Some more real-world news for aviation enthusiasts. The AOPA reports that “…… the curtain closed on the National Biplane Association’s twenty-third and last Biplane Expo on June 6 at Oklahoma’s Bartlesville Municipal Airport, better known locally as Frank Phillips Field. A total of 114 biplanes were on hand for the event’s finale, as well as 241 other aircraft, said Charlie Harris, the association’s chairman. He estimated that 4,100 to 4,600 people attended the event.
Harris said the Biplane Expo’s highest attendance was more than 130 biplanes, and it averaged 100 biplanes per year. Because of poor weather and the rising cost of operating aircraft, however, attendance fell dramatically in 2007 and 2008. “At the same time, we had an aging pilot population and an aging volunteer population,” he said. In late 2008, the association’s board made the emotionally difficult decision to discontinue its aviation activities….”.