Most in the real world paid for their flying training and remember they jobs they had to do to pay for that and the meals they missed in the process.
I never hear of a 777 captains applying for a military jobs, I guess they would not be accepted as it is a different World and to hard/old to retrain.
I also and from experience have noted that "most" ex-military personal have little to no understanding of costs, Milflyer has shown an example of this by his comment the show will go on. Sorry but money does not just grow on trees - someone needs to find that money or the fact is it is impossible to go on.
If the Australian government reduced its defence budget to $0, that will mean we will not have an Army, Navy or Air force. This is not because our military folk are bad or anything but, even if they turn up for work for free where will the fuel come from? It does not grow on trees, paper comes from trees but how will you cut them down with no axes?
In a World of Sponsorship it is tough in many industries, GA being one of them.
* Insurance
*Advertising
*Legal fees
*Security
*Seat Hire
*PA system hire
*Stage hire
*Printing (like programs)
*Toilet hire
*Rubbish bins and removal
*Generator hire
*Communication/s
*Transport and Accommodation
Are a few things that spring to mind that may need pre payment, some maybe recoverable during the event like selling programs. Some need to be paid or have been even if the event is rained out or cancelled.
While a fly in can be done to acceptable levels by some dedicated volunteers, a large event requires some professional assistance. When paying labour in Australia $30K does not go far.
So I guess I am just saying I think Milflyer has a shallow view on this particular event that is in a real fight to continue, and there are several bets that are on - it wont continue.
On a side note if money was growing on trees at AvPlan one would expect they would have happily been a reasonable size sponsor, so I am guessing they have a strict advertising budget and need to get the best bang for it.