Using Warbirds To Raise Money For Charity - Your Advice Appreciated

[FXone]

Hello

So i have been thinking about a project that involves a Delphin L-29, flying it to every state across america in a 12 month period (approx a week in each) and whilst doing it....raising some much needed money for various charity's along the way. Now, before you conjure images of masses kneeling and kissing the back of my outstretched hand as I stand before them with a halo nicely positioned above my head..............i am also doing this project for personal gain as a business venture.

It goes like this:

In each of the 50 states (i am sure that will spark debate in and of itself ) i intend to be holding a paid course (seminar) relating to my business (financial industry). The idea is that part of the course fee's paid by the attendees goes to financing the costs of the trip (fuel being the obvious biggest cost) and the remainder of the course fee's go to a number of charities selected by the attendees them selves. The intention is also to raffle a 30min flight in each of the courses that 1 of the attendees wins. Additional to this i would be looking to obtain (and promote along the way) different sponsors relating to my business and the project itself (travel magazines, lifestyle shows, etc). When all said and done, i will be positioning this project to capture a considerable amount of exposure for all involved. (online, radio, print, etc)

Sounds great in theory right?

Well yes, but it is early days for me putting together this endevour and no doubt it will have many hurdles to leap over.

For example: after doing some research and in particular chatting with Albert over at Raptor Aviation (very helpful guy), I have learned that the FAA does not like this sort of thing when it relates to experimental exhibition aircraft which is what i would like to use. (Delphin L29).

I have chosen this aircraft as:

1) lets face..... it is a jet and will attract alot of attention in the media which inturn raises more money for charities (and yes, hopefully for me too).
2) outside of the astronomical fuel costs they are cheap to buy and maintain
3) they are relatively forgiving to fly
4) i simply have a genuine liking of the L29 and 39

So this is one of many challenges that i imagine will appear between now and when i start this project. (yes, i will be starting it regardless of the obstacles....it may just have to be massaged from the way i see it now).

So the reason i am on here is that i have heard great things about this forum and after reading many threads on here myself, its clear there is alot of knowledge and great people that would (i feel) know individually and collectively what obstacles and solutions i mite respectively encounter and use to make this project a reality and as trouble free as possible.

So with that said, i welcome any conversation, thoughts, ideas, resources and the like that you may have relating to the above project.

Feel free to chime in as i would like to hear what you have to say

Thanks for reading

Nick

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Please make only one post on this subject. Thank you.

 

[evangilder]

Flying an experimental aircraft for hire is a no-no in the states. Doing that can not only land you in hot water, but can also have your insurance policy cancelled and your license suspended for a year. Taking it around to show it and use it in advertising is one thing, but giving rides introduces a new element that will have you under a microscope that you don't want to be under. We have had enough of those kinds of stories here lately and *I* don't want to see any more of it. The GA community in the US has been hit hard with bad press and regulations lately. The LAST thing we need is another cowboy trying to skirt the regulations and potentially messing it up for the other law-abiding pilots.

 

[gumbyk]

Even where you can legally do it (like here in NZ) the costs for certification for a one-off venture such as this would mean that you would make very little, if any, profit from the flying.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Something smells here...

 

[Wurger]

I do think exactly the same.

 

[lacrossedart]

I'd like to see you do it although I can't say I know anything about the mechanics and legalities involved, and from the posts I see above, they appear to be both formidable and very discouraging. I will say this much- here in Virginia Beach we had a fellow who established a warbird museum on an old Navy training field just outside of town several years ago. He has static displays and hosts fly-ins and the like, but at last report about six weeks ago, the museum has essentially gone bust and he is contemplating closing it and selling off his collection of warbirds. Leaving aside the local issues, it would seem that warbirds cannot be counted on to raise a great deal of money so I'm not sure I would go into this expecting great fiscal gain. An alternative would be looking into the airshow circuit but again, I just don't know how that works. I do know that a number of privately owned warbirds do show up at every airshow we have at the Oceana NAS, but how that is arranged I just don't know. Best of luck on the project!

 

[gumbyk]

From what I understand, the operators who are doing rides here basically use it to subsidise the cost of flying their aircraft, i.e. there is very little (if any) profit to be made.

While I would love to see your idea work, I would doubt that the cost of operating would allow for much of a financial gain to be made.