So, that takes care of $10 out of the $40-$50. Where does the rest go? Just curious because I've helped run national events and many regional launches, and there must be something I'm not aware of. I've been to Potter launches way back when there were 10 people flying, some big launches after that, and an LDRS or two there. This is difficult to understand.
Not to be blunt, But if you've run events, you know where the money goes. Equipment isn't free, Tents, Dumpsters and registration materials aren't free. Farmers don't prep fields to be parked on for free. This is not difficult to understand. Running events costs money. That money comes from fliers. Trust me, no one is getting rich running high power launches. In fact even at this price I didn't want to have an event, because it's more work and impact than it's worth, in my opinion.
We got away from raffles because frankly...it wasn't working. Slots were not getting filled...and some doubted the raffle process. This is simple. Ten bucks a shift. period. no risk.
100 people at $50 is 5 grand. 173 slots for duty assignments. thats $1730 into just running the flight line. $3200 to cover launch equipment replacement, dumpsters, fencing, farm work, tents, etc etc etc. You're talking hundreds of hours of work for the club, and all the other things that go with running a launch, for very minimal income to the club.
Now. We're here to fly. and we hope everyone comes out and enjoys the event. We've set it up in this manner so we won't have an understaffed flightline, and we're working on the launch equipment. It's being properly fixed so we don't have any of the issues we had holding up LDRS from moisture. We're all looking forward to hosting this event and having fun doing it.
But not so interested in having any drama. If you don't want to come.... don't. We're not dragging anyone to the registration table. Personally, I think the east coast is going to enjoy our 18K waiver, and we're all going to have a blast on that massive field.
I don't think our price is out of line compared to other launches.