Vegetarian food choices
My son and I loved FliteFest. My son doesn't fly very often (it's my hobby, not his), so he is still buddy-boxing. I think this event was perfect for someone like him. He got to fly a lot more during this event than he has all year. As Josh always says, my son and I got to "build some memories." If that is Josh's and FliteTest's goals, I think this was a hugely successful event (it was still a successful event by any other measure), thank you FliteTest and all the FliteFest volunteers!
My one suggestion that I haven't seen mentioned is to have some more vegetarian choices for food. It doesn't have to be a big menu. Just having some veggie-burgers available on request in addition to hamburgers and hot dogs would have been good. My son and I don't eat red meat or chicken, so we had fried bucket of vegetables 4 meals in a row. Next year, it would be good to get some announcement of what types of food will be available before the event. If I don't like the food choices, I'll bring a small grill for cooking, but I'd rather not have to.
We actually left the event a half day earlier than planned, because we couldn't eat another bucket of fried (very greasy) vegetables. I suppose we could have gone to town to eat, but I confused the people working at the local Subways when I asked for a veggie patty sub. They didn't know what a veggie patty was! All other subways shops from Boston to western Pennsylvannia carries veggie patties, but not in Ohio.
By the way, we aren't strict vegetarians, and we don't do it for religous reasons. We used to be big meat eaters (or at least I was), but my son quit eating red meat and chicken for environmental reasons (it takes so much energy to produce each calorie of meat), and I stopped eating meat so as not to be pigging out on meat in front of him. In the process, I've lost 20 lbs and lowered my cholesterol from 249 to 176 in six months. We aren't very experienced vegetarians (and we still eat fish and other seafood - which I suppose you could argue isn't that environmental either), so maybe we can solicit ideas from others that have been vegetarians for lot longer.
As an experienced flyer, I noticed some of the things on the flight lines that others have already mentioned. I was guilty of buddy-boxing my son in the huge space between the beginner's flight stations and the heli stations when I first got there on Friday. I think there is enough space between the beginners and heli section for another set of flight stations. The main problem with having people spread out is that you have to start being very loud when you announce that you are coming in for a landing as someone 30 yards from you does not hear you and will walk out onto the runway without looking first.
A few times, I saw some beginners (as well as someone who looked like they were experienced) announce "on the field" without looking and just run/walk/dwadle out. My main complaint would be that people loitered on the runway looking over their plane and fiddling with it while I have to circle around before landing. At my usual club fields that I fly, I might have brought it to their attention (and at other events, people are screaming - no need for me to mention the specific event), but I think at FliteFest, those of us who are experienced should be a bit more understanding. That isn't to say that we shouldn't "educate" people on matters of safety, as long as it is done in a friendly and helpful manner.
John