A380 and RV-8

Just got around to watching the Aviators DVD I picked up at Osh.
Test pilot for the Airbus A380 speaks about his ?other? airplane, an RV-8! Trying to describe the great handling and flying characteristics of the 380, says that once trimmed, the A380 is as light and as nimble as his RV.
Nice benchmark there, pal!

Opportunity Missed!

That Test Pilot was no doubt the very esteemed Terry Lutz, my esteemed dorm mate at the University of Michigan in 1967.

I was at Oshkosh for the 2009 appearance of the A380, and Terry parked his RV-8 Sweet Nancy Lynn under The Belly of the Beast (I think caps are appropriate in this case).

I missed a *wonderful* opportunity one day waiting in the line to tour the A380 when I looked up from studying my shuffling shoe tops. There was Van, camera to eye, snapping a pic of Terry's RV-8 in this once in a lifetime setting!

If you needed any proof that my 62 year old reflexes have gone and left me, there it is - I couldn't get my own camera unlimbered quickly enough to snap Van snapping Terry's bird.

So you'll just have to take my eyewitness testimony based on memory. Wait! What was I talking about, again?

What oldie wan (aka "Skinny"), my esteemed roomie from the University of Michigan, really means is that he is working his fingers to the bone on an RV4 project, so to him, walking slowly around AirVenture is like moving at half speed!