Yep, Dad and I got back from Oshkosh last night and it was a bitter sweet moment for me. I have been so looking forward to going that it was a sorrowful moment when I got off the plane and realized that it was over. That was the bitter part, the sweet part was how much fun it was to go! Wow, what a life, airplanes, airplanes and more airplanes. The week started on Tuesday evening when we arrived. I hadn't planned on doing much more than getting the lay of the land but we ended up staying for about 5 hours. I think Dad was in airplane overload by the time we left.
Dad and I attended classes on the DAR inspection, performance tuning, a couple on painting, fiberglass, composite construction, and a few more that we only sat in on for a short time. I got to meet Sam James from James Aircraft and Klaus Savier from Light Speed during a couple of the sessions. Both are very interesting people. Klaus showed a picture of a carbon fiber sump that he built for his plane. I want!
We watched the daily air show only peripherally. I had so many places I need to go and things to see that I pretty much ran Dad ragged. We finally rented a scooter for him to use because the Whitmann airport grounds are huge!
Anyway, I didn't spend as much money as I thought I might (a good thing) but I did get a few items and most importantly I gained a ton of knowledge. I did have one disappointment that was completely my fault or at least my lack of knowledge. I didn't get to see all of the RV's that were there. In fact I didn't go out to look at the home built lot until Thursday morning thinking I had all week. Well I guess many people show up early and leave early so by the time I got to tour the lot about 40% were gone. Oh well, live and learn.
Below are a few pictures I took. Certainly not all but a few.
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| This says it all |
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| Dad on his hot rod after I wore him out with my enthusiasm... and need to see everything at once |
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| The AOPA sweepstakes aircraft for this year. |
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| My favorite session...assembling a Lycoming engine. |
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| I took this shot for those rare people out there that might be interested in a whirly bird. |
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| The new Velocity twin. Maybe my next airplane? |
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| Interior of the Velocity twin. |
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| Front view of the Velocity twin. |
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| Half car, half airplane, but not really good at either. |
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| Jet Man on his decent after running out of fuel. |
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| Lots of formation flying was done..I only got a few pics because they don't come out very good. |
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| Klaus Savier during his engine tuning lecture. |
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| Not a great picture but this is the carbon fiber sump Klaus built.... 2 lbs!! |
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| Sam James during his RV fiberglass talk. |
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| Sam at work. |
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| Nice Velocity I met the owner of. |
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| My cowl. |
