Cardinal Flyers

CFO Fly-in Policy

Many CFO members have had a great time putting together a CFO Regional (Member hosted) flyin, as you can see documented in the flyin reports page. In order to keep it fun, and to fit our flyouts into the big picture, this page captures our policy on flyouts.

The policy covers several angles, and is designed to keep our flyouts simple, consistent and fun, while keeping clear just who is doing what. In general, CFO's role is to organize a few select larger annual events on a national scale while provide information, tools and a communication vehicle to CFO members who wish to just get together locally.

CFO directly supports two types of fly-ins: Regional (member hosted) Fly-ins and National Fly-ins (including conventions):

National CFO events

All national events are created and implemented by the Cardinal Flyers Headquarters, often with the assistance of local volunteers. Ideas and suggestions are welcome, and volunteers are essential, but these fly-ins are planned and coordinated from 'the home office'. A few policies are followed:

Membership Although we prefer that people become CFO members to support what we are doing together, we do not require that anyone be a CFO member to attend a national event. Members may receive a discount or special benefits, but we will not exclude those who are still checking us out. You do need to be known to the CFO system in order to register for an event, due to the spamming nature of the internet.
Guests: You are welcome to bring guests, even those who fly other kinds of airplanes! They may get a razzing but it will all be in good fun. They may not get to park in the main area.
Preregistration: In order to keep costs down we need to get accurate counts of attendees. We will make it worth your while to preregister, at the same time we try to keep it fair for last minute planners. Please preregister if you can, and we will work to keep things fair for all.
Limits of Liability: Heaven forbid that anything go wrong at or on the way to a CFO fly-in. Please do your part to be sure that all activities are conservative and safe. We do not control your aircraft or flying and cannot take any responsibility for your actions, but we do urge everyone to take good care and operate safely. Each pilot must assume the responsibility for their own operations and actions.

Local Fly-ins:

There are just a few key items required to host a CFO local/regional fly-in. These policies may evolve over time as we learn and get more experience with these events. Please feel free to send feedback to us if you have suggestions, ideas or concerns.

If you choose to have a local CFO event, start by reading the policies below, then proceed by talking to us at CFO HQ. If everything looks good we'll build a web page, publicize the event, give you organization tools and share advice. Make sure you get an approved schedule slot so we can fit it between other events and prepare to have a great time!

Now, about those policies:

Exclusivity: A local CFO event must be for only Cardinals, about Cardinals and with Cardinals. It may not be collocated with, coincident with or otherwise connected to an event organized by others or attended by others. We've tried that a few times and while it may increase attendance, it often does not achieve the goal of bringing Cardinal people together. Please don't ask for an exception... there are many reasons for this policy and we're quite set on it.
Duration: We recognize that you live on a nice airport, in a great area, with many things to see and good places to stay. But for our flyins must follow this simple format: arrive mid-morning, each lunch together dutch treat on the airport, walk around the airplanes in the afternoon (this can be a group walkaround or informal wander time) and fly home in the afternoon. This will turn out to be plenty of work for any organizer, and avoids issues with hotel reservations and transportation.

Please don't ask us to make an exception and allow a multi-day or even multi-meal event. Its not what we do.

At times organizers or participants may choose to illuminate the possibility of a weekend at a particular destination, or the opportunity to visit a nearby site at the personal preference of attendees. Feel free to provide details about those options for people to pursue individually, but it may not be part of the event.

If you are still inspired to pursue grander ideas, talk to us about the possibility of having a national event at your chosen location so we can devote the energy and planning required together. Know in advance that our national event locations require a number of facilities and capabilities to be in place, so not every destination can be made to work.
No Group Flying: Certainly folks will fly to the event and fly home. But our flyin events are completely ground based events: everyone is on their own to arrive and depart as they wish. No spot landing contests, formation flights, aerobatic competitions, air-to-air photography or flour bombing... we're not insured for that and neither are you! :-)
Dutch Treat: CFO flyins are not a profit making event for anyone. The charge must equal the costs, ideally paid directly to the restaurant or food provider. If you'd like to split the check that's ok, we just want it to be a simple, fun event without extra charges or questions about profit.
Responsibility: The responsibility for each regional fly-in lies with the fly-in coordinator: most likely you. A person or group of persons must step forward to be the key coordinator and responsible person for the overall event. This lets us route information to a single point and gives a clear focus for any questions.
Consistency of agenda: Building on an earlier theme, a local CFO fly-in should be a partial day event, informal in nature. See our Sample agenda for a recommendation.

It is common for first timers to imagine a complex, multi-focus event, with programs, multiple meals, speakers, tours, a Fly Market and 'lets all fly together to another place' ideas. But trust us... things get complicated fast. The national events that seem to go so smoothly are the result of months of preparation and years of experience.

Especially for first time event planners, we will insist that you keep it very simple and stick to arrivals, a meal, an informal walkaround and departures. Is will be a very full and very entertaining day for all and in our experience will be a success as long as the weather cooperates.

Specifically related to the idea of a Fly Market, we'd rather not get into this kind of event officially as part of a CFO flyin. There are sometimes local regulations (like tax laws) and commercial considerations for the airport owner (like insurance or security requirements.) Let's just be airport customers and not try to do business there.
Coordination: As you get to know the Cardinal Flyers in your area you'll get an idea of who else is interested and active. Please work together to sequence events and fit them together in a cohesive way. Back-to-back visits to the same location or two nearby events near the same time should be avoided cooperatively.

Be especially certain you coordinate your dates with CFO Headquarters before your plans get too advanced. We have many events underway, some of which involve substantial commitments made far in advance. To avoid competing with these events to everyone's detriment, we may have to essentially 'lock out' certain times so we are not competing with ourselves. Check first to avoid these kinds of issues.
Mutual Benefit: The Cardinal Flyers will work hard to support, communicate, advertise and coordinate your event through our web page and the communication forum of the digest. In return we ask that you support CFO fully and help us keep the group strong.
Cost and pricing: Reinforcing a prior item, CFO does not ask for a kickback from regional events, and we expect the fly-in coordinators to also operate under a break-even philosophy. No salaries are paid, but those who attend should expect to pick up their share of costs and reasonable expenses. Costs should be set or accurately estimated ahead of time.
Support of Fly-in Coordinator: We also asks that the attendees of each event act with courtesy and fairness toward the volunteers who put the event together. Although we can't control each individual, we expect attendees to faithfully contribute their share, pitch in to help and cooperate with the program and coordinators. And we hope that all attendees will help keep this spirit alive and in mind.
Safety above all: At all times, the safety of our fellow aviators must be held at the highest priority. Ramp activities, events such as walkarounds and airport access, parking and departure crowd control must all be done under the strictest of standards for safety.
Liability: In no way can the Cardinal Flyers be held responsible for accidents or incidents at regional events. Each pilot is responsible for their actions and no one involved in the event is an employee of or acting as an agent of the Cardinal Flyers. CFO is only involved in the communication and announcement of the event, not the implementation, and cannot be held liable for actions or occurrences at the event itself. It's a shame that in this day and age we need to think of these things, but it is important to be clear. Please exercise common good sense and be sure to consider the consequences of your actions, as you would in any flying activity.

If that looks ok, pull together the following information and send it our way. We'll look things over and see what we can help pull together. The following information is required:

Name of town and airport:
ID of airport:
Proposed date and times:
If a small airport, what is it near?
(Always nice if you can send a picture of the airport.)
Where will folks be eating?
Cost of lunch
Special parking requirements?
Name of host(s)
Phone and email of host(s)
Special sights nearby that may be of interest.

Send this info to Keith at this link. Thus ends our discussion of Fly-in Policy. Thanks for reading, thanks for your interest and let's go flying! Where should we get together next? :-)