Every time I trek to Wisconsin in July, I seem to have a different kind of experience. My first trips wee about shopping ? buying things for the airplane, trying out panel stuff, seeing all the vendors and walking away with thirty pounds of AN hardware.
In later years, once I was flying that plane, it was about meeting people I had met on the internet, trading stories, and wandering around airplanes. It?s fun to watch aircraft movements, but I never paid much attention to the air show. Lots of snooping around the vendors again ? most of whom I have worked with, and a few new ones with good ideas. The feet get tied early in the week when you try and cover the entire Airventure grounds numerous times!
In all of these early years, I had stayed with buddies in Scholler for a night or two, or with Louise at the hotel in Appleton. She?s a camper, of course, but her work requires her to stay with the gang up there. This year, with no ongoing projects, and two airplanes from our hangar, it was easy to carry camping gear, so I decided to set up in HBC and see what it was like to live ?on the grounds? for days on end.
So this year, in the final analysis, I actually seemed to attend a ?fly in?. Oshkosh has always been a show that I attended ? wither by airplane or car. This year, it was an event where I embedded myself with other pilots who flew in and lived by their airplanes. Most of my time (when I wasn?t working RV-1 events in the first few days) was spent in HBC, HBP, or walking down to the far end of ultra lights for breakfast. I realized the difference later in the week when I felt ?funny? going to the vendor buildings ? it almost seemed like I couldn?t wait to get back from the trade show, back to the quiet, slower pace of just standing and talking with the next person who came along.
I wrote a couple of years ago how Oshkosh had become about the people. This year, it was about living there ? with the people, with the airplanes. It was a more personal experience, less about the hoopla of the ?State Fair?. I never thought I could experience the ?Big Show? as a fly-in ? thought that was long gone. But it really is still there. I must admit, I spent the last few nights at the hotel, but that was mostly due to evening events up there I wanted to attend. Ten days on the grounds might be a little long, and frankly, it gets a little sad by Thursday, as massive holes appear in the ranks of airplanes ? it is no longer a fly-in as much as it is an air show for the locals.
I liked being at a fly-in, and I think I will experience it that way again. The Scholler experience is almost a bit frenetic for me ? lots of people crammed into a small (OK, it?s huge!) space ? a dense tent city. HBC is wide open, people separated by the spans of their wings at the very least. It?s quiet at night and even the early morning. It just seemed to be less ?rushed?. It?s hard for me to slow down, but here, it seems, I almost could.
In later years, once I was flying that plane, it was about meeting people I had met on the internet, trading stories, and wandering around airplanes. It?s fun to watch aircraft movements, but I never paid much attention to the air show. Lots of snooping around the vendors again ? most of whom I have worked with, and a few new ones with good ideas. The feet get tied early in the week when you try and cover the entire Airventure grounds numerous times!
In all of these early years, I had stayed with buddies in Scholler for a night or two, or with Louise at the hotel in Appleton. She?s a camper, of course, but her work requires her to stay with the gang up there. This year, with no ongoing projects, and two airplanes from our hangar, it was easy to carry camping gear, so I decided to set up in HBC and see what it was like to live ?on the grounds? for days on end.
So this year, in the final analysis, I actually seemed to attend a ?fly in?. Oshkosh has always been a show that I attended ? wither by airplane or car. This year, it was an event where I embedded myself with other pilots who flew in and lived by their airplanes. Most of my time (when I wasn?t working RV-1 events in the first few days) was spent in HBC, HBP, or walking down to the far end of ultra lights for breakfast. I realized the difference later in the week when I felt ?funny? going to the vendor buildings ? it almost seemed like I couldn?t wait to get back from the trade show, back to the quiet, slower pace of just standing and talking with the next person who came along.
I wrote a couple of years ago how Oshkosh had become about the people. This year, it was about living there ? with the people, with the airplanes. It was a more personal experience, less about the hoopla of the ?State Fair?. I never thought I could experience the ?Big Show? as a fly-in ? thought that was long gone. But it really is still there. I must admit, I spent the last few nights at the hotel, but that was mostly due to evening events up there I wanted to attend. Ten days on the grounds might be a little long, and frankly, it gets a little sad by Thursday, as massive holes appear in the ranks of airplanes ? it is no longer a fly-in as much as it is an air show for the locals.
I liked being at a fly-in, and I think I will experience it that way again. The Scholler experience is almost a bit frenetic for me ? lots of people crammed into a small (OK, it?s huge!) space ? a dense tent city. HBC is wide open, people separated by the spans of their wings at the very least. It?s quiet at night and even the early morning. It just seemed to be less ?rushed?. It?s hard for me to slow down, but here, it seems, I almost could.
