Another day in Oshkosh! I’ll keep my blog posting brief, because my spare time in the evenings is extremely limited. Additionally, the EAA internet has proven to be extremely overloaded, and times out on me every few minutes.
Today our small group composed of myself, my Dad, Jake, Bob and Brent decided to individually split up for the morning, and rejoin later in the afternoon. Bob thoughtfully packed four of his handheld radios, and we have pre-arranged times to tune in and communicate. I wish that I, too, had possessed the foresight to bring my own radios. It’s proven extremely useful in locating one another across this massive airport and grounds. Not only are there thousands of aircraft crews to deal with, but there are several thousand additional drive-in visitors who either come from the area or decided to fly into a nearby airport and then drive the rest of the way into Oshkosh. It makes me realize how lucky we were in coming in on Sunday, for other Oshkosh pilots have had in the past been forced to circuit for over an hour just to get into the approach.
Today we primarily took the time to walk the static displays. We did a brief tour of the ultralights and helicopters before viewing the vintage area, warbirds and homebuilts. I am sure that we missed several areas, but we nevertheless covered a fair bit of ground. Many of the aircraft, particularly the warbirds, are in the air during the day, while the RVs have formed into clubs and took to the skies today in impressive formations. We also didn’t attend any of the forums today, although we caught the end of a presentation by World War II ace “Bud” Anderson. Anderson has over 40 victories from the European theatre, and is the close friend of Bob Hoover and Chuck Yeager. I was pleasantly surprised to see him still fairly sprite, although he suffers from a great loss of hearing.
My Dad and Jake also got Bud Anderson’s autograph this afternoon at the EAA warehouse. While I would have liked to have been there, the Airbus 380 was unfortunately scheduled to land at exactly the same time. I have always been most attracted to modern technology, and witnessing the world’s largest airliner splash down in Oshkosh was an interesting spectacle. The fuselage of the A380 is so large, it looks almost impossible that it could actually fly. Everything is on a gigantic scale: the engines, the canopy, and the tail, which is actually higher on the ground than Oshkosh tower. The only aspects of the Airbus which appears unrealistically small are the wings. Nevertheless, the A380 receives enough lift to be able to fly at only 100 knots; it’s an incredible sight to see this jet basically sit in the air with barely any airspeed. After touching down on the runway, the A380 was moved right into Aeroshell square, and will be open tomorrow for tours. Until then, the public is free to go right up to the airliner on the ground, and I have taken a few very cool pictures. My Dad and Jake aren’t very impressed by the Airbus, however; both of them prefer the more classic lines of the warbirds.
The airshow today was able to offer a complete performance due to the clear skies. As I mentioned yesterday, there are no jet aerobatic teams such as the Blue Angels, Thunderbirds or Snow Birds present at Oshkosh, but there is nevertheless an impressive presence of civilian aerobatic aircraft. Three performers had an absolutely amazing stunt routine, performing manoeuvres that I had never imagined possible. All three of them could “hang” on their propellers, and perform awing “flip” recoveries from stalls. Not to be outdone, the world’s only civilian aerobatic helicopter put on an equally impressive performance that can only be matched by certain military helicopter. Have you ever seen a helicopter fly upside-down, directly vertical or perform loops? In order for a helicopter to be able to perform aerobatics, it must have titanium-enforced rotor blades. I doubt that I will ever witness a similar performance again.
The airshow today finished just after 5pm with a “warbird extravaganza.” By that the Oshkosh organizers tried to fly as many warbirds as possible in close formation and group aerobatic routines. As a result, there were over 60 aircraft in the air at one point, creating an awesome display of power reminiscent of the days of World War II, when thousands of these aircraft would buzz the skies.
We finished the night by having the dinner buffet at the Hilton hotel; we have had the same waitress three times in a row now, and she has quickly learned to recognize us! I usually have a hard time memorizing names, but I can’t forget Laura. We’re in Wisconsin, so from reading the Little House in the Prairies books when I was 5 and 6, the name Laura has for me become synonymous with Wisconsin!
We ended the evening by attending two different presentations at the Theatre in the Woods tonight. The first event was a movie about bush flying in Africa. It detailed how small government aircraft are flown from remote locations to monitor poaching and wildlife habitat in the African safari. The movie was followed up by a more interesting presentation by the designers behind the experimental White Knight 2. Burt Rutan seems to hold a celebrity status here in Oshkosh for his countless experimental aircraft designs spanning several decades, and although he was not the main designer of White Knight 2, it was his company that is building and testing the SpaceShip project funded by Paul Allen and two other investors.
It has been a very interesting day here in Oshkosh. Nevertheless, while we covered a lot of ground today, there are still acres of unexplored territory which we have yet to explore in the coming days. Tomorrow we hope to be able to visit the EAA museum. No complaints whatsoever about our stay so far; although we are camping, we may as well be staying at the hotel considering the number of amenities available to us! The buffets in particular have proven instrumental in keeping up our good health throughout the miles of walking. ;) Good night from Oshkosh!
No comments:
Post a Comment