Why 2011 at COPPERSTATE is cancelled:

Back in 2008, I sent an e-mail to the Canard Aviator internet discusion group about a conducting a fuel efficiency contest for aircraft. After a few more e-mails, Burrall Sanders hosted the first event at his home at Meadow lake airport near Colorado Springs. It was well attended and was a lot of fun.  

The next two events were held at the yearly Copperstate fly in and were well attended.

Now this year, after establishing an event with national coverage in magazines and several national electronic publications, we can only receive four registrations.

Perhaps the problem lies with last year's event in 2010; some dust caps were accidentially left on the scale pads and significantly corrupted the weighing process.  The problem was not detected until the event was flown.  We attempted to salvage the event with some estimations and extrapolations. However, after discussing the issue extensively, the issue of the integrity and accuracy prevailed and I decided to declare the event void.  Did this failure ruin the reputation of the event with the flying community?

Perhaps it is the economy and the price of fuel. It is not cheap to fly 400 miles, (of course, one of the  purposes of the event is to make flying cheaper but I digress). Perhaps the enthusiasm of a greener planet has conflicted with a greener wallet.

One thought is to conduct Fuelventure as an event to be held on the way to Oshkosh/Airventure.

That is, weigh the planes at a western location on the first day then fly the scales to an airport near OSH, that evening. On the following morning, fly the event to that airport. The additional fuel cost to fly the event for most contestants would be minimized. 

One person, who I respect greatly, wrote a recent e-mail criticizing my leadership of this event. Well, they say you can't argue with success and equally true, you can't argue with failure.   

So, I would truly appreciate any suggestions as to what would make Fuelventure more attractive to you as a pilot.

Thanks,

Bruce Vinnola  

eracervinn@aol.com

Operations Coordinator

480-747-0288

dwbasham3@cox.net

Our  volunteers :

Chris Hawley, Victor Cina, Lee Vandyke, Bruce Vandyke, Don and Donna Warner, Andrew (Andy) Estes, Virginia Estes, Alan & Sandy Van Tongeren

Michael Still COPPERSTATE Chairman and Fuelventure liaison.

Fuelventure Organizer: Bruce Vinnola..

307-262-0464

eracervinn@aol.com

Fuelventure directors and efficiency enthusiasts:

Gary Hertzler, Terry Schubert and Richard Reuland