Jetwhine

Aviation buzz and bold opinion

aviation social media

Wisconsin Flying Hamburger Social Unites Airports & Gives Pilots a Reason to Fly

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Brennand-6Employing social media, airports across Wisconsin have taken the $100 hamburger flight to the next level with the Wisconsin Flying Hamburger Social. They divided the state in to eight regions or “branches,” with an airport in each of them holding a social every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., or until the food runs out.

The group’s mission statement is concise: Bringing Wisconsin Aviators Together. I’ll say. I attended my inaugural social at Brennand Airport (79C), about 20 minutes from home. I learned about it through the airport’s Facebook post on the event.

Stacks Image 2257Speaking of which, pardon this tangential rant: social media is an excellent way to unite and inform aviators and those whose live around them. So why don’t airports, as a group, make better use of it, especially Facebook? Don’t they realize that everyone who belongs to an airport’s online community is another pebble of promotion that emanates in concentric circles through the vast pool of potential aviators who are their friends? Come to think of it, I think Rob had a rant or two about this same issue on Jetwhine as well.

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Jetwhine to AirVenture: Lunch for 20 Please

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JW Lunch-2Jetwhine to AirVenture: Lunch for 20 Please

One of the best parts of my annual trek to AirVenture is that happily, I have always found it next to impossible to sit anywhere on the grounds and NOT talk to the person next to me.

Over the years I’ve run into pilots, other bloggers and podcasters, dads and daughters building their own airplane, aviation geeks from a array of countries, air traffic controllers in pink shirts – that’s normal for AirVenture in case you’re wondering – and even the CEO of companies who just happened to end up sharing the same chunk of ground. The conversations are always fascinating and many of the friendships have become lifelong.

This year I tried something a bit different and invited a few random folks through the blog to join me for lunch at the show. It seemed like a good idea considering that I attended my first EAA Convention 50 years ago. The only requirements to participate were that folks get their bid in early and agree to proudly wear a Jetwhine button. The spots were gone half an hour after the story posted in fact. No fewer than 20 people took me up on the offer and it turned out to be great fun dragging a couple of tables together near a food tent just a hundred feet from EAA Jetwhine buttonRadio where I spent part of my AirVenture volunteer time this year.

Let’s see how many names I remember … Jeff, Adam, a couple of guys named John, Glenn, Brett, Amy, Joe, Starr, Pat, Brian, a pair of guys named Larry, Irv, Bill, Tom, Mike, Bob and Linda Funk (yes, like the airplane), Mike and Scott. If you didn’t see your name it’s because that’s the best my memory can offer up.

JW Lunch-1Thanks to all of you for joining the a Jetwhine luncheons and chatting about about all things airplane like. It sure beat just grabbing a brat and going back to my volunteer activities. For those of you who did join Scot Spangler and I for lunch, tell us what you saw at the show that really caught your attention … once you left lunch with your Jetwhine button attached of course.

See you next year, when we’ll try … who knows what, Rob Mark, alias @Jetwhine

AirVenture: Airplane Geeks Invade Oshkosh

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When people call me a “Geek” these days, I accept it as a term of endearment, especially with the advent of social media. In fact, that’s why our radio show’s called The Airplane Geeks. It’s actually pretty cool to be a geek.

airventureBut it’s time to come clean and admit that there’s actually a storm brewing — a nice storm if you will — of buzz about aviation as an industry and the companies and airports that help keep it aloft sorely need.

Geekdom is about the kind of buzz that traditional media just can’t top either.  That’s because we social media types look into corners of our industry often missed … for the people behind the stories of the stuff that makes the industry tick. Hook up a bunch of aviation geeks with an event like AirVenture in Oshkosh – the largest airshow in North America BTW – and the result is the purest nirvana. Luckily, we aviation social media geeks were blessed early on by EAA folks like Dick Knapinski (@eaaupdate) who took us new media types seriously before anyone else, not to mention Scott Spangler who again made Jetwhine a popular stopping point all week. And we can’t forget the folks at Wittman Regional Airport who each year lend EAA their concrete for a few weeks.

In case you’re not yet an airplane geek, here are a few things you might have missed during last week’s mashup of aviation and social media.

Dan 1

Wednesday of last week Dan Pimental from the Airplanista blog pulled out all the stops with the first ever Airplanista awards for the social-media savvy people who had a role the past year in making aviation more … well, social.

Dan runs Celeste Daniels Advertising and Design by day. But in his off hours, his alter-ego is all airplanes and hence his idea for the first (annual?) #OSHbash to recognize the people who, in their own unique ways, were using social media to make aviation popular again. And the winners were, along with their Twitter handles …

Airplanista of the Year: @OpenAirplane (Rod Rakic @rodrakic/Adam Fast @adamcanfly)

Podcaster of the Year @JackHodgson (Jack Hodgson)

Most Innovative Use of Twitter @EAAupdate (Dick Knapinski)

Aviation Entrepreneur of the Year @PilotsFlightBag (Paul Lemley)

Mover/Shaker Award @Captain_Ron (Ron Klutts)

Volunteer of the Year @MartinSantic (Martin Santic)

Spirit of Airplanista Award @Wiredforflight (Sam Wiltzuis)

Future of Aviation Award @THM_18 (Thomson Meeks

Master of Snark Award @Airplanology (Ben Davison)

Congeniality Award @LarryOverstreet (Larry Overstreet) [Read more…] about AirVenture: Airplane Geeks Invade Oshkosh