Fly-In Acres, California
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A fly-in is a pre-arranged gathering of aircraft, pilots and passengers for
recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...
al and social purposes. Fly-ins may be formally or informally organised, members of the public may or may not be invited, the gathering may be at an airport or in a farmer's field. Fly-ins can be aimed at specific aircraft classes, such as
taildragger Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...
s, warbirds,
experimental aircraft An experimental aircraft is an aircraft intended for testing new aerospace technologies and design concepts. The term ''research aircraft'' or ''testbed aircraft'', by contrast, generally denotes aircraft modified to perform scientific studies, ...
or specific aircraft models. They may be organized by a national organization, such as the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association or the Experimental Aircraft Association, the airport owner or authority, a flying club, an
aircraft type club Aircraft type clubs are organizations that provide information and support to a single aircraft type or a group of aircraft types from the same manufacturer or family of aircraft.Canadian Owners and Pilots Association: ''The COPA Guide To Buying ...
or by a group of friends meeting perhaps for a
barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...
and to socialize. The term "fly-in" is not formally defined in the aviation legislation of many countries and it may refer to a range of events, while in others it has a specific legal meaning. For example, in Canada fly-ins may not legally include air displays or competitive flying.


History

Both fly-ins and airshows evolved out of the first aviation meets held in the pioneering days of flying, early in the twentieth century, before the First World War. Although there were some minor aviation meets in France earlier in 1909, at Port-Aviation south of Paris, in Douai and in Vichy, the first major international aviation meet was the
Grande Semaine d'Aviation The ''Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne'' was an 8-day aviation meeting held near Reims in France in 1909, so-named because it was sponsored by the major local champagne growers. It is celebrated as the first international public flying e ...
(English: ''Grand Week of Aviation'') held in
Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...
, France between 22–29 August 1909. The event attracted some of the world's foremost pilots of the day, including
Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of th ...
,
Henry Farman Henri Farman (26 May 1874– 17 July 1958) was a British-French aviator and aircraft designer and manufacturer with his brother Maurice Farman. Before dedicating himself to aviation he gained fame as a sportsman, specifically in cycling and moto ...
, Léon Delagrange, Hubert Latham, Charles de Lambert, Louis Paulhan, Roger Sommer, Claude Grahame-White and one American, Glenn Curtiss. The event was primarily a competition for record setting. Curtis set a speed record of flying a biplane he had designed, winning the first race for ''Gordon Bennett Coupe Internationale d'Aviation''. Henry Farman set a distance record of in just over three hours. Hubert Latham won the altitude contest by attaining . The event attracted large crowds of spectators including 3,000 from the United Kingdom and 2,000 from the United States. None of the aircraft were flown-in, but arrived via ground transport and assembled in place.Villard, Henry Serrano & Willis M. Allen Jr: ''Looping The Loop'', pages 42-54. Kales Press, 2000. The first person to actually fly into an aviation meeting was Hubert Latham, who flew to the 1909 Konkurrenz-Fliegen Berlin at Johannisthal Air Field from the Tempelhof field on 27 September 1909, a distance of . This was one of the several meetings inspired by the Reims meeting. Latham's flight was the first cross-country flight in Germany. Flying to aviation meetings was sometimes discouraged. For example, Robert Martinet wanted to fly his plane to the June 1910 Angers aviation meeting, but was refused by the organizers, on the grounds that this potentially dangerous flight would put his appearance at the meeting at risk.''Le Petit Courrier'' (1 June 1910, page 2) The expression in English most commonly used for similar events in the pre-World War I era was "aviation meeting" (in Europe) or "aviation meet" (in the USA). The first aviation meet located in the United Kingdom was held at Doncaster between 15–23 October 1909. It preceded the second UK event held at
Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
by only three days. Both events competed for the honour of being the first of their type in the country and as a result neither drew the expected public interest. The Doncaster event attracted a dozen aircraft and pilots, but bad weather prevented much of the planned flying and many of the trophies were not awarded. The event lost a considerable amount of money. The first major competitive aviation meet held in the United States was the Los Angeles ''Aviation Meet'', held 10–20 January 1910 at Dominguez Field. Again this was a competition-style meet with almost all the aircraft from France. Louis Paulhan set a height record of just under one mile (1.6 km) and also took the prize for endurance with a flight of 1:49:40 that covered . The first African aviation meet was the ''Grande Semaine d'Aviation d'Egypt'' held at Heliopolis, east of Cairo, 6–13 February 1910. The event took advantage of the good winter weather found in that country and attracted fliers from all over Europe. The event was organized by the Aero Club of Egypt assisted by the Aero Club de France and was sponsored by Prince Pasha, uncle of the Khedive of Egypt. Pilots flew from an aerodrome that was staked out in the desert that had a landing and take-off surface that was by wide. Competitions were flown between the twelve pilots participating and 173,000 Francs in prize money was disbursed. One participant was "Baroness" Raymonde de Laroche, the first woman in the world to earn a pilot's licence, who won a 10,000 Franc prize for her flight of . The People's Republic of China has been a difficult environment for general aviation, having had severe limits placed on it in the communist era, but by 2011 the government agreed to lift restrictions and to promote the use of business and personal aviation. China's first fly-in was to be held 20–24 September 2011 in Beijing as part of a five-day conference on general aviation, but the fly-in was "postponed indefinitely" due to a Beijing Police Department helicopter crash that raised safety concerns.
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
's fly-ins include the one from La Côte, near Prangins, which was held each every 2 years since 2007, organized by the local air-club "Club Aéronautique
Swissair Swissair AG/ S.A. (German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne) was the national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and bankruptcy in 2002. It was formed from a merger between Bal ...
Genève" (CASG).


References

{{Reflist General aviation