Airshow costs for the organizer

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Ken91
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Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2017 1:13 am

Airshow costs for the organizer

Post by Ken91 » Thu Oct 08, 2020 5:27 pm

I have a question regarding airshow costs for the organizer. In the US, does the airshow hosting a DoD demo team have to pay for the flying cost? Or is that all funded by the DoD (taxpayers) as part of the USAF/USN/USMC recruiting effort?
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Bretten Bailey
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Post by Bretten Bailey » Thu Oct 08, 2020 9:58 pm

Ken91 wrote: Thu Oct 08, 2020 5:27 pm I have a question regarding airshow costs for the organizer. In the US, does the airshow hosting a DoD demo team have to pay for the flying cost? Or is that all funded by the DoD (taxpayers) as part of the USAF/USN/USMC recruiting effort?
A mixture of both. There is a flat "appearance fee" that is paid ($6,000.00 for Thunderbirds/Blue Angels (called a "partial reimbursement") and varying fees for TAC Demos. These are paid per official demonstration (practice doesn't count)) . Fuel is paid at the government rate, so if they are receiving fuel and it is quoted at a higher price, the organizing entity must pay the difference. Smoke oil is 100% paid by the organizing entity. Of course hotels, etc... are all paid for by the show. We always build jet teams into our budgets each year when planning in advance (smoke oil isn't cheap). If we don't get the Blues or Birds, we will then adjust the budget accordingly.

There are also requirements the show must follow too before even applying for aerial support
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Bretten Bailey - Aerial Actions Airshows & Ballooning

Ken91
Posts: 295
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2017 1:13 am

Post by Ken91 » Fri Oct 09, 2020 12:58 am

Thanks for the answers, Bretten! I was curious how things worked for the US government teams. I knew that the civilian acts were paid by the show organizers, but didn't know how it worked for the T-Birds/Blues and demo teams.
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