Terry Clark and Sylvia Keal are old friends who only see each other each summer at Oshkosh. Terry flies his 1961 green & tan Cessna 172 in from Cherry Capitol Airport near Traverse City, Michigan. Sylvia arrives from Brampton, Ontario in her red & white Cherokee 140.
Terry and Sylvia are two of the many of the North Forty campers who arrive every year, days before the official start of the convention. "Many of the people in the first seven rows know each other," says Sylvia. "We don't necessarily know their names, but we recognize their faces, and look forward to seeing them each year."
Jeff Reuland and Al Bond have a friendly comptition to see who arrives first each year. Al won this year, arriving on Wednesday, with Jeff following on Friday. Jeff flies his green & white 172 from Chatham on Cape Cod. Al is a retired Pan Am captain from the Spruce Creek Fly-In airport community near Daytona Beach, Florida.
For the Oshkosh '96 Al was one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave. He arrived seven days before the official start, and stayed until two days after the end. "On my last day I got one of the last showers before they turned off the water. But when I went to use the porta-johns they had taken them all away!"
Jeff and Al stay in touch by E-mail during the year. They try to keep their arrival plans secret from each other. This year, a couple days before leaving Chatham, Jeff wanted to psych-out Al so he sent him an E-mail saying, "I'm sitting here at Oshkosh with my laptop, and I've saved you the space behind me." But Al got the last laugh by jumping in his plane and heading north to beat Jeff by two days.
Serious bragging rights are involved here. Karen Seamans' brown & white 172 is parked in row three. "There was one other plane here when I arrived, but it left for awhile, so I'm claiming #1," she says, smiling.
Karen lives on the field at Seamans Airport in northeast Pennsylvania. The airport was built in 1946 by her husband who was a long time convention attendee until his death last summer. Karen, who is a 5th grade teacher and CFI, is back at Oshkosh this year with a friend who she is introducing to aviation. "I think his eyes will pop out when he see all this," she says.
On Sunday Karen bought a bicycle at the Walmart. "I couldn't get a rental car, so I got this instead." She's trying to figure out how to get it into the baggage space of her plane. "If I take off the front wheel it will fit. You think?"
George is a retired forestry worker. He flew his 32 year old Cessna 150 to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh from his home in Pelahatchie, Mississippi. This is the ninth year George has flown the 150 to the convention. He has attended the fly-in every year since 1975, except for '83 when a family emergency kept him away.
Flying the little red and white 150, which George says, "is really just a single place aircraft," to aviation events is nothing new to him. "I take it to fly-ins all over the country."
Steve McNall had a spray bottle of cleanser and was scrubbing the cowling of his beautiful, blue & white RV6. His was one of the first two planes to arrive in the parking area near the new north taxiway. He arrived early to the fly-in this year, on Saturday, to lend a hand as a volunteer.
He took three days to fly the RV from his home in Ramona, California, near San Diego. On Thursday he only made it as far as Arizona, where he stopped to wait out some weather. On Friday he reached Nebraska which left him a quick three hour hop to Oshkosh. "A lot of bugs," he says, lovingly scrubbing the plane. "It musta been 'cause I was flying so low over Iowa. If I'd have been higher there'd have been fewer bugs."
Pia Penttila is a Finnish high school student who has spent the last 12 months as an exchange student in Indianola, Iowa. While in the states, as part of the program Youth For Understanding International Exchange, Pia was introduced to flying by her exchange host, EAA member Craig Cable. She's earned her private pilot license and now, before returning to Finland on August 7, Craig has brought her to her first Oshkosh fly-in.
Pia took up skydiving three years ago back home, but only started flying since coming to the U.S. "Flying and skydiving are very different," she says. "Flying is more peaceful, but skydiving is extreme. I think aerobatics is more like skydiving." When she gets home to Finland she hopes to continue her flying by piloting jump planes.
She's already planning to return to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh next year with an IFR rating. What kind of flying would she like to do in the future? "Fighter pilot!" She says with a big smile.
OK, it doesn't get much better than this. You are on the front lawn of the new EAA Air Academy Lodge. In front of you a taildragger is doing fly-bys and touch-and-gos on Pioneer Airport's grass runway.
You and a few of your fellow academy attendees are flying balsa-wood, rubber band powered, aircraft you made in the academy shop. There's a friendly rivalry between attendees and counselors for best flights of the small planes.
Danny Diggerson proudly tells how he's from EAA Chapter 1 at Flabob Airport in Rubidoux, California. Ben Herron is from EAA Chapter 35 in Fort Worth, Texas. Arlington airport is his home base. David Barkham is from Langley, British Columbia. Not to be outdone, David points out that the log beams in the new Air Academy Lodge are from British Columbia.
"Counselor" Brandon Nesmith is a 1996 graduate of the Air Academy. This year he's returned as a Wittman Intern, which doesn't keep him from competing with the younger guys for best airplane. Brandon is with Chapter 445 in Tallahassee, Florida. Quincy Airport is his home base.
Across the field a beautiful Wisconsin sunset sillouettes the taildragger as it gently settles onto the grass.
Hey mate! Let's go to Oshkosh. John Murray had been thinking about it for a few years, so finally this year he and Kevin Green jumped into John's Bonanza F33A in Moree, New South Wales, Australia and flew to Oshkosh '98.
They put two 77 gallon tanks in place of the back seats and headed off through New Guinea, The Marshall Islands, Hawaii, California and on to Oshkosh.
In New Guinea they missed the recent tidal waves by a day. In Hawaii they calculated that the headwinds would run them out of gas before reaching the mainland, so they went to a hardware store and bought three 5-gallon cans and two hand pumps ("One as a backup, just in case"). They filled them with gas and headed out. No worries, mate
John and Kevin are ag pilots back home. They spray cotton fields at night. Ironically Kevin had a reservation to come to Oshkosh '98 on the Oshkosh Express 747, but John made him a better offer.
So, 53 flying hours, 5513 nautical miles, and 3140 liters of fuel later... Welcome to Oshkosh.
Walter and Pat Atkinson arrived at Oshkosh '98 from Ryan Airport in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in their comfortable, twin engined C45H named the "Dame Milkstool".
The plane started life in 1942 as an AT11 that was used for training bombadiers in Midland, Texas. In 1952 it was rebuilt to become the C45H, also known as a Beech 18. In 1964 the conventional gear plane was converted to tricycle gear (milkstool, get it?).
"When I was six years old," recalls Walter, "I saw one of these take off from my local airport, and I said 'I'm gonna own one someday.' It took me 41 years, but I did it."
Walter and Pat came to the fly-in this year via Michigan where they got their float plane ratings. Walter can be found as an active member of the AVSIG section of Compuserve.
Sometimes an early arrival is not early enough. Carol and Bill flew their Cessna C205 from Livingston County Airport in Howell, Michigan. Unlike most attendees from the east they came straight across Lake Michigan. No problem.
"It was a real clear day. We could see the far shore when we were about 20 miles out over the water," says Carol. "Some days you fly for about 20 minutes in the middle of the lake where you can't see either shore."
In their tenth year at the fly-in, they come well equipped for camping in the North Forty. Their gear includes an inflatable queen-sized mattress and a TV that they hook up to an old airplane battery.
They thought they were arriving plenty early this year. "We expected to get row seven," says Carol, "but we only got row 20."
No flightless birds here. Inspired by the Christian Eagle biplanes, Dennis Sherwood and Vernon Kispert designed a paint scheme of rainbow colored feathers, and nose art of a stylized bird for Dennis' 150 h.p. 1960 Cessna 150.
"We showed it to a friend who said it looked like a thunder chicken. So that's what we decided to name it." They soon added the name "Thunder Chicken" to the nose art.
Dennis and Vernon are from Canton, Texas. They packed the C150 with themselves and their camping gear for the 10 hours of flying from Texas to the fly-in. Weather forced them to spend one night in Branson, Missouri where they were so anxious to continue on to Oshkosh that they passed on seeing any of the towns many shows.
Another of the guys' inventive designs is to take an off-the-shelf 20 inch bicycle, cut it in half, just in front of the seat, then bolt it back together. The unbolted halves can then be comfortably loaded into the back of even a Cessna 150.
"You know those fancy folding bicycles a lot of people have?" asks Dennis. "Well one of those weighs more than three of ours."
EAA members are at the forefront of developing new aviation technologies. So it should come as no surprise that they've put together some pretty inventive (and sometimes wacky) campsites. Take a walk out there sometime and you'll see canopies of all shapes and sizes, banners, solar hot water heaters, collapsible bikes, TVs, hot tubs, and yes, kitchen sinks.
First time's a charm. Doug Macallister and Lynn Daffron flew to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh '98 from Naples, Florida in their blue, gold & white Bonanza N35. They're regulars at Sun 'n Fun but this is their first time to the Oshkosh fly-in. Lynn's a longtime pilot but Doug's only been flying for three years.
Were they intimdated by the Oshkosh arrival procedure? "No, says Lynn, "it's just like Sun 'n Fun."
"We make a good team," says Doug. "Lynn does the flying and I do the talking."
The grounds and facilities here at the EAA AirVenture are always in tip-top condition. That's due to people like the mother/daughter team of Karen and Michelle Lamb. We found them one evening, after dark, after the crowds had left, driving around the convention grounds in their John Deere Gator, watering the flowers and tending to the plants.
"Before the fly-in starts we can do our work during the day. But when the crowds arrive we do part of our work early in the morning and continue in the evening."
Karen is a year-round EAA employee who works the rest of the year on things like decorating the Museum for the holidays and creating displays. Michelle is a sophmore, studying elementary education, at Martin Luthor College. She works for the EAA during the summers.
Sitting in the shade under the wing of his 1950 brown & tan Cessna 182, Al Plapp watches the arrivals on runway 18. Between landings he reminisces about the days when he learned to fly.
"I worked for Ron Dornink at his airport in Illinois. I painted fences, and shoveled, err, stuff, in exchange for flying lessons. It's called Ronald K. Dornink Airport, but we called it Dornink International. I stop back there as often as I can. It's still a grass strip.
"Someone has taken all the old first solo shirt tails and stitched them together into a quilt that is now on display. There must be 80 to 100 shirt tails. Mine is there.
"I think he's still got a couple of kids working for him, learning to fly."
Roy and Roy are neighbors at Waunakee Airport, a fly in community near Madison, Wisconsin. Here at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh '98 they've set up their lawn chairs under the wing of a Piper Cub and are keeping an eye on the crosswind landings.
They drive to the fly-in so as not to take up space that can be used by attendees from further away. Roy owns two Cessna 150s, a 195, and a one-third finished Tailwind.
Cleared to land runway 18L. "They see that narrow little taxiway and near to have a heart attack," says the man with the big sunglasses from Niles, Michigan.
"That little thing would be just about right for my airplane." His plane is a 1946 Taylorcraft that he's owned since 1965. "I bought it from the only other guy who ever owned it."
The sunglasses man and his wife come to the fly-in every year. They drive around the lake real early, this year "a week ago Saturday," and stay until after it's over. They do day trips in their car until the show starts, "then I look at airplanes and my wife reads books."
Son, can I borrow the airplane keys? Harry Julian and his son David are admiring the Fisher Tiger Moth on display in the outdoor exhibits area. This plane is modelled after the legendary, original Tiger Moth.
Many years ago, Harry learned how to fly in a Tiger Moth. Years later, David inherited his father's appreciation for the old classic biplane and wished he could one day own one. "I love the way they sound," he says, "the way they fly, the sense of history in them."
A few years ago David bought a classic biplane kit. His plan was to build it, and sell it to raise part of the money for the plane of his dreams. Then fate stepped in. David suddenly had the chance to buy a fully restored Tiger Moth. Of course he jumped at the chance, but, "I didn't tell dad I bought it. I just flew down and surprised him."
David, with some help from his dad, has put about 40 hours on the plane since getting it in February. And he still plans to finish the kit biplane.
Do you think that the folks who work at the fly-in every year get jaded? Nope. Just talk to Jenny Dyke, Chairman of EAA Forum Tent #9. "I've got this guy speaking in my tent on [Friday] who is 98 years old and still has his medical."
Ralph Charles worked for the Wright brothers in the 20s, has designed numerous airplanes, and is a gold mine of aviation stories. "I'd love to take him home and have him tell me stories every night," Jenny says.
According to Jenny, Charles is quite a character. His private strip lands down a hill to the bottom where he must veer to miss the barn, then roll up another hill to slow down. He makes no drawings of his designs. It's all in my head, he says, I think about it and I go do it.
Charles is speaking in EAA Forums Tent #9 on [Friday] at 1:00 p.m.
For the past three years the Homebuilt/Custombuilt judges have been recording scores and results, out on the field, using small handheld computers.
The project is spearheaded by Bob Reece, Chairman of Homebuilt/Custombuilt Judging, and an EAA National Director. Bob and his team of volunteer computer engineers created the software that lets judges enter their scores directly on computer using a "stylus" pen.
Every few hours the judges visit the judging headquarters where the scoring is transfered to a central database. From there the information is automatically compiled, and reports are created that show the progress of the judging process.
Using the earlier, paper-based system, says Reece, "we can no longer do all the judging in the available time." He says that the new system is four times as fast as the old one.
Even the most reluctant of old-timers are embracing the new system. One veteran judge was persuaded to try the new system alongside his old reliable ring-binder paper method. After a few hours the judge marched into the judging trailer, threw the old black binder across the trailer, and yelled, "I don't want to see that thing no more."
This year 3COM has become a corporate sponsor of AirVenture Oshkosh '98 and donated 100 of their Palm Pilot Pro handheld computers for the project, replacing the previous units. The other AirVenture judging groups, except for Warbirds, are sampling the system this year with the intention of adopting it fully next year.
Changes are eveywhere. The traditional Oshkosh fly-in admission badge buttons, that are made by the Antique/Classics Division have been updated to reflect the new fly-in look and logo. They now sport the AirVenture emblem with a bold 98 in the background.
The new buttons can be had for a dollar each at the Antique/Classic Red Barn east of the Theatre in the Woods.
Yes, we have no avocado. The food gets better every year. Clearly someone is thinking about the fly-in's food offerings and making improvements each year. But we would like to know what there is about a hamburger with cheese, onions, lettuce, and tomato that makes it a "California Burger"?
Would you ride an airplane with one of these things? Regular fly-in attendees will have seen the Ornithopter. It's the tongue-in-cheek, mostly wooden, wing-flapping, wing-walker-carrying, contraption that rolls around the grounds. Well the Ornithopter is the mascot for a more serious, historic exhibit of working, antique engines at the north edge of the big West Ramp.
Steve Hay, Jim Hay and Joe Kohli will tell you about the workings of four historic aircraft engines. The 1913 Gnome Rotary, the Henderson Engine, the 1902 Manly Engine and, our favorite, the 1903 Wright Engine.
You can not only look but touch too. "You can touch everything," says Steve. "We have rags," adds Joe.
When Steve fires up the 1903 Wright, and it starts belching smoke and going chunka-chunka, we found ourselves imagining what it was like that day 95 years ago on the sand dunes as the Wrights flew that fragile looking plane.
Sixty seconds later, when the engine finally coughs to a halt Steve says, "One minute. The length of the longest flight that day."
Twenty-five years ago EAA member Dave Yeoman told founder Paul Poberezny, "Someone should be recording the forum sessions at the fly-in, because otherwise, once they're spoken, they're lost." Paul thought this was a good idea and recruited Dave to take on the task.
"I didn't even own a tape recorder back then," says Dave. "I begged and borrowed machines to record those early sessions.
"One year I got here and realized I didn't have enough machines for all the forums that would be happening at one time. I didn't know what to do. Then I remembered that some of my machines were stereo. So I ran long microphone cables and recorded two forums on one machine."
Dave's recordings are available for sale every year here at the fly-in. What's less well know is that Dave still has all the forum tapes that he's ever made. All the way back to 1972.
By the time AirVenture Oshkosh '98 is finished Dave will have recorded over 5000 sessions. And any of them can be purchased on cassette. Want to hear the 1988 forum "'Catbird' Design Philosophy" by Burt Rutan? Or the 1972 "Tailwind" forum by Steve Wittman or "EAA Acrosport" by Paul Poberezny? Those and thousands other are available.
A complete list can be found at the Forums Office at the south end of the EAA Forum Plaza. Or the list can be viewed on the web at soli.inav.net/~novens/yeoman95.html.
The legendary Duane Cole is not reluctant to speak his mind. At his EAA Forum at AirVenture '98, he filled us in on a few of his thoughts.
"Now I'm gonna talk about the FAA. I wasn't gonna talk about the FAA... but damn, it's hard not to talk about the FAA."
"They don't call them ARSAs any more 'cause they thought they were talking about the FAA."
Expressing his dissatisfaction for the style of todays' airshows: "The airshow here is all up and down, up and down. Except for Sean Tucker, who's all sideways."
You could call it "Fly-in Row". In the southwest corner of the EAA Action Pavilion are the booths of four smaller EAA fly-ins. For those of you who can't get enough this week you can stop by and talk with representatives from these exciting regional events.
The Golden West Regional EAA Fly-in is held September 25-27, 1998 at Castle Airport in Merced, California. "We're in the geographical center of 25% of all registered aircraft and pilots in the U.S."
The Copperstate Regional EAA Fly-in is held October 8-11, 1998 at Williams Gateway Airport in Mesa, Arizona. "We're the 4th largest EAA fly-in after Oshkosh, Sun 'n Fun, and Arlington."
The EAA Southwest Regional Fly-in is held October 15-18, 1998 at Abilene Regional Airport in Abilene, Texas. "We're the 'Big Country' fly-in, we'll have 500 aircraft of all kinds, fly-bys, forums, exhibits and much more."
The Virginia State EAA Fly-in held June 26-27, 1999 at Petersburg Municipal Airport in Dinwiddie, Virginia. "In addition to conventional general aviation airplanes, we feature ultralight, powered parachute, and radio controlled aircraft throughout the entire fly-in."
"He would have loved EAA and the fly-in," said Marge Bong Drucker, widow of WWII Medal of Honor winner Major Richard I. Bong. But he never had a chance because, soon after the war's end, the Wisconsin born hero of World War II was killed while test-piloting a Lockheed P-80 "Shooting Star".
"He would have been thrilled by all the airplanes and activity," said Mrs. Drucker.
By the fall of 1943 Major Bong was an American "Ace of Aces", having shot down 21 enemy planes, and by the war's end he had shot down 40 enemy planes, a record that still stands today.
Now Major Bong is being remembered in a new Museum that is being built in Superior, Wisconsin. Here at the fly-in you can learn more about the "Richard Ira Bong Heritage Center," and talk with Marge Bong Drucker, at Booth #4115 in Exhibit Hangar D.
"With his P-38 he would have been up there in the skies with the rest of them showing off." Who knows, may be he is.
It's 6:15 a.m. and the sun has been up for half an hour. A few early risers are slowly moving to the showers near the edge of the North Forty campgrounds.
Inside the Warbirds fence, Mike Wagnon, coffee in hand, is looking forward to another day of directing planes and keeping the EAA AirVenture crowds out of harms way.
Mike is from Seattle, Washington where he is an engineer for Boeing at Paine Field. He's been a Warbird line operations volunteer at Oshkosh for eight years now. He says most of the line volunteers come back every year. "Alot of them are retired guys who travel to fly-ins all over the country - here, Sun 'n Fun, Arlington - just to help out with these airplanes."
Mike, and many of the rest of the line crew, will work all day, from early in the morning until the field closing at sunset.
Around 6:30 a.m. the line people will start preparing for the arrival of the aircraft crews. Early morning flights often consist of photo missions, rides for VIPs, occasional last minute training missions, and of course, just going out to fly for the joy of it.
Time to make the donuts. One of our favorite times and places at the fly-in is early morning at Ace's Cafeteria where we get our coffee and a fresh baked donut. The donuts are the product of Bill Stiedemann and his crew.
Stiedemann arrives at 4:30 a.m. each morning during the fly-in. The cafeteria opens to the public at six, but Bill also puts together orders for the volunteer committees here at EAA AirVenture. "It's one of the perks of volunteering, free donuts," he says.
Bill's not really sure how long he's been making donuts for the fly-in. "I forget when I started. I think it was about 12 to14 years ago." He estimates that these days he and his crew make from 2,500 to 3,500 donuts each day during the convention.
You can say good morning to Bill, and pick up a fresh baked donut, each day at Ace's Cafeteria which is just south of the NASA exhibit hall.
Harry Wilson is the editor of "The Intrepid Airmen", the newsletter of EAA Chapter 62 in San Jose, California. Seven years ago, at a time of life when some people settle down and do less, the septagenerian Wilson began to pursue his lifelong, but always postponed, love for aviation.
He became an EAA member in 1991. "My son gave me a birthday present of an EAA membership," he remembers. Two years later his chapter needed a new editor, so he volunteered.
In the five years since he took over, "The Intrepid Airmen" has repeatedly won 2nd or 3rd place in the annual EAA McKillop Award for chapter newsletters. This year he and his team won the 1st place prize.
Harry, now 77, has never learned to fly. "All my life, ever since Lindbergh, I've been fascinated with aviation. But I could never afford it." But now he's determined to make it happen. In the past year he's gotten his medical and taken ground school. He's hoping to begin flight lessons soon at Watsonville Airport, which is a short drive from his home in Rio Del Mar, California.
"The thing I like about EAA is the people and the airplanes. The other day I sat here," he said from his seat in the Volunteer Center where he's helping out during the fly-in, "and watched a hundred crosswind landing. I was riveted. We talked them over and I was able to learn a great deal. It's a wonderful thing."
Now that he's won 1st place surely he'll slow down. Nope. The members of Chapter 62 have elected him the be president next year.
The EAA McKillop 1st Place Award this year was also shared by David McGowan of Chapter 242, Columbia, South Carolina, and Cecil Hatfield of Chapter 723, Camarillo, California.
The first-time Oshkosh attendee from Ames, Iowa had asked for suggestions on what to see. When directed to the Warbirds area he said. "My father flew Corsairs." Like so many things at the fly-in, this triggered a memory.
"When I was two my father was taking me for a ride in his Champ. My mother was strapped into the back and he set me in the front. When he hand-propped the engine, I did what I'd seen him do so many times. I pushed in the throttle.
"Well, my mother and I went rolling across the field, with my father chasing behind. He lost both his shoes running. Finally, he grabbed the wing strut just as we were about to go into the fence.
"I rode in the back after that."
The first-timer from Ames headed off for the Antique/Classics flight line. Probably looking for a Champ.
Arnie Zimmerman is devoted to getting kids excited about aviation. Arnie is the owner and pilot of the Breezy that gives rides each year at the fly-in. The Breezy is a unique airplane design of exposed metal frame and fabric covered wings. The pilot and passengers ride in seats perched at the front of the aircraft.
Arnie's fly-in rides are free to anyone willing to wait in line - a donation to EAA Young Eagles is suggested. First priority is given to kids, and then to EAA volunteers and FAA personel. He gives as many rides as possible before the daily showcase flights begin.
This is the 10th year Arnie has given Breezy rides at the Oshkosh fly-in. He's been giving rides whenever possible during the 22 years that he's owned the airplane. He estimates that he's given over 5000 rides. He expects to give about 175 rides at AirVenture '98.
Arnie is a big believer in the EAA Young Eagles program. Every kid who flies with him here at the fly-in receives the official Young Eagles certificate. He's also active giving Young Eagles rides through EAA Chapter #461 at Clow Airport in Bowlingbrook, Illinois..
"I got my start in aviation through a guy who helped me and showed me about flying. It's rough for a kid today to earn enough to fly." So Arnie and the Breezy do what they can.
Is this a David and Goliath thing? It's not unusual for someone to be proud of their airplane, but Brian McShurley has numbers to backup his boast that the big guys should be looking over their shoulders.
McShurley, from San Jose, California, is only a builder of the S-51, which is a 3/4 scale mustang clone from Stewart 51, Inc., but he is spending the week hanging out in the Stewart tent to help make converts.
He points out that there are four completed, flying S-51s here at AirVenture '98. He says that there are four more that will be doing taxi tests in the next 90 days, and he expects at least four or five more to fly each year after that.
"We counted 22 P-51 Mustangs at the fly-in this year. The S-51 fleet will easily overtake that number in the next few years."
Not just a gate guard. Chloe Jezeski is the EAA AirVenture gate guard at the Camp Scholler north gate. She's worked as a gate guard at the fly-in for eight years now.
Although this is only a seasonal job for her, she really enjoys it. "I love meeting the people," she says. She must love it, she works 12 hour shifts during the fly-in, then heads off to her regular job each night. "During the show I work about 20 hours a day," she says.
She likes to do a bit more than her job requires. In addition to her regular duties, such as keeping traffic flowing and patiently explaining the bicylcle regulations, she prepares each year to answer attendees questions about things like the best restaurants, shopping places, laundries, and car repair shops.
Working the gates at EAA AirVenture is a family affair for Jezeski. Her husband Dan has been doing it for 11 years, and her 18 year old daughter, also named Chloe, for 3 years.
Packing up, and heading home. In writing this column over the past week we've met some amazing people and seen some thrilling things.
We've seen 747 heavies and ultralights; we've met widows and war heros; we've talked with a high school girl from Finland and retired naval officer from California. And as always, it's been a wonderful experience.
What we've tried to share in these columns is that, whatever we call this event, the real heart and soul of the Oshkosh fly-in is its people.
Founder Paul says we're a big family. He's right. If we could gather together in the evening, around our kitchen table, we'd thrill each other with our day's adventures, we'd squabble over who gets the last dinner roll, and we'd fight over our differences. But when all is said and done we'd know that we all share a bond, going back over a hundred years, between all people who are drawn by the joy of flight.
Oshkosh is a special place, and already we can't wait 'til next year. Some cultures have one phrase that they use to express both greeting and farewell. We think that works here too. So until next year...
Welcome to Oshkosh.
Beloved aviation writer and speaker Gordon Baxter will not be attending this year's fly-in. According to Jenny Dyke, Chairman of EAA Forums Tent 9, where Bax holds his popular EAA forums, he recently suffered a "light stroke" at his home in Texas, and has been ordered to stay in bed for awhile.
Baxter is the longtime, popular columnist for Flying magazine where his personal accounts of grass-roots flying have attracted a large and devoted following over the years. His EAA Forum presentations are always among the most well attended at each year's fly-in, usually attracting standing room only crowds.
"I spoke to him just this morning," says Jenny, "and his voice is strong and distinct, and he is alert." Jenny reports that Bax is able to walk and picked up the phone himself after hearing her voice on his answering machine.
According to Jenny, Bax said, "My doctors won't let me go. They tell me I'm too weak." Jenny asked if she could count on him for next year, Bax replied, "You've got it. I'll be there."
— ATF