EAA Oshkosh
 

Any of you going to the Oshkosh Fly-in this year?

No, but if you come to Copperstate I'll be there with my 911, trying to bum a ride with one of the Europa guys. :D

Copperstate would be a long haul in my 125mph Pacer but I am at Oshkosh every year.

My Citabria has a 52" prop, she's good for 100 KIAS. From where I keep the airplane it's about 650 Nautical, more if I go around the lakes. By Oshkosh standards that's nothing, I realize, having seen the guys in modified Long-Ezs from Germany.

Last year I went in a G44 Widgeon: it was the only time I've flown across Lake Michigan at 2500 AGL with the windows open. But hey, you've got two engines, and the airplane is a boat!

Anyway I'd love to make it. Maybe I'll stop at OH02 for a few touch and go's on the grass! My Citabria LOVES grass. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1088180350.jpg

I will probably go 1 day before it starts so I end up parking around the UL area which is close to the showers. I hate ending up in the south 40!
I have car gas in my pumps. If you end up heading out around this time you can certainly stop in. Hell, you would be welcome to stay over if you wanted to. I fly up the coast talking to Gary tower along the way, while staying below Chicago's airspace. Only problem is that is the engine goes south, not many options for a clean emergency landing!

Tim, thanks for the invitation! I may find myself out that way later in the summer.

The Auto Gas STC is the way to go. Unfortunately I've got a set of those high-compression pistons so the a/c is placarded for 91 octane.

The showers were TERRIBLE last year! They were adjacent to a road, so there was plenty of mud, and when you got out of the shower there was nothing but mud in the changing room. Disgusting, particularly in light of the admission fees for EAA Airventure! I hope they clean up their act this year, but at least there is hot water.

Despite all the commercialized BS and the orange-jacketed petty tyrants it's still the greatest show on earth. I could spend three days just in the Fly Market looking for junk to decorate my hangar with.

Any of you coming up to to the Pacific Northwests Arlington Fly-in ?

I agree it is getting a little big for it's britches, yet where else can you go and see literally thousands of aircraft and like-minded enthusiasts.
I too have weathered a couple pretty good storms there.

I go every year. I usually have the motorhome parked in Paul's Forest.

Look for the 33' Winnebago with Nevada plates.

Maybe I'll see ya there.

Here is a picture from last year. I was near the south end of the UL area near where the DC 3's and big amphibs park.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1088187278.jpg

And Tim, just read your first post over in the f thread.

Welcome to the board!

Which post was that "f thread"?

The Cheney thread.

Even though two people on different sides of the political fence will never agree or change each others minds, I could not resist to comment.

I thought the comments were perfect. We can always use a sane viewpoint in the OT forum.

Singpilot what kind(s) of airplane(s) do you have?

7 variants of DC9's and MD8X's. 2 Gulfstream 4SP's.

I run a small airline for sports teams and manage the Gulfstreams.

I forget what year it was, but we took a 1967 DC9-15 to OSH one year, got them to let us park it with the classics (it being over 25 years old) with a wing hanging over the grass, and pitched tarps over the wing. My entire off duty company came along as a reward for a great year.

Now I usually just drive in, I have a friend that saves a spot for me several weeks in advance.

Holy crap, you are into the big stuff! I will look try to look you up some evening while I am out visiting camp sites (it is kind of boring sitting in my little pup tent under my wing out on the flight line).

Hey, went right over the top of you tonight, looked like a line was moving in from the south. It took FL450 to stay on top. Am in NYC for a few days.

I am always in Paul's forest, in the middle of a bunch of Minnesota plates.

Hey John I think I saw that Pietenpol last year just north of the ultralight area. Am I correct?

Yep, it was also featured in Sport Aviation.

I love the fact that he made a carb heat muff out of a Marvel Mystery Oil can.

Even cooler is the Model A engine, modified for aircraft use.

That is just one of the reasons Oshkosh and the EAA are so popular. You can go there and see history, and it flew in.

I also thought the MMO can was a special touch.

My first airplane ride was in a plane with a cloth covered, wood spar wing.

I still smile at that when I look down on the cloud tops while at work aloft all these 31 years later. I have seen a lot of changes in this industry in that time. I get F/O's these days that have never dealt with carb ice, have no idea what a fan marker is, have no tailwheel time, have never had a wet footprint, and think the C6b is a little blue pill.

My favourite ride after all these years was a trip to Idlewild from LAX in a TWA Sleeper. Yes, a Connie with curtains. I am probably dating myself here, but I was 6 or 7 years old. I was next to the window, about 15 feet behind the wing. Left LAX at 3-ish in the afternoon, had a real dinner (with linen napkins and real silverware), then climbed into a bunk and supposedly to sleep all night. I, of course, stared out the window all night, and watched the lights of all the towns and the darkened farmland slide under the wing in the moonlight. Watched the tongues of flame from the exhausts lengthen and shorten as the plane climbed over the rockies and the occasional buildups. Saw the sun rise over Ohio. I have had lots of incredible experiences aloft since then, but none as special as that.

These days, I can watch the changes in the contrails in the aft looking exterior camera. Yesterday was so warm at FL450 that even the cooling turbines were leaving contrails.

Some things never change.

Singpilot, I am heading out Sunday morning 7/25 in my Pacer. What day are you arriving?

Check out eaa.org, my wife is in the front seat of the Cub on the top right side of the new opening page. Her first husband (long story)restored that Cub and EAA took pictures at Sun & Fun. They must sell these pictures because we see this Cub on a lot of "win a J3 Cub advertisements".

I just had to cancel my airline res. A bunch of my captains have come down with some sort of summer flu going around. I missed it because I was in Dallas all week on my every six month refresher. I leave Tuesday for Nice, France until Sunday the first. I'll be going overhead, 9 miles up on that Sunday, maybe we can set up a comm check. I could s-turn the contrail at 500 knots true. I leave southern France at 10am local, which puts me over OSH at 3pm-ish Sunday afternoon.