.

Click to expand...

I learned that about twenty minutes into the first trip to the show, lol.

And I agree, I'll miss it. Lord willing I'll be there next year.

Web

All those terrific companies and organizations that had supported us by planning to exhibit at the 2020 GMAG have had FULL REFUNDS of their fees. If you are one of our corporate or institutional supporters you should have received a full refund onto your credit card, or have received a check from us.

We greatly value the support of our Sponsors, Exhibitors and Advertisers. Our GMAGs would never have gotten off the ground were it not for their support. It has been very gratifying to receive a note or phone call from our supporters as they offer their condolences for having to cancel the event after all the work that has gone into the planning, and many have told us to just keep their fees and apply it to next year's event. We have chosen to respond "thanks, but no thanks" and make the refund.

Having "manned" a booth at our event I know what a huge commitment it is for an organization to make arrangements, assemble their booth, sit at the booth for two days, disassemble the booth and return home. It is a huge commitment, and we appreciate it.

In the last 2 days I have learned from multiple exhibitors at the AK Airmens Trade Show that the AK Airmens Association (of which I am a lifetime member) has chosen a different path, choosing not to provide a full refund. This is not a prudent choice, I think.

We are going to systematically recognize every organization or company that supported us this year, even though we could not have the event. We are all in this together.

Randy Corfman
President, MN Pilots Assn

WindOnHisNose said:

In the last 2 days I have learned from multiple exhibitors at the AK Airmens Trade Show that the AK Airmens Association (of which I am a lifetime member) has chosen a different path, choosing not to provide a full refund. This is not a prudent choice, I think.

Click to expand...

Randy, I was more bothered by the delivery of the message and how it was handled than losing the booth money. I was basically told we signed a contract that said they can do whatever they want (Force Majeure). It will certainly make me think twice about having a booth next year, since they would not even consider offering booths for next year's show in exchange for no refund. Not sure who the leadership is there now, but it certainly has changed. I would put thier responses to my questions regarding their decision in the "curt and rude" category.

sj

remember, the fed ex hanger fiasco a few years ago, because the ones putting on/organizing the gatherings changed from a non-profit to a for profit......

that was in 2014 for the 2015 show...

New Holstein of the north! Have a camp out and everything!

Web

For those of you who don't know, I write a monthly column for the Minnesota Flyer magazine. This magazine has been around for many years, published monthly (subscriptions can be obtained at https://www.mnflyer.com/subscribe) and the publisher has been a major sponsor of the Minnesota Pilots Association and the GMAG's since inception. They graciously provide me a column monthly, as president of the MN Pilots Association.

I am breaking a rule by sharing this before publication, but here is what will be in my column for the April issue of the MN Flyer...

Uncertain times. We are certainly uncertain as I write this column. Our lives have changed drastically since I wrote last month’s column and we just don’t know which way is up about many things. Our gyroscopes are tumbling. We are needing to go on partial panel, in instrument flying terms.

The Corona virus variant, COVID 19, that we are dealing with is well understood at many levels. It is quite contagious and is spread almost 100% by transmission via respiration droplets…aerosol, airborne. At the time of this writing there has not been a single case of it being transmitted via a surface, or via food. It is in many ways no different than influenza or other flu’s in this respect. It can be lethal if the person who inhales droplets is in a high risk group, just as is the case with influenza or other flu’s.

Who among us are included in the high risk group? Elderly (while I am sitting at 67 years of age and do not “feel” elderly, I am 65 and over and hence elderly). The “more elderly” the higher the risk of dying from any major illness, including flu epidemics. Since the influenza’s primarily attack our lungs, those with respiratory disease (regardless of age) are at an increased risk. History of smoking tobacco?...high risk. Asthma?...high risk. The more risk factors we have, the greater the risk and with this in mind there is entirely understandable why those who do not survive any influenza, or COVID 19, respiratory infection do not survive. Data from the CDC, as of December of 2017, estimate that between 291,000 and 646,000 die from seasonal influenza-related illnesses each year. To put the COVID 19 into perspective, to date 28,240 have died worldwide from COVID 19 in the first quarter of 2020. Perspective is very important.

It is with these thoughts in mind that the Board of Directors of the MN Pilots Association decided to cancel the 2020 Great MN Aviation Gathering, and many other major aviation events have followed suit. We had to face the fact that the majority of people who attend the GMAG are in a high risk category and that “social distancing” would be nearly impossible and given the restraints our elected officials have placed on us we felt our “social aviation event” should not happen this year. Was any of this necessary based upon the statistics I just shared with you? That is turning out to be the trillion dollar question.

We are so thankful for the businesses and organizations that were willing to support the 2020 GMAG, and we will be recognizing them on our Facebook/MNPilots page and via emails to our members. We issued refunds to all, but some have been kind enough to ask us simply to keep the fees as a donation. We are so fortunate to have this kind of support.

We will be back in 2021, perhaps having the GMAG in May, and we hope to see you there!

Randy Corfman
President, MN Pilots Assn

SJ said:

Randy, I was more bothered by the delivery of the message and how it was handled than losing the booth money. I was basically told we signed a contract that said they can do whatever they want (Force Majeure). It will certainly make me think twice about having a booth next year, since they would not even consider offering booths for next year's show in exchange for no refund. Not sure who the leadership is there now, but it certainly has changed. I would put thier responses to my questions regarding their decision in the "curt and rude" category.

sj

Click to expand...

A lot of that going around in our great state these days. Even amongst the residents. There’s always been a bit of a dividing line right around Cordova but it’s getting worse. They bitch about the ferry and we bitch about the roads. Sad we don’t pull in the same direction anymore.

So, it’s spilled over. Embarrassing, and not proper Alaskan statesmanship. I for one am sorry.