Hondo, Texas
25 May 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

All Wrapped Up - How Well The EAA Texas Fly-In Did In 2006

By every measure, the 42nd Annual EAA Southwest Regional Fly-In was bigger and better than at any other time over the past ten years: attendance, aircraft, automobiles, campers both air and auto, exhibitors, forums and numbers of volunteers all increased.

Attendance for the two-and-a-half-day Fly-In was 6,100, a thirty-five percent increase over Hondo in 2005, and a fifty-two percent increase over 2004. It was the largest number of people to attend the SWRFI in ten years.

Seven-hundred sixty aircraft flew to Hondo, a forty-six percent gain from 2005 as well as the greatest number in ten years.

Automobiles parked: 1,025, a twenty-eight percent increase since 2005, and more than twice as many as all but one of the years from 1997 through 2004.

Campers numbered 210. They camped beside their airplanes. They hooked up to electric power with highway R-Vs - to distinguish from RVs that fly. They pitched tents within walking distance of the brand-new outdoor showers. We can't break down the camper count by categories, but the grand total is ninety percent larger than 2005.  Clearly, camping is a big part of the EAA Fly-In experience. Happily, Hondo airfield has plenty of room for more of it.

The counts of attendees, aircraft and campers were certainly swelled by the outstanding weather for the second week-end in May, which began with night temperatures in the 'fifties, and good breezes plus high 'eighties during afternoons.

In early morning, winds were calm or very light, giving powered-parachute and ultra-light aircraft pilots ideal conditions. Their brightly-colored canopies filled the sky above the aircraft camping site at the end of runway 8.

Seventy-three exhibitors filled a large hangar and spread along the parking ramp in tents. Demonstrators of Light Sport Aircraft were particularly prominent and busy.

SWRFI Forums numbered thirty-eight, and were well attended, especially those given by Mike Melvill, the first civilian astronaut and pilot of SpaceShipOne two years ago above the Mojave. This was the largest number of Forums in the past ten years.

Most importantly, the count of Volunteers reached 225, the largest number of people involved in making the Fly-In a success since we began keeping track of them. Volunteers are the life-blood of any EAA Fly-In, without whom its operations would be simply impossible. Plans are already being made to increase the number of volunteers at the 2007 EAA Texas Fly-In, to be held at Hondo, Texas during May 11th and 12th next year.

The Texas Fly-In is an annual sponsored event of the Experimental
Aircraft Association's Southwest Regional Fly-In.

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Contact:
E. D. Yoes, Jr.
Secretary, SWRFI
eyoes@stic.net
(210) 492-2504