October 2005- AirVenture is not one show, but a hub of many activities going on simultaneously. The EAA group now attracts warbirds, major General Aviation manufacturers, aircraft modifiers, aircraft kit builders, ultralight, sport aviation, avionics and component manufacturers, parts supply houses, type-specific associations, government agencies, airshow performers and a couple of folks who missed the turn to the state fair hawking self-sharpening, guaranteed for a lifetime ginzu knives.
You have to focus on what you want to see and absorb or you will just plain get lost. You certainly need more than one day to see more than just a small portion of the aviation feast available to you.
Buildings A-D
On the trip to Oshkosh, Bill, my airplane, reminded me that our wish list for modifications was getting lean, and maybe I needed to spend time in Buildings A-D looking at what is new and interesting to make flying comfortable, safe and fun.
These four large buildings anchor the main display area and house suppliers plus vendors for just about everything you can imagine. Twenty-nine flight planning and software exhibitors offered everything from flight planning software to weather downloads for portable devices, cellphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and laptops.
Jeppesen was there with its flight planning offerings as well as my supplier, RMS Technology. In fact, RMS just went off the top, moving its Flightsoft software from the Outstanding column to Awesome.
I use the FlightSoft Commercial World Wide version to flight plan Bill’s flights and look at weather on my desktop and laptop before departure. The NOS approach charts are available as an option and now available in a user-scalable format in Flight Express for PDAs. The latest release is the final step in a plan to go paperless with an electronic flight bag using the PDA as the backup. More on RMS Flightsoft in a future product review.
The Electronics International UBB-16 Engine Analyzer with data logging is very high on the wish list in Bill’s future. After finding three fried exhaust valves on the last annual, there has to be a better way to manage engine power than by using one Exhaust Temperature and Cylinder Head Temperature gauge.
Monitoring and tracking all six EGT and CHT readings will provide a better analysis. In addition, these parameters will connect to the AVI-17 Voice Annunciator Unit bringing anomalies to the pilot’s attention immediately.
Oh, and Bill asked me to mention that there may be a Garmin GDL-69 NEXRAD receiver and altitude hold for the S-TEC Autopilot in his future.
Airshow and warbirds
Certain aircraft overhead in an airshow are truly unique. The staccato crack and whine of a Merlin’s 1,600 hp exiting 12 short exhaust stacks is all you need to tell you a P-51 Mustang is in the area. The Glacier Girl P-38 twin Alison engines also have their signature sound, and this rare aircraft pulled from an icy tomb made airshow circuits multiple times each day.
Toward the end of the Monday Air Show, the Trainer Warbirds fly by. T-28s and T-6/SNJs fly overhead in tight formations.
At the end of the flyby, the T-6/SNJs approach the runway and break for their landing. As you look on the downwind leg, a long string forms in 30-second intervals to land.
Only at Oshkosh will you see today this type aircraft form up and duplicate what happened so many times across our land 60-plus years ago.
Experimental Aircraft
The EAA roots began with people who wanted to build their own aircraft at home in their garage rather than buy something from Piper, Cessna, Beechcraft or other manufacturers. Well, two of the ultimate homebuilts visited AirVenture 2005—Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne tucked under White Knight and GlobalFlyer—for everyone to see.
Both aircraft are proof of how a small group can focus on tasks that others will not even consider and achieve their goal.
Theater in the Woods and other pavilions
Monday evening Scott Crossfield and Mike Melvill were the two bookends on Space Exploration spanning 60 years in a presentation on “Then and Now.”
Burt Rutan, joined by the SpaceShipOne team held a seminar Tuesday at the Honda Pavilion and later that evening at The Theater in the Woods.
Wednesday Steve Fossett discussed his extended “local flight” (he did not land to a point more than 50 miles from his departure) from and to Salina, Kansas via around the world.
Manufacturers
Piper Aircraft and all the other manufacturers were there with everything from training aircraft to kerosene burning fast movers. All you had to do is walk up and a courteous and knowledgeable company representative was there to answer all your questions plus help you fill out an order if you were ready to buy.
Aircraft Associations
The Piper Flyer Association met on Sunday and Monday evening at its new headquarters at Waupaca Airport. On Monday evening, pizza and beer were the fare. Tuesday evening we met back at the Flyer HQ and had brats and wine. What did we do that evening? Talk about—what else?—flying and airplanes, of course while Eliott Janz and member Roger Osborne entertained us with guitar hot licks.
Final Thoughts
Nowhere will you see so much aviation in one concentrated time and space as you see at Oshkosh each year at the end of July. I know; I have seen many airshows from Paris to Harlingen and NBAA in between. Nothing compares to the bang for the buck you get at Oshkosh. See ya there next year.
Charles Lloyd has logged 7,900 hours since his first flying lesson in 1954. He worked for Cessna Aircraft in Citation Marketing and Finance for 16 years. Charles’ current day job is as a Citation Excel Captain for a major fractional aircraft ownership company. Send questions or comments to editor@www.piperflyer.com.
