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| Oshkosh
2007 Pix & Narrative Below is a narrative I wrote about our week in Oshkosh for the rec.aviation newsgroups. Photos are interspersed... Having just enjoyed a beautiful, uneventful flight home last evening, I'm sitting in the afterglow of Oshkosh 2007 with my cup of coffee, wondering how it could have gone by so quickly. The week went by in a flash of noise and spectacle, with quiet mornings spent near Atlas' flank interspersed with the thunder of Raptors and the staccato popping of round engines thrown in for good measure. To say it was heaven would not be an exaggeration. But I'm ahead of myself. Let's start at the start. The Arrival Following our largest fly-in pool party yet (25 planes, 70+ people), we departed Iowa City (KIOW) at 9:30 AM as a flight of seven - two Arrows, two Cherokee Sixes, a Cherokee 140, our Pathfinder, and a Grumman Cheetah. It was an exciting departure for Iowa City, with aircraft departing at the count of five, one after another. I'm sure someone complained...
The flight up was fun, with various folks coming alongside to take pictures. With no training as a team we eschewed flying any Blue Angels formations, but rather kept a safe distance from one another as we experimented with different groundspeed settings. Initially 110 knots worked to keep us all together, but after Neal Howard and his formerly "Checkerbird" (now repainted in more "normal" colors) Cherokee 140 departed the formation (en route to meet friends and family at another airport), we pushed it up to 130 knots and proceeded uneventfully toward the FISK approach. Chit chatting on 122.75, we were able to hear pilots from all over, all grinding inexorably toward the same imaginary GPS dot over Ripon, Wisconsin. It was fun, and the excitement built as we passed first Dubuque, Iowa, and then Madison, WI. We were getting close! Thirty miles out we all switched our transponders to "Stand By". Fifteen miles from Ripon we bade each other good luck, turned on our landing lights, switched to FISK approach, and fell into trail. Flying up the tracks we (of course!) got stuck behind a Cessna driver who insisted on flying 90 mph rather than 90 knots. Dropping flaps, I maintained my position and prayed that everyone behind was spaced out properly. As lead plane, we flew over the air traffic controllers in the trailer first, and they noticed that Jack Allison and I were close together, so he asked if we were a flight. I keyed the mike at his request (usually verboten) and said "Flight of six!" This worked out well, as ATC immediately told the Cessna driver to head east and enter a left base for Rwy 36 - which cleared our path for a nicely spaced arrival into the right downwind for Rwy 27. As we approached OSH it was easy to see the show, and it was stunning how familiar it all looked after spending a few hours flying this approach in the Kiwi (our flight simulator at the hotel). Say what you want about Flight Simulator, getting some reps in the Kiwi is excellent practice for this kind of visual flying. As the tower cleared me to land on the green dot, the radio suddenly erupted with a woman's voice, protesting that the tower "Can't do that!" and that she was "on final for Rwy 27"! All four of us got our heads wagging in all directions, and Mary soon spotted the Cirrus, way out on a four mile final, no factor. I never DID see her, and just kept coming around in the typical "Corsair carrier approach" that they like to use in OSH. The tower simply responded "Unless you're seeing something I'm not, I don't see a conflict here" and just left it at that. I made my best landing ever at OSH (they are usually thumpers, as I try to hit the dot) and rolled out into the grass -- we had arrived!
The tower told the rest of our flight to follow the Cirrus, which resulted in a handful of planes being parked between us - but we still managed to all get in Row 547 along the fence line together, the perfect end to a perfect flight. (After the endless hold of 2006, this was a welcome relief!) Click here to view a short video of the guys arriving in the North 40. The weather was pleasantly sunny and cool, but from years of experience we immediately "gooped up" with sun screen, and pounded an ice-cold water. Only then did we start laboriously unloading Atlas, and everything we would need to make the North 40 our home for the next 7 days. With practiced skill we soon had our campsite set up. We were parked next to a Cessna driving couple who clearly had never camped before, and it was fun to watch the comedy of errors unfold as they cursed and pounded their way into their new home. They eventually succeeded, but you could tell it wasn't much fun for them, and they only lasted two days and were gone - which opened up their spot for the Rec.Aviation festivities - but I'm ahead of myself.
(The better one was the Mooney driver who started setting his new tent up at sunset, after dinner. I found him the next morning, asleep in his sleeping bag ATOP his tent, having obviously given up at some point! This was the same guy who, later in the week, Jack Allison spotted waxing his plane...in his bathrobe. Remember, we were all parked on the fenceline, visible from the road!) We immediately hiked over to the Goodwill Store to purchase our "cheap wheels" for the week, only to find that someone had screwed up and not sent enough bikes to Oshkosh. They had a truckload due to arrive the next day, though, so we headed back onto the field and meandered over to the show. Even though the show wasn't technically open, everything was in place and (mostly) running. Mary and I did our usual photos - the kids in front of the 10,000 bomb in the Warbirds area, and the family at the main Airventure gate. With our staffing at the hotel more precarious than it's ever been before (3 out of 4 desk staff quitting when we return) we knew we could get called home at any moment, so we wanted to get the "required" stuff out of the way ASAP. This included buying "The Pin" and especially "The Patch" - the coveted round "OSH 2007" patch to be sewn next to the 24 other patches on my soft-sided luggage.
Once accomplished, we leisurely wandered the grounds a bit, not wanting to really "get into it" yet but curious nonetheless. We soon headed back to the site for "evening cocktails" with our group, however, so that we could watch the REAL airshow at OSH - arrivals! Montblack had worked his magic, as always, and the PMC (Pimp My Cooler) was chock-full of various ice-cold adult beverages. Setting up our chairs at the arrival end of Rwy 9 (as we did every night for the next six nights) we were rewarded with some nifty flying, and some fairly close calls - but, as always, everything worked out.
We *did* witness a Cirrus driver nearly become one with an MU-2, but they both made it. (Although I suspect the Cirrus seats may have needed to be cleaned after that approach...) Then it was off to Friar Tucks as a "Flight of 12" for a night of camaraderie and ice cold beer. The lines were long and the wait nearly an hour, but no one cared. We were in Oshkosh, amongst friends, and it just couldn't get any better!
The Week The show was low key for us this year, as – for the first time in years – we weren’t shopping for anything major for the plane. In fact, we didn’t buy anything other than artwork for our next couple of suites and a database update for our 496. (We’re working on the “Flying Tigers Suite” and the “Hawk Suite”, so we needed a bunch of stuff for those.) I discovered that when you’re not shopping for a big-ticket item, the entire OSH experience becomes much more mellow, which allowed us to concentrate on the “Family Reunion” aspects more. And what a reunion! We ran into literally everyone we knew, it seemed, in the first few days. It became impossible for us to walk more than a few minutes without *someone* coming up and slapping us on the back, or shaking our hands, and my kids even stopped rolling their eyes. In fact, having grown up on the field in OSH (each one has never missed and Airventure, since birth) they are discovering the “old friends” part of Oshkosh to be truly the best part, too. It became really funny, though, after a while, to have complete strangers come up to us and greet us like long-lost brothers. Many of these folks have stayed with us at the hotel – some of them years ago, now – and they (of course!) expect Mary and me to remember them. We would laugh and shake hands, and ask about their family, and what they flew in – and then, after walking on, ask each other who they were! Most of the time we had no idea, but it was fun, nonetheless. (Note for folks at OSH – if you have a chapter name badge, wear it on your hat! It sure makes positive ID easier…) We also were able to hook up with Mary’s family one night, for a drive up to Winneconne, WI – Mary’s mom’s hometown -- and a fabulous lake perch dinner. So it really was “old home week”…
Opening night was warmed with the sounds of the Beach Boys, who can still (mostly) hit the high notes. Unfortunately, Aeroshell Square is flat as, well, an airport ramp (d’oh!), so only those of us over 6 feet tall could actually *see* anything. Since the rest of my family members are all 5’ 5” and under, we soon started looking at airplanes…
It was (once again) the year of the Light Jet. Eclipse flew their little single-engine version, beating Piper and Cirrus to the sky – but it was nothing but a big yawn to us. I simply can’t get excited by aircraft that I’ll never own (or want to own, for that matter), and the jet hoopla at OSH is largely phony, as far as I can tell. The REAL “meat and potatoes” in general aviation right now is in the Light Sport Aircraft, and, wow, they were EVERYWHERE. (I’ll bet the CT demo flew five hours each day, at OSH!) The number and variety of them are simply breath-taking, and it was really, really good to see them, knowing that the future of GA depends on them. As everyone knows by now, Cessna jumped into the LSA market with both feet, with their “SkyCatcher”. It’s a cute little thing, and people were putting $5K deposits down in droves. At least Cessna knows that OSH is about little prop planes, not jets, and kept their “Citation Presence” at appropriate levels. Garmin did what was expected of them – nothing – whilst Bendix-King introduced a new in-panel whiz box that is supposedly better than anything on the market. Lowrance and AvMap were again AWOL with weather, and their sales suffered accordingly. XM was again big on the field, and people were snatching up weather products as fast as they could. (In fact, two of our group bought 496s this year, after having their departure weather-delayed.) The four big buildings (Hangars A through D) were packed the first day, and most of the usual vendors were there, but the disturbing trend toward “Erectable flag pole” and “Foldable ladder” vendors continued. I don’t know what EAA has to do to keep that crap out in the Fly Market where it belongs, but it’s past time they do it. By Day Three, the traffic in the buildings was way down from prior years, partially because of this, and partially (I think) because there was no “Big New Thing” this year. IMHO, if they keep allowing non-aviation stuff into the buildings, EAA is going to drive pilots out of them. This will, in turn, make it less than worthwhile for the REAL aviation vendors to be there. I can see those buildings easily turning into State Fair-style exhibition halls, if they’re not careful. The Fly Market was, as always, a vast wasteland of “Smokeless indoor grills” and “Leather wallets for $2.99”. We bought a couple of things there, but for the most part we avoided it this year. (Notable exceptions – there are several aviation book, antique and memorabilia dealers who have set up in the Fly Market for many years. As always, we cleaned them out of “stuff” for the hotel. Also, Flying Colors Glass – the guy who did our aviation stained glass windows in our lobby – is always out there, lending the place a level of class that it otherwise desperately lacks.) The Aeromart – the big tent where EAA members can sell their own stuff, on consignment – was fun, as always. We bought a big stack of J-3 Cub wing ribs for $30, for use as “artwork” in the hotel. I tried to find an electric trim switch to replace my FUBAR’d one, but no joy. (I tried all week to steal Jack Allison’s, out of his Arrow, but he wised up and kept the canvas cover over the cockpit at all times… Some pix from around the field:
Around the Field Strangely, the biggest addition to the field this year was news that Gander Mountain had opened a store for camping supplies. I really like Gander Mountain’s stuff, but they put the store out near Camp Scholler (for the car-campers), so I never did get to see it. (For the 25th year in a row, I STILL never made it to Camp Scholler.) There were a few new buildings, notably one up on the flight line named after the late Charlie Hilliard, but the grounds were mostly unchanged. I heard some scuttlebutt that some big changes are in the works for shuttle paths in 2008 (they’re going to make a circle throughout the grounds, rather than just back and forth on the flight line), but there was nothing new in that regard this year. As always, the trams were excellent, timely, and free – all good things. The new control tower is about 2/3rd erected, but it will take a couple of more years to make it operational. Looking at the design (and unlike the current classy old tower), this new one will have all the ambiance and class of a sticky door knob, but it will be much taller and better located, so I guess that’s progress. I hope they can save the old tower, somehow – it’s as much a part of OSH as the sound of a B-25 waking you up at o-dark-thirty… The Seaplane base was unchanged, other than a new sign – which is to say it’s still a little piece of heaven. Thankfully the stupid “hovercraft” sales reps who had infested the place the last few years were gone, and it’s back to being a nice, sleepy, quiet respite from the heat and nose of Wittman Field. (And their Friday Walleye Fish Fry is the best food on the field, bar none.)
The ultralights continue to amaze, with their scary approaches to land and impossibly slow air speeds. Some of the LSAs were using their field, and maybe it’s just me, but it seems like a little bit of the ultralight thunder is gone now, with the LSAs so ubiquitous. The Vintage area is still a favorite, although more and more Cherokees and Cessnas are taking advantage of their “newer” age limitation. (1970, I believe…) This is wrong, IMHO, as I don’t want to see current production aircraft parked in a “Vintage” area – but they’re not breaking any rules, so what can you do? The RV crowd – so prevalent at our pool party – is EVERYWHERE at OSH. There was even an RV-6 on FLOATS at the seaplane base! They really are cool, and a whole bunch of them did some VERY nice (and large – like 30+ planes!) formation flights early in the week. Mishaps Early in the week an old Luscombe flipped, right in front of us. Strangely, none of us saw it happen – there is just so much to see and do, you never know where to look on the field – but the guy ended up inverted in the weeds. They hauled him to the hospital, but he didn’t look badly hurt.
Click here to view a short video showing the inverted Luscombe. There were other various mishaps – a ground loop here and there, but (to my knowledge) no one was hurt. The closest call we saw in the North 40 was when a Beech single took off on Rwy 27, and couldn’t climb. We watched in horror as he struggled across Hwy 41 just out of ground effect, cleared the strip mall, and then disappeared. Art, one of our gang, had a handheld, and immediately called the tower to report what we had seen. Instantly our Beech pilot responded in a high-pitched-but-not-quite-panicky-voice “That’s us! We’re running on 3 cylinders, but we’re okay and are going to try to make Marshfield Airport!” Apparently too low and slow to attempt a turn, he continued on – and we never heard anything more about it, so he must’ve made it. Very creepy. Of course the big news was when the two Mustangs collided on landing, killing one. Thankfully we were at the Seaplane Base when it happened, but the wreckage was still being sorted through when we rode the tram past the arrival end of Rwy 18. It looked very bad (and the subsequent newspaper photos bore that out), and the incident really put a hush on the crowd that night.
Weather Oshkosh usually dishes out a mix of weather, and this year was no different. Most days were gorgeous, with low humidity and lots of sun, but we had a couple of good rains and one good gust front that wiped out a few tents. (I’m sure Ray Andraka will have a few words on this!) After one rainstorm the heat and humidity climbed into the “Stifling” category – but only for a few hours. Compared to some years, where the heat and humidity are nearly unbearable all week, this year was actually quite nice – as long as you had a good tent. The People and the Party Having flown in together, we camped with a great group of folks, many from the rec.aviation groups, as well as the Cherokee Chat. The daily ritual soon settled into a pattern, with some of us eating a big breakfast off-field at either LeSeur's or the Hilton, skipping lunch, and then getting back together for "cocktail hour" to watch arrivals and departures. Then, after the last arrival/departure, dinner would be at Friar Tuck's or the Charcoal Pit. Being camped near the fence line made getting to these excellent restaurants a snap, especially after we bought our bikes on the second day. Although it was usually not possible to get seated together -- waiting for a "table for 13" during AirVenture is a good weight-loss strategy -- it was fantastic having a fun and knowledgeable group of folks to visit with. We thoroughly enjoyed our time together, and it seems very strange to know that I won't be seeing y'all for dinner tonight! As always, Montblack and Jim & Tami Burns were the key players in the Wednesday Night 5th Annual HOPS Party. (Click the link for pix!) With off-field transportation (and, this year, Montblack even had a REAL pass to drive onto the field - no more schmoozing the gate guards!), we were able to obtain everything necessary for a great party, from tables and chairs to food and drink, without too much trouble.
Unfortunately, the heaviest rains of the week swept through right before the party began, forcing everyone under cover. (Jim & Tami ended up sitting in our tent back-to-back, huddled together with us until the storm passed.) This discouraged a fair number of attendees, I'm sure, but the rain ended (thankfully!) and we still had anywhere from 30 to 50 people (no one really counted, and people came and went). We know it was a healthy crowd, as we had to make a food run half-way through the evening (this year was sub sandwiches and KFC chicken!) - but I have spoken with quite a few folks who simply didn't want to get doused and stayed away that evening. Jim Burns, evil man that he is, pulled out a bottle of Bombay Gin, and proceeded to whip up some marvelously tasty (and quite deadly) gin & tonics. Many folks brought GREAT beer from their home bases, so we (of course!) had to sample each and every one of them. Needless to say, the night went by too quickly, and everyone had a great time! Things that were messed up After the 2006 arrival fiasco, 2007 was an exercise in precision and coordination. In fact, our arrival was almost easy. Nonetheless, I felt terrible for the arrivals who tried to get into the field after the Mustang accident Friday, because (for reasons known only to them) the powers-that-be decided to accept NO arrivals into OSH that evening. That would be none. Zero. Zip. I simply can't imagine how many guys got off work early Friday afternoon, planning to spend the weekend at AirVenture, and ended up endlessly holding over Rush Lake - only to be told, nope, you can't come in. Hell, even the EAA Photo Plane got caught in the air, and was told to land somewhere else. Now I understand that a fatal accident on the main runway (18/36) is a problem - but OSH has TWO main runways, located (literally) miles apart. The tower reported that the reason for the decision was because fire equipment was tied up at the crash site, and wouldn't be available if needed on Rwy 27 (and they had a broken-down fire truck, too), but this seemed pretty lame. The fire at the accident scene had been extinguished within five minutes of the incident, hours earlier, and equipment was certainly no longer needed there after they had hauled the wreckage away. At first the tower announced that the airport was closed for the night to both arrivals *and* departures. Imagine, if you will, having taken down your campsite, loaded your plane, and sat in line to leave when you are told that, nope, you've got to spend another night in OSH! I can't imagine what we would do. (I'd probably just lay my sleeping bag under the wing...) Needless to say, airport management ultimately relented and allowed departures on Rwy 27. In a mass exodus that exceeded even Oshkosh's standards, they launched one every few seconds for close to an hour before the back-log was depleted. And, in what was certainly the coolest departure of the week, the Air Force C-17 cargo plane was forced to depart on Rwy 27, right over our tent. He only used half the runway, but it was awesome to have a plane that size fly over, and the gang - by now firmly ensconced in "Cocktail Hour" - cheered as he flew over. Annoyances and Trivia For the third year in a row, someone with a bean up their butt about EAA (or pilots in general) decided it would be great fun to drive the perimeter of the airport with his horn button depressed. This wouldn't be so bad in the daytime, but he performed this exercise between 4:30 and 6 AM, daily. Needless to say, we campers were not amused. We learned long ago to wear earplugs while camping at OSH, but we were so close to the road this year that they were only marginally effective against a car horn. So we simply adapted to the fact that this was our call to hit the porta-potties, and go back to sleep. One morning, unable to sleep, I resolved to catch the bastard. Standing on my wing at 5 AM, holding my camera (and freezing to death - it was the one cold morning this year), I lay in wait... Suddenly, a car stopped, the door opened, and a guy stood up and started yelling "Hey Iowa is THAT-away! How ya doin', Jay? Great week, no?" He was yelling this at the top of his lungs, and I was mortified, surrounded as I was by no-longer-sleeping campers -- so I started waving the "Shush!" signal, but he didn't get the message and kept yelling. Not knowing what else to do, I finally turned my back on him, and he drove away - and I never *did* catch that damned horn blower! (And all I know is the shouter's name was "Larry" something. Larry, if you're reading this, that was one of the Top Ten Stupid Things I've ever seen at OSH.) Scooters and golf carts (or "IGICS", as in Idiots In Golf Carts") were the bane of Oshkosh yet again. I don't mind carts for the handicapped, but all week long we only saw a handful of disabled pilots riding the grounds, while the rest were simply too obese to walk. I know America is getting bigger, but if I have another scooter pilot run up on my heels in those big, crowded exhibit halls, I'm gonna disconnect the battery. The biggest "Ass of the Week" award, though, has to go the driver of a "Border Patrol" SUV who simply double parked his truck right in front of the tram, smack in the middle of the tram path, and left it unattended. I wouldn't have blamed the tram driver if he had kicked the guys' door as he inched his way around the moron. The main road around the North 40 continues to deteriorate. It's only used for the show, I suppose, but the potholes and cracks are getting pretty severe. The buses are forced to slow down in parts, and riding a bike with thin tires is pretty scary, especially in the dark. I hope they can get a grant to patch that road before next year. Attendance early in the week appeared to be very strong, with the North 40 camping area reaching saturation by Tuesday. By mid week, however, many people were leaving, and (unlike in past years) there was no "Second Wave" of arrivals to take their place. Our group slowly dwindled through the week, and we never had any "new neighbors" - an indication, perhaps, that the "hard core" flyers are still out there, but the "sorta-want-to-be-there" folks being put off by the fuel prices? (Some years we've had three different neighbors, as "in- filling" the campground took place. Not this year.) The Bonanzas to OSH group continued to demonstrate their coherence with a big turnout. They even had a STAGE set up in the North 40, for cookouts and karaoke nights. Many of us could live without the latter, as it went too late into the night - but that's what ear plugs are for... Although they're a fun bunch, they also demonstrated that they're largely an urban lot, as we saw prop locks (in the North 40!) and chain locks in their group. Kinda sad. Kids and young people were EVERYWHERE at OSH this year, which was wonderful to see. Just look at our group - three of us brought our kids, ranging in age from 8 to 16 - to see the future of general aviation is perhaps more secure than I've feared. Things That were Wonderful As always, there are simply too many good things about OSH to list. Aviation is an elixir that intoxicates in so many subtle ways, but most of the time we who partake are seen as the "oddballs" who "waste" so much money on "those little planes." At OSH every year, I am reminded that we are truly NOT alone, and that there are literally thousands of guys and gals who will willingly spend a week camping in a big field, in any weather, just for the privilege of hanging out with like-minded folks. In that regard, this year was the best yet, as we were able to stay close to people we know through this group - which itself is a self-selected bunch of (sometimes crazy) aviation fanatics. Each morning I would lay on our 12-inch-thick inflatable bed (something that has made camping at OSH incredibly comfortable), eyes closed, listening to the first departures of the day. Ear plugs, like ANR headphones, allowed me to pick out detailed sounds at frequencies that are normally covered by the exhaust noise, and it was great fun to hear the differences between makes, models, engines, and props. The bark of a radial, the purr of a Merlin, the growl of a big Continental or Lycoming, followed by the cavitation of the prop or the whistling in the wires of a biplane - all of these sounds blended together into a symphony each morning that simply can't be duplicated anywhere else in the world.
The sad part of it all is that, after you reach a certain age you appreciate the fact that no matter how wonderful something is, it must soon end. This knowledge, so valuable when living through hard times, is best forgotten at OSH, as it gives you the bitter awareness that this, too, shall pass - WHILE it's occurring. Thus, on our last day at OSH, sitting with good friends under the welcome shade of a Stinson trimotor, I suddenly knew that the Raptor demo flight would soon be over, and that the B-2 fly past would soon be nothing but another Oshkosh memory, indistinguishable from the rest. I knew that my son, already more a man than a boy, would soon be departing the nest and that we would rarely go down this road together again. I knew that all these wonderful old planes, with their fascinating, storied pasts and wonderfully generous pilots, would soon head home, leaving nothing but an impression in the grass. I knew that Oshkosh would soon return to its normal, sleepy self, and even the bitter North 40 horn blower would soon forget whatever it is he's so pissed about. I looked around at the sights and sounds, in all three dimensions, and choked up, knowing that I had to leave, that this could never continue forever, and that simply attending 25 in a row would never assure that we'll ever make it back here again. To Oshkosh - the very best place on earth. As I'm typing this, Jack and Steve are (according to Montblack) en route to their first stop somewhere in Wyoming. "John Smith" ended up somewhere in Indiana with a bad mag - but is probably home by now. Ray, Art, Dan and Lou all left a few days ago - I trust they have made it home safely.
Thanks to all who made it - we'll never forget you, or OSH '07. See ya next year! |
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