Thursday arrived very early, as Louise (my wife) was departing with the intent to hit the starter on the RV-6 at 0600. That meant an 0445 wake-up at the house, final packing, and a pre-dawn drive to Wittman Field. The good news is that you can do this with no traffic at all that time of day! You do have to enter through a “vehicle only” gate, as the regular entrances are closed, but the guards are friendly.
Airplane packed and untied, with a temp/dew point spread of essentially zero, things were damp – but she was taxiing away at 0605. I watched her head towards the runway, then headed over to the Tech Counselor breakfast for some camaraderie with the TC/Flight Advisor crowd. Then it was off to take a load of stuff from our “office trailer” to my airplane to start packing for my next-day departure. Included a stop at the Homebuilt Parking shack to find that despite rumors and speculations to the contrary, we are not far off the previous year’s numbers for airplane attendance (see picture).
I dropped in on a few more airplanes that look like they are getting ready for reviews, and hope to fly some of these unique machines in the next couple of months – watch for reports on the P-36, Speedster, and maybe even the Stewart S-51 Mustang. Then it was off to do a Oshkosh Live video where Marc Cook and I talked about the emphasis being placed on AoA flying this year – and one fully into the future.
Lunch was my last pack of deep-fried cheese curds for the year, then it was time to do more packing and return our rental car, as I’m spending the night on site in the trailer to enable an early start. Recruited Web Editor Omar, gave him the keys to the golf cart, and said I’d meet him at the terminal way on the north side of Wittman. It’s a long drive in a 3 mph cart, but you get to see so much of the field and the event that homebuilders rarely observe.
After our return, I did another swing through the display buildings before a 1500 meeting with EAA and FAA stakeholders on AoA and the plans for the future. I can tell you that the FAA is positively energized about it – while at the same time acknowledging that we all hate mandates that cost money – so expect our continued educational efforts and a strong emphasis on further system development and establishing ways to make AoA training standard for all pilots.
Folks from our team began departing in the afternoon, with the AVweb and Aviation Consumer folks heading for flights out of the show. What, leave before it’s over? Well… yeah, actually. The newsy part of AirVenture ends for the homebuilt crowd about Thursday, and the show becomes more of an airshow for the public from here on out. Homebuilts are departing and there are plenty of empty spots on the grass already. But for those still here, the Homebuilders dinner was held at the Nature Center (I missed that) as well as a BBQ hosted by Steinair, Garmin, and Dynon for customers and assorted industry hangers-on. I qualify on both counts, so I enjoyed a little beer and food, then stopped in at the Sling Aircraft “do” on the way back. Good people, fun conversation.
I plan to hit the starter on the Valkyrie first thing in the morning, ending this year’s sojourn in Wisconsin – but I’ll try to give you one more update on the trip home before we close this out.
All those homebuilts and not one video I’ve found anywhere covering the homebuilt ramp at OSH. I wish the EAA would video it and post. Possibly when attendees get back home they may post some more vids of the grounds.