Flite Fest West 2018 location suggestion?

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
I happened to see the article in Model Aviation this month about Flite Fest West, held in Vallejo, and noticed that the Flite Test guys were looking for a new place to hold the next event, somewhere larger, perhaps?

How about either in Irvine, CA, at the old El Toro air base, or in Tustin, at the old MCAS? Both have runways, large areas, hangars to house indoor events such as builds/vendors/seminars, and I'm sure there could be waivers set up by either city for temporary camping...

I know that El Toro air base has been used recently for filming TV shows; the old Top Gear USA, with Adam Ferrara, Tanner Foust, and Rutledge Wood, used to film their "Stig" tests and guests there, so I would imagine the city would be happy to have another event such as this come in, and Tustin might be great for the usage and history of the blimp hangars (which are HUGE, if you've ever had a chance to go inside of one; the scale just makes you feel like a flea on a Great Dane).

Throwing it out there to see if maybe you guys have found a location or not, and see if something could be done with one of those sites!
 

agentkbl

Illegal Squid Fighting?
it'd be good for me to be a bit further north, but I'm in Washington, so I'd rather it be all the way in oregon.
 

thenated0g

Drinker of coffee, Maker of things
Mentor
i know on the trip when they were looking at new locations they were in Chico, ca at amainhobbies. Maybe not related....but lots of open space and no airport zones all over.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
Chico wouldn't be bad in April...It can get warm if there's a heat wave (May this year was bad enough out by Pittsburg, but still tolerable).

I'd be willing to make the trek, though; San Diego to Chico with my dad, just so that he could hang out and fly planes in the various events and open flight? Yeah, I'll be signing up for that one. :)
 

richb2599

Active member
Anywhere in southern California would work better for me living in phoenix. That's a comfortable one day drive for me. I really hope to make ffwest this time.
 

Liam B

Well-known member
I like the idea of El Toro, being that we could possibly see some full-scale action!
 

jhitesma

Some guy in the desert
Mentor
Considering that CA is almost as long as the distance between FFE and FFS I wouldn't be surprised if in a year or two we get a FFSW and FFNW instead of just a FFW.

I had really hoped to hit up FFW last year...but southern AZ to Vallejo is a longer haul than any of my vehicles can do, so between the cost of admission, camping, and a rental I just couldn't pull it off - and the timing meant I couldn't find anyone to split costs with to help either :( Moving it even further north makes it even harder.

It's actually easier for me to visit FFE since I have family in Ohio who I try to visit every other summer. But I can't bring a lot of planes with me (or bring back those I build there!) and it's hard to commit to volunteering since it's also a family obligation kind of thing.

I'm just crossing my fingers that this year I can either find someone to split expenses, or they move further south, or announce further in advance for FFW so I can pull it off. Though there's also a good chance of me making FFE next summer since I've overdue for that family visit :)
 

fixnfly

New member
I am sure I could find some decent locations in the North West. There are several ag airports, and huge fields that could work on the east side of the mountains in either Oregon or Washington. How many people are they planning on this time?
 

JimCR120

Got Lobstah?
Site Moderator
It's actually easier for me to visit FFE since I have family in Ohio who I try to visit every other summer... Though there's also a good chance of me making FFE next summer since I've overdue for that family visit :)
Looking forward to meeting another long time member face to face. You like lobster?
 

jhitesma

Some guy in the desert
Mentor
The correct answer to this is "Yes of course, but Rockyboy can have my slice of the rhubarb pie" :p

I haven't had rhubarb pie in a long time...so I don't think I can let you get away with that :D

And with the offer of Lobster...I hope they set a hard date for FFE soon enough I can lock it in with a family visit ;)

We're actually planning on trying something "different" for the family visit this summer. Instead of all three of us (me, my wife and my daughter) flying out for a week we're thinking about splitting it up and letting our daughter have a few weeks with her grandparents. So one of us would fly out with her and spend a few days then fly back leaving her there...then a few weeks later the other would fly out and spend a few days before flying back with her. FF2015 was the last time she got to see her grandparents (and they got to see her) and she's now old enough to be separated from mom and day for more than one or two nights - so she and they are hoping to make up for lost time. I'd just have to plan it so pickup or dropoff lines up with FF and I can make that leg of the trip ;) Though...my wife really enjoyed FF as well and wants to come back so hopefully I don't have to fight her for which of us gets it :D
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
I am sure I could find some decent locations in the North West. There are several ag airports, and huge fields that could work on the east side of the mountains in either Oregon or Washington. How many people are they planning on this time?

Fixn, only issue I might have with the PNW is the stigma of rainy weather. What's the average of sunny days in late April/early May? I know I've been to Seattle at that time, and the spring time is funky to say the least - rain for 2 hours, 30 minutes of cloudy skies with no rain, and then back on to rain again for the rest of the day...I'm not saying it's not possible to host up there, just wondering whether the weather will allow it?
 

JimCR120

Got Lobstah?
Site Moderator
The correct answer to this is "Yes of course, but Rockyboy can have my slice of the rhubarb pie" :p
Screen Shot 2017-11-09 at 5.10.59 PM.png
See the "Vesra Plate"? WRFB, so useful.

Maybe I can successfully encourage my sweetheart to make 3 as before so we can share. There were many who'd never had it before and liked it a lot. One teen was hesitant but I told him to think of it as similar to Sour Patch Kids candy but this is Sour Patch Pie. It worked.

Be sure to hit up the ice cream vendor to go with it.
 
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rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Awesome! Bringing more people to the pie (and vice-versa) is a good thing :)

And I remember the versa-plates! I think mine was going to be a rudder but took a different path in it's life :)
 

AgentLAL

Member
That could be good, but it's a little far for people. I'm up by Sacramento and have only been to the first west event before, and I would hope that it wouldn't be too far.
 

fixnfly

New member
Fixn, only issue I might have with the PNW is the stigma of rainy weather. What's the average of sunny days in late April/early May? I know I've been to Seattle at that time, and the spring time is funky to say the least - rain for 2 hours, 30 minutes of cloudy skies with no rain, and then back on to rain again for the rest of the day...I'm not saying it's not possible to host up there, just wondering whether the weather will allow it?

That is why you want to be on the east side of the cascades. In the rain shadow east of the Cascade mountains, we have 189 sunny days and only 46.1 rainy days in a year for an average of 9 inches of rain. We get judged by the rainy side all the time :)
 

carl20320

New member
That is why you want to be on the east side of the cascades. In the rain shadow east of the Cascade mountains, we have 189 sunny days and only 46.1 rainy days in a year for an average of 9 inches of rain. We get judged by the rainy side all the time :)

Yep, HUGE difference between wet side and dry side. I think the Tri-cities area averages over 300 sunny days a year.
 

fixnfly

New member
Yep, HUGE difference between wet side and dry side. I think the Tri-cities area averages over 300 sunny days a year.

I was going to say 300 sunny days as I'm not far from there, but partly cloudy or a few stray clouds isn't a truly sunny day... My guess is the stats I looked up were for the couple months during the summer that we don't see any clouds. There are some great slope soaring areas near Tri-Cities also. Spring is generally a good time to fly before the wheat and wild grasses dry out. You can fly over pretty much anything till mid June, then we try to limit it to over irrigated fields due to fire danger in July and August.
 

AgentLAL

Member
I'd personally want it to be around Sacramento, CA-the capitol of the state-but I know that it may not happen. I live right next to an airstrip with real full-size airplanes, but the other people that live around us may not be happy to do that. Ugh! For all of you wanting it to be in southern CA down by LA, good luck-I would become a hater if it was down there.