The simple success of the Old Farts Flying Club

Of the 20 flying clubs in Florida, The Old Farts Flying Club is the largest with 750 members. The secret to its success? Simplicity.

“The Old Farts Flying Club is very informal and simple,” says Roger Brown. “There are no dues, initiation, requirements, or vetting. A simple email request to me and you are in my Mailchimp list. There is no website or social media link. There are no officers or directors. There are no employees and there is no budget. I run everything with my iPad.”

Most of the 750 names on the list are south Florida pilots and aircraft owners.

“True to its name, most are old farts,” Roger said, with the median age of members in the mid- to late 60s. Roger estimates that about half of the members had careers in commercial or military aviation.

“Most are men, but there are a few women in our group, and many bring their spouses, so there is a mix,” he continues. “The youngest I can think of is a 19-year-old girl who is in the Army and a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. I’m not sure if I can think of anyone in their 90s, but we have several members who are well into their 80s and going strong.”

Aircraft cover the spectrum from P-51s, light jets, and turbine helicopters to gyrocopters, light sport aircraft, and antique, hand-propped taildraggers such as Cubs, Chiefs and Champs.

“The pattern sometimes gets a little crazy, but it always sorts itself out,” he says.

The club meets weekly on Thursdays from November to April or May because some members, like Roger, migrate north in the spring and summer like snowbirds. They don’t meet during the week of Thanksgiving or on the Thursdays between Christmas and New Year or during the SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo.

“We try to meet every Thursday for the mythical $100 Hamburger,” Roger says. “Our venues range from simply meeting at an airfield with a restaurant to catered affairs with a tour or program involved. We have done the Piper factory tour, visited an exotic car collection, and have been treated to a tour of the NOAA Hurricane Hunter facility at Lakeland. Our biggest turnout was Feb. 25, 2021, when exactly 100 aircraft descended on Aero Acres (FD88) — my home airpark — for lunch.”

Roger notes it’s common for more than 50 aircraft to show up for an event. The tour of the new NOAA hangar at Lakeland Linder International Airport was one of the more elaborate programs for the club.

“We had 85 aircraft show up and we basically filled the warbird ramp at SUN ‘n FUN. We had food catered in to the Sunset Grill. The SUN ‘n FUN people broke out a couple of their trolley trams and carted us over to the NOAA facility for a program in the auditorium, then a tour of the hangar. That was our most elaborate program. We had over 100 people in their 100-seat auditorium.”

2020 Pandemic

In March 2020, the club held a fly-in at Wellington Aero Club Airport (FD38) and then COVID hit, forcing the shut-down of the fly-ins for six weeks. After restaurants opened back up to partial capacity, the fly-ins resumed for a few weeks before their usual late summer break. In the fall, Roger started up the fly-ins. At the first event, 40 planes showed up.

“I think the guys were anxious to get out and do something and sick of being cooped up,” he says. “Since the COVID kicked in, rather than do it like we used to with a program or a tour or an airplane project where we’re all congregating in one place at the same time, we’re trying to avoid that. We try to go where we can spread out our arrivals and lunches from mid-morning to early afternoon. This has limited programs, tours, buffet lines, etc. Some members choose not to participate at this time, and that’s fine.”

“The demographic of the Old Farts is just that. They’re old farts. In that demographic, the vaccine is quite important. There’s, of course, conversation about who got their shot, but for the most part this group is rolling with it.” 

History

“A fellow named Larry Robinson actually started this group,” Roger says. “It grew from The Florida Cub Flyers (CFC) and the Florida Antique Biplane Association (FABA). Both are chapters of the Antique Aircraft Association. Larry was president of both groups. Old Farts Flying Club grew from a list of his neighbors, cronies, pals, and members of CFC and FABA. Every so often, Larry would announce an Old Farts lunch at a field with a restaurant in south Florida. Eight or 10 planes would show up, have lunch, talk airplanes and go home.”

“At a FABA meeting over six years ago, I raised my hand and asked Larry when the next Old Farts lunch was going to be. He said, ‘I’m glad you asked. I’ll send you the list tomorrow!’ Sure enough, an email list showed up, with 40-some names on it. I scheduled a lunch. We had fun, and decided we needed to do this more often, so went to every other week. That quickly became every Thursday. And the list began to grow and grow and grow strictly by word of mouth.”

“My wife Terese and a neighbor, Lisa Heidinger, are my left and right hands with all this. Whenever I need help, I can count on them,” he says.

“Old Farts are also key in keeping this going. Several are generous with their time. Last week was a great example of this, when three Old Fart members basically hosted us at their home field, Wellington Aero Club. It’s a big, big job but it is fun and very rewarding. As long as it stays that way, I’m in.”

If you are interested in joining the Old Farts Flying Club, send Roger an email at [email protected].