"You normally have a whole team of consultants who work with you.
here's an example of a person who tried to organise an Airshow on his lonesome in NZ:
Waikato air show organiser unmasked
By MICHAEL CUMMINGS - Waikato Times | Saturday, 01 March 2008
The man behind the Waikato air show debacle has fled a motel room in Auckland.
Air show organiser Ken Ross was in hiding at an Auckland motel yesterday morning, checking out just hours before the Waikato Times arrived at the motor inn to confront him.
And the Times is not the only one on Mr Ross' trail Hamilton police have joined the growing list of people looking for answers after Wings and Wheels over Waikato was postponed indefinitely this week and Mr Ross disappeared.
Ticket holders, exhibitors, and sponsors had invested millions in the event and many feared they will never see their money again.
Model Patrina Logan, who had done promotional and casual administrative work for Mr Ross, spoke to him at the CT Motor Inn on Thursday morning.
Ms Logan is owed money for a calendar Mr Ross commissioned her to produce to sell at the show and asked him what was happening with the event. From the conversation she learned:
Mr Ross is considering either putting the event company, airshow.co.nz, into liquidation or attempting to hold the show next year.
The money from ticket sales was in a trust account.
When his resource consent application began striking problems, Mr Ross considered moving the event to Taupo, Tauranga or Whenuapai. He met lawyers to discuss his options.
The United States Jet Aerobatic team had been approached about performing at the show but nearly doubled its quoted fee after its attendance had been advertised. Mr Ross was then forced to cancel the booking. The Times reported this week the jet team's captain and booking agent had never heard of Mr Ross or his event.
He had refused to speak to the Waikato Times because the newspaper only wanted to focus on the "negative" aspects of the event.
Mr Ross had never organised an air show before.
Mr Ross is still refusing to comment publicly about the troubled event.
Ms Logan said she was first approached by Mr Ross when she was doing modelling work at a car racing event early last year. He told her he was organising an air show and asked Ms Logan if she would do modelling and promotional work for it, including a television commercial. ``He said it was going to be huge,'' she said.
Towards the end of last year Mr Ross suggested to Ms Logan she produce a Wings and Wheels over Waikato calendar, featuring herself and another model in aviation and car-themed shots.
Mr Ross undertook to finance the project and the profits would be shared between them. Ms Logan invested time and money on pre-production and shooting the calendar, but Mr Ross withdrew his financial support in late January.
Ms Logan is committed to having 5000 calendars printed next week but, with the show postponed, is facing a financial hit if she can't sell them else where. She plans to sell them at other events throughout the year and online at
www.wingsandwheelsgirls.com.
Ms Logan said in late January Mr Ross told her there was ``about an 80 per cent chance'' the air show would not go ahead. She already had concerns about how the event was being organised.
She said Mr Ross fled the ``Team Airshow'' office in Abbotsford Rd, Hamilton, on Tuesday with nothing but a briefcase and the clothes on his back.
Waikato air show organiser unmasked - New Zealand news on Stuff.co.nz
Aviation industry `always concerned' about event
By
JEFF NEEMS - Waikato Times | Saturday, 01 March 2008
Aviation industry insiders had concerns about the viability of the postponed Wings Over Waikato event and its organiser Ken Ross a year ago.
Irene King, chief executive of the Aviation Industry Association, said there were fears within the industry about the viability of Mr Ross' event due to his apparent lack of contacts and experience in the industry, and the apparent lack of aviation advisers to offer guidance.
"You normally have a whole team of consultants who work with you. From about 12 months ago, there was always concern," Ms King said.
"He (Mr Ross) wasn't known in the industry, and so he did not have the networks most people who are doing these sort of events have. He didn't have any of the things one would normally see in an event organiser."
Groups which were involved with Mr Ross' event, including the New Zealand Warbirds Association, had "eyebrows raised quite some time ago," she added.
"They were making noises that they didn't think this would come together."
Ms King felt Mr Ross may have been too optimistic about his ability to pull off an event of the magnitude he had planned. Asked if Mr Ross had "bitten off more than he can chew", Ms King replied "most definitely".
"You've got to be the right sort of person to be able to put these things together. You've got to understand there are a whole series of `back of house' functions you have to do," she said.
"You've got to get the right people, settle a whole lot of contracts, and pay money up front. It's a complex event."
Ms King said anyone who wanted to hold an air show needed to make a substantial investment to get it off the ground.
The successful Warbirds Over Wanaka air show was a "niche" event which attracted a specific market interested in war-time aircraft. Other successful air shows held in New Zealand were "themed" she said.
"The show being put on in the Waikato was not themed, and really was about aircraft flying around and that doesn't spin too many people's wheels anymore," she said.
Smaller air shows were usually run by trusts, and "that indicates to me these are not highly speculative ventures, these are events that require a lot of goodwill and co-operation from the airport, and the people who are flying the aircraft".
"A lot of volunteer work goes in," she added.
Rea Wikaira, now chief executive of the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, was president of the organisation which put on the last successful airshow in the region, 1995's War-birds Over Waikato.
"It took nearly two years to put together. There's a heck of a lot of work involved, and you can't do it on your own," Mr Wikaira said.
That event had an air show manager, as well as volunteers who had needed to be co-ordinated. He said the budget was not too far short of $1 million.
Mr Wikaira agreed with Ms King that a major underwriter was needed, and he suspected Mr Ross did not have one to finance his event.
"The reality was we just broke even (in 1995). We were going to do one again in 1997, but we pulled the pin on it after six months. It's a very risky business."
Carlton Party Hire managing director Geoff Porter was air show manager for Warbirds Over Waikato, and said airshows involved the investment of "scary money".
"It was logistically quite difficult," he said of putting on the event.
Mr Porter said his company was contracted to supply corporate marquees to Wings Over Waikato, but he hadn't spoken to Mr Ross in the past week, and as yet no money had changed hands. He had been surprised Mr Ross had approached him so late to book the marquees, just a few months out from the original planned date for the event.
Aviation industry `always concerned' about event - Local News - Waikato Times