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| Vertical Challenge
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Vertical Challenge
It's the time of year when questions about our annual Vertical Challenge event begin to surface. No doubt disappointing for many, we have made the reluctant decision to postpone Vertical Challenge this year: The event will not be held this June, 2013. Our goal is to reorganize the event for its future return under different conditions.
There are many reasons for this decision. Since 2000, the museum has hosted a helicopter air show every June under the banner of Vertical Challenge. The use of the word "Challenge" in the title was always intended to reflect the innovative ways in which helicopters solve the challenge of achieving vertical flight but as the event has progressed over the years, the word "challenge" has come to represent the difficulties in putting on the show, itself. I think a good job was done in safely exploiting, to the max, the resources of the San Carlos Airport but in recent years those resources have been pushed beyond their reasonable limits.
We've enjoyed fantastic cooperation with the U.S. military, the County and City law enforcement communities, the Airport, local businesses in San Carlos and many others who volunteered resources to make the event possible over the years. We are indebted and grateful to all of those folks. However, it has become difficult to conduct Vertical Challenge in a manner that the Airport can physically accommodate while delivering a great audience experience that remains compliant with necessary Federal safety regulations regarding air shows. In the final analysis, the San Carlos Airport is simply too small (not through any fault of theirs, of course). We pushed against this obstacle with increasing difficulty each year and fretted that the time would eventually come when staging a good flight demonstration event might prove insurmountably difficult to implement. That time has come.
Air show regulations aside, one other factor has negatively impacted the show, namely, the significant reduction in the availability of helicopters that can participate in the flight portion of the event. While the event has enjoyed incredible support from the U.S. military in their participation as "static displays" (they are restricted from conducting flight demonstrations in our local environment, unfortunately), in terms of flying aircraft that can participate in flight demonstrations, i.e. the "show" in "air show", there simply aren't as many helicopters working today as there were a few years ago. This is completely driven by the state of the national and local economy. In particular, helicopters that fly for civilian agencies, government departments and law enforcement, which in past years constituted the bulk of our flight demonstrations, are presently either not allowed to fly in public air show events, for reasons of budgetary restrictions including the recently enacted Federal Budget Sequestration, or their flight departments have been completely cut and they simply no longer exist.
And so, given the shrinking pool of participating helicopters and tightening regulatory constraints, our reluctant conclusion is that we must, at least temporarily, retire Vertical Challenge at San Carlos Airport until circumstances change. This does not mean that we have no future plans for Vertical Challenge. As an example, there are encouraging possibilities for hosting this event at other airports and venues in the Bay Area, at other times of the year. We are seriously investigating such possibilities for the future and we will keep you informed of these developments.
Fortunately, there are exciting upcoming opportunities to enjoy aviation at the museum in conjunction with San Carlos Airport. Our brand new, upcoming Seaplane Adventure! event on May 4, 2013, will be an unprecedented gathering of water borne aircraft technology on display at the museum. Plus, the airport community has come together with plans to present a free Airport Day on June 22, which will provide intriguing opportunities for people to visit the airport, hang out with pilots and the local flight schools (while learning about flight training opportunities and careers in aviation) plus enjoy helicopter rides and participate in the EAA Young Eagles airplane experience. There will be more to come about Airport Day in the next issue of Briefings.
We share your disappointment with the news that Vertical Challenge will not occur this June but we hope you understand something of the reasons for this and continue to look forward to new and exciting opportunities to experience aviation with events like Seaplane Adventure! and Airport Day. In the meantime, Vertical Challenge will be reconfigured and ultimately reborn in a new way, rising again like a Phoenix, hopefully soon.
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