I was just wondering... we could start something like the "Annual A.netters Gathering" maybe each year in a different place (Europe, North America, Asia etc...)

A 'gala dinner' could be hosted in a nice venue, and give awards to the best photos in different categories, most active 'forumers' etc...

I think it could be nice...!!

R.

Big problems would arise if at the meeting, Boeing fan boys get inlove with Airbus cheerleaders ...

Were they 'officially organized' by the site or was just 'spontaneous' gatherings?

Apart from that, I think we could get over the A / B issue...

One problem with the meets is that so many people say they'll be there and then don't show up. I went to the ATL meet a few years ago. I think somewhere like 25 people said they were going, and then only 5 of us showed up - and this was more then a meet...it was also a tour of DL's facilities. Oh, well...meant more sim time for me .

Marc

It would be very intresting as you said that also members who have 'privilleged' positions in the airline industry could allow tours in their respective company...

Quoting 4tet (Reply 3): Were they 'officially organized' by the site or was just 'spontaneous' gatherings?

They weren't organized by a.net, but by members themselves, but moderators let threads for announcements, planning, etc be posted. But the goal was just the same, a big meetup of a.net members to have a good time.

With the membership being spread out over the world, it's a bit difficult to put something like this together. There are the various meets at MAN, LHR, and FRA that have become pretty much annual (or twice or so a year) A.net gatherings that do attract members from various places.


In some cases, Meets ended up dying out due to lack of interest. I know the first two LAS Meets were great meets, as we had about two dozen the first meet and about 15 the next, and both meets had attendees from as far away as the UK. The third attempt at one died on the vine as a lot of the attendees ended up bailing on the Meet, and there has been attempts to resurrect the LAS Meet in the last few years, but there wasn't much interest.

It is surprising that there are not as many meets here in the US since so many members of the site are from the US.

Quoting 4tet (Reply 3): Were they 'officially organized' by the site or was just 'spontaneous' gatherings?

They are organized independently of the site. While there are often A.net crew members involved in the planning of these meets, they are not acting in that capacity when it comes to planning.

[Edited 2011-09-25 08:46:17]

Quoting srbmod (Reply 7): It is surprising that there are not as many meets here in the US since so many members of the site are from the US

Take a look at the economy...there are a lot of people who can't afford to travel much, or as much as they would like to. Heck...the only reason I'll be able to go to my best friend's wedding is because my parents are picking up the $1100+ airfare tab because of what a bad year I've had health wise.

Marc

Quoting Cadet985 (Reply 8): Take a look at the economy...there are a lot of people who can't afford to travel much, or as much as they would like to. Heck...the only reason I'll be able to go to my best friend's wedding is because my parents are picking up the $1100+ airfare tab because of what a bad year I've had health wise.

Even before the economy took a dive there's never been a lot of A.net Meets here in the US, and there would maybe be two or three the entire year that would get off the ground. Most US gathering of members tend to be more small group activities that are put together off-site.

Quoting srbmod (Reply 8): and there would maybe be two or three the entire year that would get off the ground.

LAS, countless LAX meets, BOS a couple times, we had a BDL meet, JFK those were all in the first year or so I was here.

Quoting Cadet57 (Reply 9): LAS, countless LAX meets, BOS a couple times, we had a BDL meet, JFK those were all in the first year or so I was here.

There even used to be an annual BHM meet with a "Guns & Shooting" theme.

There was a meet I attended in SEA around 2005 that was very well attended. People came in from all over the place. I enjoyed it very much.

Quoting TSS (Reply 10): There even used to be an annual BHM meet with a "Guns & Shooting" theme.

That one still happens. The main people behind it still keep in touch with each other "post A.net."

[Edited 2011-09-25 13:25:36]

Quoting ShyFlyer (Reply 13): Quoting TSS (Reply 10):There even used to be an annual BHM meet with a "Guns & Shooting" theme. That one still happens. The main people behind it still keep in touch with each other "post A.net."

If one knows where to look one will see that the next BHM Shootout is scheduled for 22-OCT-2011.

Quoting 4tet (Thread starter): "Annual A.netters Gathering" maybe each year in a different place (Europe, North America, Asia etc...)

A.net Meetings I have been to (including having been the organizer for a handful) in recent years in Europe have drawn attendents that both were a) locals b) from the same continent as well as c) people flying in from the U.S. (and Africa in one case).
People in the latter category usually are able to travel as Staff, but not necessarily.
OTOH, there have been meetings held in the U.S. that saw a number of Europeans fly across the pond having paid for tickets.

The meeting at Reykjavik (KEF) had very little local attendance, as had the meeting at Longyearbyen (LYR, Spitsbergen).

For the meeting I had organized to be held in Tokyo in March this year, attandants were planning to fly in from Europe, the U.S., Thailand and Singapore, IIRC, which was a mix of paid-for tickets, fly for miles, and airline staff travel.

Like people have said before, anything lablelled as "official A.net Meeting" has been something privately organized.
Problem with organizing an A.net Meeting is to find something that suits all - the meetings I have been to have been quite diverse in regard how important the "aviation" portion was, ranging from almost 100% to near nil.

_____________
If you are intending to give any A.net Meeting a visit, consider the annual meeting at MAN at the first weekend of July: This one balances aviation and social event quite well.

Should there be a meeting in ZRH again in 2012 ...: Have a look into the agenda, but bear in mind, that any social event in the evening tended to see less participation year by year. Keep in mind, that ZRH-meetings with their organized tour usually come at some extra cost.

Or, seeing that your profile says that you are from Barcelona, why not have another meeting there ?
Fellow A.netter Airtrainer and me just had been to Barcelona this last week, having flown a roundtrip BCN - MAH - BCN on UX E195 and JK MD87 on Monday while exploring the city the other day(s). I would not mind to go onto a return visit.
-HT

Not that I could afford it anytime in the forseeable future, I've always thought of having a meet at TNCM.

Marc

Quoting srbmod (Reply 8): Even before the economy took a dive there's never been a lot of A.net Meets here in the US, and there would maybe be two or three the entire year that would get off the ground. Most US gathering of members tend to be more small group activities that are put together off-site.

We Americans also do not get to enjoy the vacation benefits that Europe does. The company I worked for before my new job, only gave 10 days of unpaid vacation time in a whole year.

Leo/ORD

I attended meets in YYZ back in the day on two different occasions. It was a good time but I think what soured some folks was that it ended up being one or two people being more or less in charge of handling everything and being the tour guide, with other locals not helping out in the hosting duties.

They are fun and often random. Something about loitering in front of the YYZ Marriott and wondering why the airport shuttle was running, and then realizing it was almost 5am. Or an impromptu visit to the Port of Toronto to see where the infamous and now long gone Rochester-Toronto ferry was supposed to dock, at 2 in the morning.

Quoting Cadet985 (Reply 14): Not that I could afford it anytime in the forseeable future, I've always thought of having a meet at TNCM.

(Mini-)Meets at SXM have taken place before.

Quoting desertjets (Reply 16): but I think what soured some folks was that it ended up being one or two people being more or less in charge of handling everything and being the tour guide, with other locals not helping out in the hosting duties.

Such an experience indeed can lead to organizers not wanting to repeat their efforts for any future meeting.
Speaking for myself, me organizing a meeting at ZRH a few years ago (including a guided tour of SR Technics' maintenance shop which came at a fixed cost) meant a medium financial disaster for me, as less people than expected showed up - and I was not able to simply double the charge per head compared to what I had calculated/stated previously.
-HT

I don't want to be too critic, but I'm here since 4 years ago (and checking the forum once or twice a day), and I've never heard of a meeting beeing held before... so IMHO, maybe the problem about beeing too few is due of the 'marketing' part of the meeting...

R.

It kinda was in the "glory days" of A.net, might've indeed been 3-4 years ago.. time goes fast  
The main reason there aren't that many meets nowadays of because a lot of key people/people who would always show up have left/etc. just aren't active (at all) here anymore.

Has there ever been an Australian A.net gathering? Or are we too few?

Quoting 4tet (Reply 18): I don't want to be too critic, but I'm here since 4 years ago (and checking the forum once or twice a day), and I've never heard of a meeting beeing held before... so IMHO, maybe the problem about beeing too few is due of the 'marketing' part of the meeting...

The big BCN meeting I was referrring to (originally initiated by me) was held in November 2006, so it is already 5 years since then.
Part 4/4 of the Planning BCN Meet On Final Approach (by Zruda Oct 29 2006 in Non Aviation)
and the aftermath Thread: BCN Aftermath Etc Etc. (by Zruda Nov 12 2006 in Non Aviation)

Another attempt came up while searching this forum, but seeing the limited response I am not sure if anything actually took place in 2008: The Official 2008 BCN 1st A.net Meet! (by MIAspotter Nov 28 2007 in Non Aviation)

All in all I would not mind to go for another BCN meeting next spring. Something like late April to mid May (but clear of the Formula 1 race ! ) ?
Most likely too short time for planning to go for November this year; about half a year planning should be allowed for A.netters to be able to get decent deals on airtravel to/from the actual location of the meeting - or to organize some *weird* routing.
Should we float this idea in its own thread ?

Quoting bookishaviator (Reply 20): Has there ever been an Australian A.net gathering? Or are we too few?

Searching this Forum's archives for the terms "SYD" AND "meet" (with option "threadstarter only") showed a number of results. What actually happened to those ideas I can't tell as I did not dig any deeper.

Quoting airkas1 (Reply 19): It kinda was in the "glory days" of A.net, might've indeed been 3-4 years ago.. time goes fast The main reason there aren't that many meets nowadays of because a lot of key people/people who would always show up have left/etc. just aren't active (at all) here anymore.

The 2011-MAN-meet had a number of people attending that no longer are active (posters) here on A.net, but moved on to some other website.
The same can be said for the 2010-PRG-meet.
-HT

Quoting HT (Reply 21): The big BCN meeting I was referrring to (originally initiated by me) was held in November 2006, so it is already 5 years since then.

Yeah I think the height of the A.net get togethers was around 05-07. There were some earlier ones, the MAN meets being the big ones I can remember, plus an early one or two in SFO. And my aforementioned YYZ meets.



I think another reason why the meets have died down is in part due to changes in A.net membership. Some of those really active members who were big on those meets are now gone/banned/not active much anymore. Plus as many of us have gotten older it is more difficult to explain to our spouses/partners/family why the heck we are going to some random airport to watch planes and drink beer.

I think for a meeting to be successful there has to be an attraction of some kind. Maybe an airliners show or something? How about an "Airliners.Net" private room and one of these events?

Then you have to have people who come when they say they are coming. And lastly you need a person or two to manage the whole thing and keep everyone involved of any changes along the way.

But is there anyone willing to step up to the plate to do all this anymore?

I think that if they where, these official annual meetings should be organized by the 'owners' ( BTW, who are the owners of this site? or how it is structured? )

I suppose they make some profit with this site (?), so maybe should be them that would have to put the work and the effort to organize it. Key thing is to advertise it in the 'main page' of airliners...

I'm almost sure that if the event was held yearly, for example over a weekend, many of us would attend. I could be something like

Saturday morning: tour around some kind of 'aero' facility.
Saturday afternoon: free for the people to go visit something.
Saturday night: dinner at some hotel/venue

Sunday could be extra activities or free, I don't know

All this could come at a package price per person (say $200 ? ), gala dinner plus one hotel night...

I think the organization could even take some profit for their efforts...

R.

PD: Appart from the sole social and aeronautical experience, I'm sure some 'networking' or business could be done at those gatherings.

[Edited 2011-09-26 08:47:50]

Quoting HT (Reply 13): The meeting at Reykjavik (KEF) had very little local attendance, as had the meeting at Longyearbyen (LYR, Spitsbergen).

It wasn't too bad; we had a couple of Reindeer swing by, plus some kind of bird doing a silly walk.

Quoting HT (Reply 21): The 2011-MAN-meet had a number of people attending that no longer are active (posters) here on A.net, but moved on to some other website.

Indeed, the non registered/active A.netters outnumbered the A.netters by about 2:1 this year, and last year. Plus those who swing both ways   MAN is a pretty stable annual meet numbers wise, normally mustering 15 people or more with the promise of sunshine, beer, and some planes.

Quoting 4tet (Reply 24): I think that if they where, these official annual meetings should be organized by the 'owners' ( BTW, who are the owners of this site? or how it is structured? ) I suppose they make some profit with this site (?), so maybe should be them that would have to put the work and the effort to organize it. Key thing is to advertise it in the 'main page' of airliners...

I don't think micro-organisation is strong point of any large company, let alone Demand Media - the owners of this site. It's far better for users to decide on meet specifics themselves, however I understand that this has backfired on certain occasions when individual members are wrongly left carrying the can when people then don't turn up for pre-arranged events without warning.


Dan  

Quoting 4tet (Thread starter): A 'gala dinner' could be hosted in a nice venue, and give awards to the best photos in different categories, most active 'forumers' etc... I think it could be nice...!!

Not to throw sand in your face, but just WHO would be doing all that coordinating, booking and planning? What you're asking above requires a committed team of people to work set things up and not just one person.

Quoting srbmod (Reply 6): It is surprising that there are not as many meets here in the US since so many members of the site are from the US.

In some areas, NYC as an example, spotters' meets and gatherings are likely to be planned and take place via a website that's more local in focus and in demographics. IIRC, NYCAviation has set up gatherings for their members (most of them reside and/or are from the NYC area). Such events hosted/handled by a local group are likely easier to pull off because many participants can attend WITHOUT booking flights and/or lodging accomodations... which CAN get expensive; recession or no recession.

Looks like they just had a dinner gathering this past Sunday:

http://nycaviation.com/forum/threads...nd-Drinks-September-25th-at-5-00pm

Quoting 4tet (Reply 18): I don't want to be too critic, but I'm here since 4 years ago (and checking the forum once or twice a day), and I've never heard of a meeting beeing held before... so IMHO, maybe the problem about beeing too few is due of the 'marketing' part of the meeting...

Which forum(s) were you checking? The majority of threads covering past meets and gatherings are all located in this forum... the Non-Aviation. And are you talking about meets in general or an all-encompassing extravagant gala? Most of the past meets aren't that formal.

BTW, here are a couple recent threads regarding meets or plans for such:

Discussion of a possible BOS meet within the next year (proposal stage if even that):
https://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...ms/non_aviation/read.main/2371122/

Regarding a possible LHR meet:
https://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...ms/non_aviation/read.main/2368936/

Quoting 4tet (Reply 24): I'm almost sure that if the event was held yearly, for example over a weekend, many of us would attend. I could be something like

Are you volunteering your time, energy and efforts to set up such an event?
 

Quoting 4tet (Reply 24): BTW, who are the owners of this site? or how it is structured? )

The former owner of A.net, Johan, expressively had little interest in these meetings.
Current owner is an american company called "Demand Media"(DM), but A.net is not their only website they own/run.
Some of DM's A.net staff is active in Forum "Site Related".
I assume that you once have clicked onto the permanent link on A.net Entry page to get a short impression on who Paulo Emunuele was who came in with DM ? https://www.airliners.net/paulo/

Quoting 4tet (Reply 24): I'm almost sure that if the event was held yearly, for example over a weekend, many of us would attend. I could be something like

*Organzing* such a meet is one thing (requires some effort but can be done), but most often there will be some item involved that will not be available for free, so making sure to not make a loss from all of this, is a tricky thing. I know what I am talking about.

Care of holding a meeting in Barcelona next year ?
Any "Spanair MD-8x farewell" that could attract a number of people for a last flight ? Or any other interesting flight to take out of BCN ?
A few years ago a bunch of A.netter flew IB MAD - TFN (?) - MAD on widebodies as daytrip.
Some other unusual route is LA MAD - FRA - MAD on their A343 as day return (or combined with a full day of spotting at FRA ...).
-HT

I know there are plenty of members who have mini-meets occasionally with a few other members. We had one with 4 of us back in 2009 (including one crew member) and just on Friday I met up with a couple of members at JFK. I frequent the live chat room quite a bit so you get to know people better in there I think, and it makes it easier to set up things like that.

-J.

I've been to a bunch of A.net meets, like the famous northernmost meet at Spitsbergen A.net Meet At 78° North (Svalbard) August (Part 2) (by Birdwatching May 30 2006 in Civil Aviation) and a couple of times in ZRH and once in FRA. Then there was an excellent PRG meet in 2010.

What I really enjoyed too were the meets that were set up around some sort of special flight. For example, when Hello.ch retired their MD-90 earlier this year, a huge bunch of us A.net members flew on their last flight:
Hello "Bye Bye MD-90" ZRH-ZRH Sightseeing Flight (by ManuCH Jan 30 2011 in Trip Reports)

Also we once booked out the business class cabin on an Aer Lingus A330 positioning flight from Cardiff to Dublin:
The A.Net CWL Meet Aftermath Thread (by ClassicLover Mar 21 2009 in Non Aviation)

Soren   

Quoting Birdwatching (Reply 29): Also we once booked out the business class cabin on an Aer Lingus A330 positioning flight from Cardiff to Dublin: The A.Net CWL Meet Aftermath Thread (by ClassicLover Mar 21 2009 in Non Aviation)

Now that was a good one, even though the crowd dissipated rether quickly after arrival at DUB (this includes myself who flew back to AMS the same evening).
I still adorn the gifts we A.netters were given by (one certain member of) the crew.
-HT.

I remember some threads about possible meets in CCS (already happened in the past if I'm correct) and somewhere in the Balkans...

Quoting HT (Reply 13): Or, seeing that your profile says that you are from Barcelona, why not have another meeting there ? Fellow A.netter Airtrainer and me just had been to Barcelona this last week, having flown a roundtrip BCN - MAH - BCN on UX E195 and JK MD87 on Monday while exploring the city the other day(s). I would not mind to go onto a return visit.

Could be a great idea for next year indeed