Welcome to Oshkosh. Bob Landvogt and his grandson Mathew have just arrived in the North Forty. While Mathew puzzles out the intricacies of tent pole assembly Bob talks about AirVenture. It's his 7th time to the fly-in. It's his 3rd time camping with his red, blue and white Skyhawk. And it's his first time arriving as pilot in command. "I'm a late bloomer," he says. It seems so, he's 70 now and he didn't learn to fly until age 59.
Bob lives in Kingwood Texas and flies out of Cleveland Municipal. Last year Bob and a friend were unable to make it to Oshkosh due to weather blocking their way. This year he has a different philosophy of navigating around the weather that might sum up his life's philosophy too: "If you want to get here you can do it. Just wait for an opening and go."
Joe Thomas from Wellington Aero Club fly-in community in Wellington, Florida. This is his 3rd AirVenture, but he's no stranger to aviation. Joe is retired after 26 years flying for Pan Am. Over the years he flew DC6s, 707s, 727s, 747s and L1011s. Unlike many airline pilots of his era he didn't learn in the military. His first flight training was in 1953 in a Champ at Fairfield, California.
These days Joe flies his blue and white Cherokee Six. He's lived in the Wellington fly-in community for only 8 months but he says it's as good as he thought it would be. There are about 30 planes based there and everyone loves flying, he says.
Great Britain pitching in on the flight line. Tony Restall has been working EAA Flight Line Ops for 11 years. He comes all the way from England each year to help out here at the fly-in, and he's not even a pilot. "I just love doing it," he says.
He began volunteering at the fly-in with the Civil Air Patrol. Then 8 years ago he moved over to the FLO team. These days he's a co-chairman.
Tony offers some advice for pilots arriving in the parking areas at AirVenture. First of all, he says, is to trust the flag people. They've been directing 1000s of planes and though their instruction may seem odd, or not to your liking, they have your best interests at heart and are intimately familiar with the idiosyncrasies of parking in the grass at Wittman Field.
Another tip is to definitely have a sign prepared to tell the flag people where you want to go. "And make the signs big. We're old guys and can't see so good anymore," he jokes. Lettering on signs should be readable from at least 50 feet. The EAA's suggested abbreviations for these signs are good, or some clear alternative message is fine too.
Each year Tony travels to AirVenture from London via Memphis where he visits family. About a week before the start of AirVenture he heads to Oshkosh. Then, after the fly-in, he returns to Memphis for a few final days then back to London. Until next year that is.
Working alongside Tony is Carla Lambert Giese who is a newcomer to AirVenture's Flight Line Ops. This is her first year. She was recruited by her Dad, Carleton, who's been doing it for many years.
"I was just coming into town on vacation to visit my Mom, and my Dad said wanna go over to the airport? He signed me up to help, and I love it! I'll definitely be back next year."
But he couldn't find any big inflatable palm trees. Ray Palicki is the guy with the Pink Flamingos. In addition to the plastic birds his red white and blue C-210 is surrounded by his camping gear, and two inflatable rubber life rafts. "Those are the hot tubs," he explains.
Ray Palicki displays his garden tools for Airventure 2000.
This year Ray has devised a new way to help out his friends in the North Forty. He brought along a "weed whacker" lawn trimmer and has been visiting his neighbors, offering landscaping services around their tents. With a mischievous smile he explains that he, "wanted to add a bit of civilization to the place."
Ray has been attending Oshkosh since 1982 from his base at Detroit Metro Airport in Michigan.
Not to be left out, Ray's camping neighbor Juan Fernandez, from Panola City Airport in Carthage Texas, has equipped himself this year with a telescoping garden rake. They make quite a team.
A lot of hangar flying happens on the North Forty during these early days of AirVenture. Chet Dempsey and Lew Smith are sitting beside Chet's red, gold and white Cherokee 180. It's Chet's plane but Lew did most of the flying this year on the eight hour trip from their home base at Mifflin County Airport in Reedsville, Pennsylvania.
Chet has been flying since 1973, but Lew started in 1946. He learned on the GI Bill after returning from the War. Over the years he's owned a collection of planes that any pilot would be proud of: Aeronca Chief, a Piper Cub, a Piper Super Cub, a Stinson Voyager and an Aeronca Champ.
Wearing an "Orville Wright did not have a pilot's license" t-shirt, Bill Webber is sitting with Chet and Lew. Bill is from Rockford and expects to be camping on the North Forty when his Dad, Bob, arrives on Wednesday.
Bob was a regular at Sun 'n Fun for many years when he lived in Florida. Recently he's moved back to his childhood home in Rockford, Illinois. As a boy, in the late 60s, Bill would ride his bike to attend the EAA fly-in when it was held in Rockford.
Bill learned to fly in the mid-seventies and now owns a Champ based at Brodhead Airport near Rockford.
Craig Vanderkolk and his eighteen year old son Dustin are from Naper Aero Estates in Naperville Illinois. Craig has been attending AirVenture since 1994, but a few years ago he volunteered to help out EAA using his talents as an amateur photographer. Craig has been attending the fly-in since 1994 and this is his 5th year camping in the North Forty.
Craig's home base of Naper Aero is more commonly known by its ID "Lima Lima Ten". LL10 is also the home of the Lima Lima Flying Team.
Ever since Craig volunteered to help out at AirVenture he says its, "given me a new perspective. I get a lot of satisfaction from being part of it."
Not everyone comes from far away. Cindy Schroeder lives here in Oshkosh, but unlike many other local residents she doesn't take off on vacation this week to avoid the craziness. Instead she heads over here to the field and dives right in.
Flight Line Operations volunteers Cindy Schroeder and Carleton Giese take a break from directing arrivals in the North Forty campground.
Carleton Giese is from Neenah, Wisconsin just north of here. He's another local who loves to get involved with the fly-in.
Cindy and Carleton are two of dozens of volunteers for Flight Line Ops. These are the folks in the orange vests who greet you and direct you to parking after you land.
Cindy has been attending the fly-in for 10 years and volunteering on the flight line for four. Carleton has been a volunteer for 10 years.
Flight Line Operations volunteer Cindy Schroeder directs a North Forty camper into its parking space.
Cindy, Carleton and the rest of the flight line gang started work this year on Saturday a week and a half ago. They began by opening up and preparing the buildings, putting up the banners, laying out the row numbers, and much more. This year's first fly-in arrivals appeared on Wednesday a week before the official start of the fly-in.
On Sunday airplane parking had only reached south to about row 60, yet 25 rows further south was an encampment of planes all by themselves. This group of about 13 planes flew in Sunday. They came from all over the south and west, gathering at Bill Thacker's airport in Cheneoa, Illinois, then heading to Oshkosh to arrive together.
Like many groups of "Oshkosh friends" these folks mostly see each other once a year here at AirVenture. Some of them are former members of an old Oshkosh group informally called the "Metro Warbirds". But they seem to have mellowed out some since those days. Now many of them stay in touch throughout the year by email and phone, and a few attend a second annual get together in the fall in Cheneoa.
The group consists of about 60 people total, but they don't all get to Oshkosh each year. The group has been attending Oshkosh for 18 years, and while some members drift away, others will wander into their camp each year and become part of the gang.
Ron Karwacky is carefully polishing the polished skin of his 1952 Cessna 195. Ron and the 195 are from Flabob Airport near Riverside California, home to EAA Chapter #1. Ron is a member of both Chapter 1 and Chapter 33 the Vintage Aircraft Chapter also located at Flabob.
Ron Karwacky's carefully restored 1952 Cessna 195.
This is his third trip to AirVenture. He alternates years attending Oshkosh and Sun 'n Fun.
Ron learned to fly 16 years ago in this same airplane. Since then he's lavished it with loving care and logged many, many hours.
One notable thing about the airplane is its mascot, a stuffed Daffy Duck doll astride the pitot tube.
Daffy Duck mascot on Ron Karwacky's Cessna 195.
"I don't know why it's there", he says. "It looked like the right thing to put there." He says that though it's the same airplane he's had for years, he's gone through three ducks.
Larry Van Dam is also from Flabob. His 1957 H model Bonanza is a multiple award winner. It's won a Custom Class 3 award, Outstanding Beech, and Lindy for Outstanding Custom.
Larry learned to fly in 1979 at Flabob. He started his training in a 150, but after 27 hours decided to "get serious" and bought a G Model Bonanza. He's been a Bonanza fan ever since.
He first came to the Oshkosh Fly-In in the early 80s coming every two or three years. In the 90s he attended every year except 1999.
This is the first year his wife has accompanied him. "It took a lot of intricate negotiating," he says with a smile.
Larry is also involved with putting on the Riverside Airshow in Riverside, California. The popular event, which is "like a smaller Oshkosh", is held each year in the last weekend in March.
Hank and Beth Manwarren are sitting under the V-tail of their Bonanza. Just minutes ago they arrived at AirVenture 2000 and they're relaxing for a moment before tieing down their plane and unpacking.
Hank and Beth just arrived from Merced California. They flew by way of the Grand Canyon, Arizona, and Spirit Lake in Ohio. They've been coming to Oshkosh since 1980, and have attended every year since 1993. They're retired now. He's been flying for 55 years, she learned in 1970.
Over they years they've owned over 15 planes. They can't remember exactly how many, but the list is impressive: Porterfield, C-140, Luscomb, Staggerwing, PA-11, PA-12, another C-140, another Luscomb, Waco, 310, yet another C-140, 172, '61 Debonair, '57 Bonanza, and the '59 Bonanza they flew in this year. Oh and they just bought another Luscomb.
Which planes did they like the best? "The PA-11 was a good plane to go up and fly around in. And the Staggerwing was nice. We flew across the country in that one and it made you feel like Lindburgh. Everywhere you went people would come out to see you. But it was a lot of work. For every hour you flew, you'd work on it for ten."
Why own so many different airplanes? "I haven't found one that satisfied me yet." Says Hank. "I like to fly low & slow and high and fast and I can't find one that will do all that."
It's like a family out there. Many of the early arriving campers in the North Forty are old friends who have been camping near each other for years. The Lieskes and the Pattons are a good example.
Dennis and Marilyn Lieske flew in with their yellow and white Cessna 172 from the grass strip at Cindy Guntly Memorial Airport in Wind Lake, Wisconsin, which is near their home in New Berlin, Wisconsin. Joe and Brenda Patton arrived in their brown and white Cessna 182 from Coffeyville Municipal in Coffeyville, Kansas. This year they've parked in the coveted end parking spots of two adjacent rows.
Talking with the Pattons and Lisekes they are quick to point out all their camping friends in the North Forty. There's the guy with the kitchen, and the folks from Milwaukee. The man with the rubber chickens, and Ray with the pink flamingos. Oh, and some normal people too.
The Lieskes are camping for only the fourth year, but have been attending the fly-in for 18 years. The Pattons are here for only their 3rd year. Both couples plan to head home this coming Saturday.
When asked why they come here year after year Brenda sums it up best. "This is the ultimate fly-in. It's flyers heaven."
He may not fly, but he sure is loud. There's a new member of the Ultralight team. His name is "Extra Crispy", he's a rooster.
For years now the front porch of the ultralight Red Barn has been known as the Chicken Coop. Well this year one ultralight volunteer was inspired by that name to play a prank on Chairman Chazz Humphrey.
Extra Crispy's home on the Ultralight Red Barn's front porch.
Chairman Jim Beckman, who insists that he isn't the culprit in this, tells the story of this guy whose daughter had a rooster. The guy told his daughter, "You don't eat that bird, I want it for Oshkosh."
Jim continues with the story, "Well on Friday night I, err, I mean, the guy who did this, smuggled the rooster onto the field and left it in a car in the Volunteer parking lot. Now this bird is really loud you see, so at 5:20 am the next morning the bird is crowing like crazy, so this guy's wife makes him move the bird."
"He moved it over to Pioneer Airport, where the next morning the neighbors complained. Next it was taken in by the folks who live across the road from the ultralight barn. But they couldn't take its noise for more than one night."
"So at 3 am on Tuesday, I ... umm, this guy moved the rooster to a spot next to Chazz and Susan Humphrey's campsite, where at 5:25 am it proceeded to awaken them for their busy day."
Ultralight Co-Chairman Jim Beckman and "Extra Crispy"
Extra Crispy has his own elaborately filled-out prop card, and has a weekly AirVenture wrist-band around his neck. He's currently living in a cage in the Chicken Coop in front of the Red Barn where, if he follows form, every day he will announce the dawn. We're guessing the next person to complain will be the yodeller.
When we last saw Matthew Liknaitzky he was down at Sun 'n Fun, alone with his backpack and an ultralight. He left Lakeland and spent the next 26 days flying his Aerotrike Safari back to his home in the Los Angeles area. Nine of those days were spent on the ground waiting for weather to improve. The Safari has a range of about 3.5 hours on a tank of gas so he made a lot of stops.
"Everywhere I stopped I met friendly people." Says Matthew. "Many of them invited me to stay in their homes."
Matthew traveled to AirVenture 2000, from his home base in Hemet and Bear Creek Airports in Southern California, by more conventional means. He's working with the Aerotrike manufacturer and will be talking with attendees in the ultralight area about his adventures, and showing the latest model, the Aerotrike Cobra.
The Mickels are one of many who make AirVenture a family affair. Tim and Betty first attended in 1972. They drove in from Freeport, Illinois planning to just spend the day. They had so much fun they didn't want to leave. So they slept in the back of their Volkswagen and stayed longer. They’ve been back every year since.
Tim learned to fly when he was in college in the late 60s. He bought a Taylorcraft when he was a senior. Nowadays they fly their Cessna 140 to AirVenture from Alburtus Municipal Airport in Freeport, Illinois. They found the 140 in a barn in 1986. It took five years to restore and it now has 1100 hours on it.
Tim and Betty's older daughter, Natalie, learned to fly in the 140. So did the daughter of Tim's partner. Now, Betty and younger daughter Kathryn are learning in it.
Tim, Betty and Kathryn arrived at this year's AirVenture early and Natalie will be joining them in a few days. It's a family thing.
Rubber Chicken Air Force has expanded its fleet. Two years ago in this column we met Brent Blue who owns the legendary C-310 that can be found each year in the North Forty campgrounds decorated with numerous rubber chickens. This year Brent has brought another plane to AirVenture.
Parked in the flight line grass just south of the fly-by buildings, is Brent's 1957 Flaglor High Tow. This bright red bi-plane was bought by Blue in 1996 and has recently been restored by Aviat Aircraft. Due to it's interesting nature the plane will be judged in the "Contemporary Homebuilt" category.
The High Tow was designed and built by Ken Flaglor as a glider tow plane. It was able to tow two gliders and carry a passenger at the same time. The bi-plane's home base is Driggs Field in Idaho.
By the way, Brent celebrated his 50th birthday here at AirVenture the other night. He hosted a big bash that included rubber chicken key-chains for guests, and drinks created with a gasoline-powered blender.
Hey Brent, you're not getting older, you're getting better.
The Boys from Dodge. The six Piper Cubs arrived at AirVenture 2000 flying in trail. They settled to the runway and rolled off into the grass. The six planes are flown by six friends from Dodge City, Kansas.
(l-r) Dodge City Boys Dan Cammack and his Dad, Howie Cammack.
Dan Cammack, Leigh Crotts, Howie Cammack, Mark Krier, Bill Wall and J.B. Glassco have been coming to the fly-in as a group since 1993. From '93 to '95 they all rode up on Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In '96 they changed to flying in with the Cubs.
The group usually takes only two days to get to Oshkosh. This year they stopped for the night in the Wisconsin Dells to visit the Casino.
In past years Howie, who is Dan's Dad, came to the fly-in in his own plane. This year, in order to join the Cub pack, he had to get checked out in the Cub.
Three of the Dodge City Boys' Piper Cubs on the grass at Airventure 2000.
"Before coming up here my son had to give me a checkout," said the elder Cammick. "The trip here was my first solo in a Cub," he said with a big smile.
The gentleman was walking toward the Flight Line early one morning. He was comparing these Wisconsin sunrises to those back home in Arizona. He concluded that while the ones back home are often nice, you can't beat the sun rising over airplanes parked on the grass.
He spoke of the past, camping at the AirVenture campgrounds. "Last year cured me of camping," he says. "It was so hot. You'd be uncomfortable all day, then you'd go back to your tent and it would still be so hot you couldn't get comfortable. This year is a lot better though."
This gentleman is active back home with the group that puts on the Copperstate Fly-In. Here at AirVenture he volunteers by driving the Homebuilt Welcome Wagon. "It's pretty busy early on," he says. "Then it gets pretty quiet until Sunday and Monday when a whole new wave of people start arriving."
For the Van Dellen's, like so many others, AirVenture is a family activity. Phyllis, Ralph and daughter Terri Van Dellen Rausch, all work with the Telephone Pioneers of America. The Pioneers organization is made up of retired telephone company workers who are involved in all sorts of good works around the Oshkosh area.
At AirVenture they raise funds for their work by manning the "Programs Sold Here" booths around the grounds. When we spoke to them, Mom and Dad were selling from booths, while Terri walked around AeroShell Plaza hawking programs. Funds from these sales go to support the Pioneers' other activities.
Some of the Telephone Pioneer's other activities include Little Bears, a program to support and comfort child victims who have to testify in court, and also to various roadside cleanup projects.
For most of us, flying to Oshkosh once a year is the longest flight we'll ever attempt. But Henri Chorosz would probably consider that just a local hop. You see Henri has made a specialty of doing extremely long, non-stop flights in his highly modified Glasair II FT-S.
As a child Henri was inspired by the transatlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh, so his first "long cross country" was a re-creation of that historic flight from New York to Paris. Since then he's made flights from New York to Cannes... Dakar to Lakeland, Florida... Hilo, Hawaii to Oshkosh.
Earlier this year Henri flew non-stop from Hilo to Lakeland, and he arrived here at AirVenture after a non-stop flight from Nome, Alaska.
Henri used to register his long flights as official World Records, but he's made so many of them now that he can no longer afford all the registration fees involved.
Although so far Henri's flights have never involved any serious mishaps, he does tell of numerous scares along the way. Enroute from Nome he encountered icing conditions. While descending out of the icing, the build-up on one of his three prop blades came off resulting in vibrations so severe that he feared that he had completely lost one of the blades. Fortunately the remaining blades soon cleared, and the vibration stopped.
Next spring Henri plans to fly non-stop from Hawaii to Bangor Maine. But his big upcoming flight is a round the world trip in late 2001 (not non-stop of course) where he plans to pass over both the North and South poles.
After the Polar flight Henri says he plans to stop for awhile. "At least that's what my wife would like," he says.
Henri's Glasair is parked on the grass just east of the archway near the control tower.
One of the less-visible, but very important parts of AirVenture is the judging of homebuilt and restored aircraft. The prop-card on many of the aircraft here contains a sticker indicating that the owner would like it to be evaluated by the teams of meticulous judges.
We visited some judges from the Ultralight division, following them as they considered some of the aircraft on display at the south end of the field.
Ultralight Division Judges Don Petzold, Todd Snyder, and Bob Barton examining an entry.
There are nine judges in the Ultralight division, plus a few others on hand as alternates in the event any of the nine become unavailable. There's very little turnover as most judges return each year. This year they judged 46 aircraft in 3 different categories: Flex-wing, Lightplane, and Ultralight.
The judges go out in teams of three to inspect each of the entries. They look over each plane in excruciating detail. It's a testament to the high quality of the aircraft here at AirVenture that even the slightest of defects will quickly eliminate an otherwise excellent aircraft from contention for an award.
A few examples of defects that will cost an aircraft points are scrapes and other hangar rash, dimpling and bumps in the skin, and misaligned parts.
Among the attributes that impress the judges are careful fit and finish, attention to detail in assembly, and modifications from the original design that enhance safety and/or appearance.
An example of the attention to detail required by an AirVenture award winner is the orientation of the nuts & bolts used on the aircraft. Unless there is some practical reason that prevents it, all bolts should be oriented so they point either down, back or toward the center.
Occasionally the judges find something they consider a safety issue. They report these to the Ultralight Safety Crew who will take the necessary actions.
AirVenture Judges are careful to look beyond the general appearance of the plane. "If you go by the paint and chrome you're dead," said judge Bob Barton. The attributes evaluated by the ultralight judges are: Appearance, Cockpit & Controls, Landing Gear, Wings, and Control Surfaces. Each aircraft is awarded points in each of these areas.
The judges work in teams of three, swarming over each entry, peering into every nook and cranny. Periodically during the judging process all nine judge will get together to make sure all planes are receiving complete consideration, but at these meetings they try not to influence each other's evaluations of the individual planes.
The Ultralight judges we visited with were Don Petzold, a second year judge and 10 year Oshkosh attendee, from Wisconsin Rapids. Don flies a T-Bird Single Seat. Todd Snyder has been a judge for seven years and coming to Oshkosh for 12 years. He's also from Wisconsin Rapids, and he flies a Titan Tornado One. And Bob Barton, from Schulenburg Texas, who's been a judge for 10 years and coming to AirVenture since 1987. Bob flies a Junior Ace homebuilt.
In the Homebuilt Café one evening after the airshow, a group of people sat, laughing, drinking pepsi and hangar flying.
"A couple of days before Father's Day," said one of the guys in the group, "I made a decision. I went to the local airport and got myself a demo flight."
"I went home and I said to my wife and kids. 'Don't buy me anything for Father's Day, I just bought myself a present. I'm learning how to fly."
Trish Dorlac has been a volunteer at AirVenture for 11 years. The youthful looking volunteer seems like she must have been 14 back when she started, but she says her husband brought her here back then. She started helping out with Vintage Flight Line Operations.
At first she performed administrative and support tasks like making sandwiches, but in her fourth year she headed out onto the field and began helping out directing airplanes to and from parking. She's been at that job ever since. Four years ago she became a Co-Chairman of Vintage Flight Line Ops.
In addition to working the line directing aircraft, she is involved with training and safety. As with other Flight Line groups here at AirVenture, all Vintage Flight Line workers are retrained every year. Trish says they trained approximately 200 volunteers for this year's fly-in.
Although Trish is not a pilot she helps out as a volunteer mechanic and would like to get more involved with maintenance and aircraft metalworking.
She says, part of the great appeal of working for Vintage Flight Line is the great sense of camaraderie on the team. Trish estimates at over 75% of the volunteers come back from year to year. They have regular yearly volunteers from as far away as Germany, Holland and Brazil. And all ages too, longtime volunteer Art Maynard is in his 90s and still helps out every year.
It's not the edge of the earth, but you can see it from there. Latecomers to AirVenture get to park in one of the special places at Oshkosh, the "South Forty".
Down beyond the tower, beyond the AeroShell Plaza, south of the Vintage Red Barn, past the Ultralight area, across the creek, then a little further, past the runway 36 numbers, that's where the South Forty is. It's quiet down there.
The Last Row of airplane parking at AirVenture 2000.
Bill Holbrook and Terri Haggard from Ardsmore, Oklahoma are parked in Row 144, not quite the "last row", which this year was Row 145. Bill and Terri are perfectly content in the South Forty. This is their second year to AirVenture. Last year they weren't able to land here at Wittman Field. The airport was full when they arrived so they landed at Fond Du Lac and shuttled the rest of the way to Oshkosh.
This year they arrived on Thursday, making the four hour flight in their Cessna 310. They flew here in loose formation with a friend in his Beech 18. The Beech got to park further north in the Vintage area, but they're just happy to be here.
Also arriving on Thursday was Patrick Doyle and Beth Godden in their Luscomb taildragger from Boulder, Colorado. They made the nine hour flight in one day. But they did have to stop for a few hours in Portage, with about 10 other Oshkosh bound planes. They were all waiting for the daily airshow here to end so they could all continue inbound. Patrick and Beth enjoyed the hangar flying in Portage, as well as the "friendly FBO and cheap gas, it was only $2.25," said Patrick.
Patrick is a 17 year pilot but only a second year AirVenture attendee. Beth is here for her first time.
A joke sign posted by EAA volunteers in the "South Forty".
"This whole camp under the wing thing is fun," she says. "But people do tease us down here. We're supposed to say we're parked in Chicago." She says she especially likes the Staggerwings, which she describes as "modern looking biplanes".
During Thursday night's rain showers we were talking to a couple of the EAA Security Staff while hiding out from the downpour in one of the new Forum buildings.
These blue-shirted folks are temporary employees of EAA brought in for the fly-in. They patrol the grounds doing things like keeping bicycles and mopeds off the Flight Line, and keeping the speed of authorized vehicles to under 10 mph.
"We started working a week ago Saturday," said one of the staffers. "We started with training and equipment preparation."
Another task of AirVenture Security is to assist attendees having medical problems. They help folks having existing medical problems as well as physical complaints caused by local conditions such as the heat. Depending on the nature of a medical situation, they'll call in either one of the AirVenture first-aid teams, or medical professionals from outside the convention grounds.
"There's a lot of ground to cover," he said. They'll often patrol their "beat" on a moped or other motor-vehicle, covering across the entire convention grounds.
Are we EAAers an unruly crowd? "Oh no. There's the occasional troublemaker, but EAA people are really well behaved. One problem that we have a lot of is that people don't know where the limits for bicycles is. So we spend a lot of time helping with that."
Roland Starke is an electrical engineer from Caracas Venezuela. He came to Oshkosh this year via airliners to Milwaukee and then Greyhound bus. In Caracas he flies out of Aeropuerto Metroplitano.
Roland arrived at AirVenture on the Saturday before the fly-in started and is staying in Camp Scholler. He'll be here until it's all over on Tuesday. He describes AirVenture as "Exciting, the greatest get-together I've ever seen."
Doug Latham and his Dad Chester arrived Thursday in their Stinson 108. Doug has only been flying for eight months, his Dad for 20+ years, but this is the first AirVenture for both of them.
Doug describes it all as "mind boggling". He especially likes seeing all the "old planes".
They made the 10 hour flight here from their home base in Dalhant, Texas. They were pleasantly surprised to meet people here at AirVenture who have visited their field to enjoy the airport café. The café is an old-fashioned lunch counter with chrome fixtures and great chocolate shakes.
Phil Steiner has been coming to Oshkosh for 25 years. He learned to fly just after WWII in J3 Cubs. He flew for the Air Force before joining Capitol Airlines, which later became part of United. He retired from United 12 years ago, and now flies around the country in his beautiful Cessna 180.
This year he arrived on Thursday after spending the past month on an airport-hopping vacation trip with his wife. Immediately before Oshkosh Phil and his wife attended the 180/185 convention at Pagosa Springs County Airport where about 120 planes gathered for the festivities.
After Pagosa, Phil's wife hopped on an airliner to return to their home in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Phil headed to AirVenture for the big finish of his vacation.
Over the few years that I've been writing this column I've met a lot of interesting people here at AirVenture. This year was no exception. There was the man with 15 airplanes, the guy with the weed whacker, the Aussie with all the pins, the Ultralight Rooster, the Boys from Dodge, the rubber chicken guy, the "Metro Warbirds", all the non-flying Oshkosh residents who come out to volunteer at the fly-in, the guys from Flabob, the visitors from other countries, all the great volunteers, the families.
So many interesting people, and yet each year as I wrap up these columns I always feel like I've missed things. What's the old line? "There are a million stories in the naked city." Well that's true here at AirVenture too. So many interesting people, so little time. I can't wait until next year when I hear someone say, "Welcome to Oshkosh."
— ATF