Jay Honeck
July 29th 07, 08:18 PM
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…
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.
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 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.
To be continued...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
“Your Aviation Destination”
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…
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.
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 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.
To be continued...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
“Your Aviation Destination”