FT Tours

[Julez]

Hi all!

'Long time reader, first time poster' is the story for me here, although I'm no stranger to forums.

Josh Bixler's comment on the 'Value of entertainment has decreased' thread really made me start to think about the show, and gave me a few ideas and wild fantasies for future things in Flite Test. As we all know from the Flite Test mission statement episode released a while back, the primary goal of the show when it first started was to influence and improve the RC community as a whole, and isn't that what it's all about? Everything is about the community, everything that we do, our suggestions, and each and every point that we make.

We just had Flite Fest, which I can't wait for next year, and I feel like we need more Flite Test- based community gatherings like that. In his post, Josh Bixler mentioned something about travelling around, doing roadtrips and going off the beaten path a little bit, bringing back some more of those David moments that have been lacking since he left.

My proposal/idea is to turn those roadtrips into a Flite Test Tour- travel around to a bunch of different places in the U.S., have a meet- and greet and get up in the air with members of the community in the places that they're going to. I realize this may be rather far fetched due to travel expenses, but in my opinion this would be a terrific and immersive way to interact with the community and really connect. A few different stops in each state, get involved with everyone and everything, and, of course, fly.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Balu]

I think the plan is exactly that. They said that they were going to local clubs and meet people when touring the south.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Beyond that WE are the community. I had a great time with a few other FT forum users (CraftyDan, and Tomoki) at an event that was fairly close to me.

There was no official greeting station for the event, and since we were set up at the end of the flight line that most people visited first, we became the unofficial greeters.

We showed off our planes, and some of the Flite Test stuff we had. Tomoki demonstrated some of his scratch builds, and del all bragged about Flite Test.

I think any event we go to, we should be making our own Flite Test tour. Many of the people we spoke with, were either completely new to the hobby (thinking about getting into it) or had been in it years ago, and were interested in starting to fly again (but they didn't know where to start with all the electric motors, and 2.4 radios).

It was an awesome experience, and even though we're not Josh Bixler, or Josh Scott, we are part of the community and have something to contribute.

(And yeah, getting to have the guys come to a field near me would be awesome!)

 

[Balu]

So that's what we have to do to call ourselves "honorary Josh"?

 

[MADJRFL]

I am down for touring. Are we talking FT comes to "your" state, i.e. Florida stop, or big cities only? Do we start a Flite Test tour Startup?
Do we start a "come to Central FL" startup... There is an airfield in Apopka http://rcacf.com/
How about we start gathering up some groups in our individual states/areas and create a need for a tour. Shot for 2016. Local groups anyone?

 

[wilanz]

That's a great idea to create some local groups that can act as hosts. I really like the junior program at rcacf in Orlando. $2 to join and fly. Kids don't even need their own plane! I'd like to get that going at my local clubs.

From the coverage of the Flitefest event it sounds like people came from everywhere.

Florida is probably a good spot for a winter event. Just need to figure out how far south they are willing to go. Maybe multiple stops

 

[BigRed1]

Well if the take 65 souith they can stop here in Montgomery on the way to Florida

 

[RoyBro]

Perhaps they can get some of the local shops that are benefiting from Flite Test to sponsor a "Lets Fly" meet. For instance if they can visit Altitude Hobbies in Denver, I'd be happy to to drive down a couple of states from Montana to Denver to join in.

 

[NateO]

I would be up for a Denver FT meet up!

 

[SnowRocker88]

SO as this thread seems to be turning into the "come to my local field" thread I'll put in my $0.02. Come fly at Triple Tree. Plenty of room to do all kinds of crazy during the "off-season" (AKA when there aren't a million people there for Joe Nall or EWeek). I have a good relationship with a lot of the guys running TT so if it's timing, accommodations...whatever, I'd be happy to help.

Also, along the lines of "David moments"...I can probably find you whatever you would want in Greenville (which isn't far from Woodruff and is an AWESOME place to visit). Cool buildings, parking garages, parks, structures, schools, stadiums...whatever you're looking for, Greenville probably has two.