Sun 'n Fun 2011

There is a serious parking problem at Sun 'n Fun and I am hoping that
someone who can solve it will see this video and fix the problem.

Sun 'n Fun is an annual event at the airport in Lakeland, Florida.
http://www.sun-n-fun.org/

EAA = Experimental Aircraft Association
http://eaa.org/

AOPA = Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
http://www.aopa.org/

GA = General Aviation

Oshkosh refers to another EAA "aviation celebration" called AirVenture
http://www.airventure.org/

Update 4/11/2011
Sun 'n Fun CEO John Burton replies
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/1885-full.html
He says this only happens once per year when the Blue Angels appear. I agree that the line you see in this video is possibly the longest it has ever been. He also says that there is no waiting problem at other times. This is in disagreement with what I said in the video and with what other people have written in this video's comment section. Also, if he knew that those people at the end of the line would not get in until sunset why not alert them on the radio so they can know to give up and go home?

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Sun
• 'n
• Fun
• EAA
• experimental
• aircraft
• association
• ga
• general
• aviation
• air
• show
• airshow
• AOPA
• steadicam
• merlin
• car
• parking
• problem
• pilot
• airplane
• traffic
• jam
• backup
• airport
• plane
• flying
• fly

[saildapper2001]

Wow. I was planning to go this year (driving in from out of state), and to buy my ticket in advance online. I THOUGHT I would have zero wait (a) to park (I attend a lot of other airshows, use remote lots and shuttle buses, and willing to pay for them), and (b) buying ticket, since I would get it online in advance and arrive and just walk in without stopping. Is this not the case?

[WarmWeatherGuy]

@saildapper2001 If you get there as soon as they open the line shouldn't be too long. If you get there an hour after they open, or any time later in the day, the line will probably be long. If it rained so the parking is muddy it will be way slower. Hopefully they will fix things this year but I wouldn't plan on it. Get there at sunrise to be safe.

[tlevans62]

How about multiple parking areas off site and using shuttle buses. I used to be an organizer for the Australian International Airshow and to me, this video is completely unacceptable. We have one of the largest publicly attended airshows in the World and we don't have problems like this because we gravel the carparks, have multiple gates, we have dozens of shuttle buses and many feeder car parks, the buses also have ticket sales on board so when you arrive you go strait in.

[WarmWeatherGuy]

@tlevans62 It sounds like you're exactly who we need to fix this mess. If it is not fixed next year I would blame the Sun 'n Fun CEO Jack Burton. Right now he seems to be in denial about there being any problem at all. I am hoping by next year he will make some changes and we can all get in on time.

[UTubeGlennAR]

FYI:

I just learned a month or so ago that SnF is not run by the EAA any longer, perhaps this is the reason?

[WarmWeatherGuy]

@UTubeGlennAR That is interesting. I did not know about this. No, I don't think this has anything to do with it. It has taken me 2 hours to get into SnF as far back as 12 years ago. If they speed up the parking to get me parked in 1.5 hours then the ticket buying will take me a half hour. If you don't show up early on a week day it has to be 3 or 4 hours to get in. Thanks for the info.

[FlyMeAirplane]

SnF has never been run by EAA. 2010 I flew in and took 45 min to taxi to homebuilt parking, was overheating and pissed off. 2011 was more like 10 min, average of 20 flights probably 10 min taxi. so, just fly in!

[phishstyx]

A major complaint is the lack of information regarding your plight if you're actually stuck in that line. The cynical part of me suspects they felt that if they declared how long the wait was, more people would bail, reducing revenue. Either that or they are totally incompetent, not sure which.

[Xenathedog]

John Burton is a lying sack in his AvWeb response, one in a long line of egomaniacal lying sack CEOs of aviation events that includes Bob Woods of Sebring's SPExpo. They have NO REGARD FOR FREE SPEECH... just money... and retaliate any way they can against criticism (which jeopardizes their ego and perqs). SunNFun arrested and banned Campbell, the ANN editor, for accurately listing their safety and admission flaws. YOU MAY BE BANNED NEXT. And traffic Saturday also sucked, as it always does.

[flyinbry]

People that are controlling the parking are morons. Good way to kill GA and piss people off that are using that road!

[snowbirdpa28]

Sun n Fun claims the problem is due to the bad weather the day before. Fair enough but the same problem happens every time it rains. in 2008 I waited over an hour due to parking entrances being closed by mud. Considering what they charge for parking you would think SnF would be better prepared for rain.

[Airshofoto]

2011 was my first and last year at SNF. After a 4 hour wait that began at 0900, I had to wait 20 minutes for a ticket. So if the speed of patrons entering was so slow, why was there a line for tickets? Would that line have been even longer if the lots were dry? Thanks for the video!