Oshkosh Notes
1. Alodine: Talked with 4 paint suppliers. All agreed that aluminum surfaces should have alodine treatment prior to painting and predicted peeling of exterior surfaces if not treated. Three of them agreed that the chromates could be toxic and said you wouldn?t want it to get into your water supply. The fourth thought it was too dilute to worry about. I am concerned because we are in a rural area and on a well and septic system and alodine gets rinsed off after treatment. However, the Dupont guy suggested there was another non-toxic product carried by ACS. Turns out ACS carries PreKote, which I had read about but forgotten. Non toxic, used by the USAF and Boeing. Good enough for Boeing and the USAF, it?s good enough for me. Cost is about $46 per gallon, vs. $17 for alodine but that?s a small price to protect the environment & our well water.
2. Dynon. Talked with Mr. Dynon himself (well, the guy who owns the company but I didn?t get his name). Autopilot is late, but should be available in a few months. Several other products in the pipeline. For my X/C daytime VFR flying, all I would need beyond a Dynon is a transponder, AOA and backup mag compass & altimeter. See below for airspeed backup.
3. Dynon doesn?t offer Oshkosh discounts. Mr. Dynon says they already try to keep their prices as low as possible.
4. AOA: Going with AFS?. Will use AOA for backup airspeed if Dynon fails. Need to wire thru essential bus. If power fails, Dynon battery will keep it going. If Dynon fails, AOA should still work.
5. Although several radios have useful intercoms, none would provide music mute when AOA warning comes on as none provided enough aux inputs. Need separate intercom for that. Tried several intercoms. Sigtronics seemed sick. Flightcom was clearly better. PS Engineering 3000 (street price about $419) was about the same or slightly better than the Flightcom, but the PS sales guy had an MP3 player he hooked up so I could listen to music and see how it muted when I spoke. Worked great, but who wants to mute Johnny Cash? Don?t remember if coming Dynon unit will mute for AOA warning. Oops! Did I just drop a hint?
6. Lots & lots of RV?s. 300-400? Many left on Thursday before the T-storms arrived.
7. Transponder: From Stein: The Garmin 327, when a needed adapter (or some other gadget which I don?t remember) is added so it will talk to the Dynon, costs almost the same as the 330, which doesn?t need the gadget, so buy the cooler looking 330 instead.
8. Grand Rapids folks had a good point about not having an autopilot as part of their EFIS: If you fly IFR and your horizon fails in the soup, you have no cross check. With a separate autopilot, you have a backup & cross reference if one should fail. Not a concern for me, as I am strictly VFR.
9. Engines: Neither Barrett (who folks on the VAF forums speak highly of) and GN (or was it G & N) impressed me. Both badmouthed ECI for reasons that weren?t convincing. Reminded me of the Superior folks who tried to sell me their 360 because they didn?t have a 320 at the time?not really looking out for my interest; just trying to make a sale. These guys don?t carry ECI. Maybe they really have valid reasons, maybe they just want to make a sale. My limited character judgment skills make me suspicious. Will go with Bob Honig from Eagle (Google American Propeller) in Redding California or with Bart of Aerosport, both of whom who seem to be straight shooters. Side note: I presented my $6 cash to Sue of Aerosport for a tee shirt, just mentioning that I would offer it as a raffle prize at our monthly chapter meeting & she wouldn?t take my money; said to take the shirt as a donation to the chapter. Nice!
10. Emag/Pmag guys seemed straightforward. Haven?t checked their website but Bart says that all the problems the Emag/Pmag guys have had are posted on their website along with how they fixed them. Those are the kind of folks I like to deal with. Hopefully all the problems will be ironed out before I need an engine.
11. Bud Davisson?s forums are entertaining as well as informative. You have read many of his articles; attend his forums if you get the chance.
12. Antique/classic area was HUGE. About .75 mile from north to south, maybe 1/3 mile east west at the widest. Almost a 2 mile walk from north side of RV parking to south end of antique/classic.
13. An RV-7 I saw incorporated an aluminum console between the seats, maybe 3-4? wide. People entering the cockpit are asked to step on the console, then onto the floor with their other foot, thus protecting the seats from footprints and associated dirt. The lid of the console is hinged to open it up for storage. Pretty neat idea.
14. Icom A-210 does look pretty good & they say it has a real intercom. Stores 200 freqs in blocks of ten. When I talked to RV drivers at Arlington, none said they actually stored more than about 8 freqs, so I am not sure the 200 would be useful. Price will be about the same as the X-com I was considering.
15. Staying in the dorms was OK, but you need to run over to Walmart or Target & buy a fan. A 16" X 16" box fan cost me $9. Some nights were pretty warm. Upper floors have poor ventilation. First floor they can open doors on the ends of the building, so the halls get ventilated. In our building, the men's restroom & showers were on the 1st & 3rd. floors, women's on the 2nd & 4th. Dinner at the Blackwood Center was all you can eat, usually good food, buffet, $12, breakfast $8. Or eat at the student union where breakfast cost me about $5. Buses run to the dorms until 10 pm. If staying more than 5 days, buy a bus pass good for the whole time for $20; otherwise the bus costs $5 per day, round trip. Parking at the fly-in was $7 per day, so the bus is a good deal. They run frequently. Buses for the rest of town stop running at 6:15 pm. It looked like they had plenty of room in the dorms, so if you arrive without housing arrangements or if your camp gets washed out, you can probably get a last minute room in the dorms. There are computers you can use in the student union, but you may have to wait your turn. There is WIFI access in the student union.
16. If arriving in a spamcan, you better plan on arriving early. It looked like spamcan parking was full when I arrived a day before the show opened. Showplanes, (homebuilts, antiques, etc.) may thin out early depending on weather forecasts. About a third or more of them left by Thursday.
All in all, it was a great show. Oshkosh is listed in a book, "1000 Places to See Before You Die" and deserves that listing. If you haven't been to Oshkosh, go!
1. Alodine: Talked with 4 paint suppliers. All agreed that aluminum surfaces should have alodine treatment prior to painting and predicted peeling of exterior surfaces if not treated. Three of them agreed that the chromates could be toxic and said you wouldn?t want it to get into your water supply. The fourth thought it was too dilute to worry about. I am concerned because we are in a rural area and on a well and septic system and alodine gets rinsed off after treatment. However, the Dupont guy suggested there was another non-toxic product carried by ACS. Turns out ACS carries PreKote, which I had read about but forgotten. Non toxic, used by the USAF and Boeing. Good enough for Boeing and the USAF, it?s good enough for me. Cost is about $46 per gallon, vs. $17 for alodine but that?s a small price to protect the environment & our well water.
2. Dynon. Talked with Mr. Dynon himself (well, the guy who owns the company but I didn?t get his name). Autopilot is late, but should be available in a few months. Several other products in the pipeline. For my X/C daytime VFR flying, all I would need beyond a Dynon is a transponder, AOA and backup mag compass & altimeter. See below for airspeed backup.
3. Dynon doesn?t offer Oshkosh discounts. Mr. Dynon says they already try to keep their prices as low as possible.
4. AOA: Going with AFS?. Will use AOA for backup airspeed if Dynon fails. Need to wire thru essential bus. If power fails, Dynon battery will keep it going. If Dynon fails, AOA should still work.
5. Although several radios have useful intercoms, none would provide music mute when AOA warning comes on as none provided enough aux inputs. Need separate intercom for that. Tried several intercoms. Sigtronics seemed sick. Flightcom was clearly better. PS Engineering 3000 (street price about $419) was about the same or slightly better than the Flightcom, but the PS sales guy had an MP3 player he hooked up so I could listen to music and see how it muted when I spoke. Worked great, but who wants to mute Johnny Cash? Don?t remember if coming Dynon unit will mute for AOA warning. Oops! Did I just drop a hint?
6. Lots & lots of RV?s. 300-400? Many left on Thursday before the T-storms arrived.
7. Transponder: From Stein: The Garmin 327, when a needed adapter (or some other gadget which I don?t remember) is added so it will talk to the Dynon, costs almost the same as the 330, which doesn?t need the gadget, so buy the cooler looking 330 instead.
8. Grand Rapids folks had a good point about not having an autopilot as part of their EFIS: If you fly IFR and your horizon fails in the soup, you have no cross check. With a separate autopilot, you have a backup & cross reference if one should fail. Not a concern for me, as I am strictly VFR.
9. Engines: Neither Barrett (who folks on the VAF forums speak highly of) and GN (or was it G & N) impressed me. Both badmouthed ECI for reasons that weren?t convincing. Reminded me of the Superior folks who tried to sell me their 360 because they didn?t have a 320 at the time?not really looking out for my interest; just trying to make a sale. These guys don?t carry ECI. Maybe they really have valid reasons, maybe they just want to make a sale. My limited character judgment skills make me suspicious. Will go with Bob Honig from Eagle (Google American Propeller) in Redding California or with Bart of Aerosport, both of whom who seem to be straight shooters. Side note: I presented my $6 cash to Sue of Aerosport for a tee shirt, just mentioning that I would offer it as a raffle prize at our monthly chapter meeting & she wouldn?t take my money; said to take the shirt as a donation to the chapter. Nice!
10. Emag/Pmag guys seemed straightforward. Haven?t checked their website but Bart says that all the problems the Emag/Pmag guys have had are posted on their website along with how they fixed them. Those are the kind of folks I like to deal with. Hopefully all the problems will be ironed out before I need an engine.
11. Bud Davisson?s forums are entertaining as well as informative. You have read many of his articles; attend his forums if you get the chance.
12. Antique/classic area was HUGE. About .75 mile from north to south, maybe 1/3 mile east west at the widest. Almost a 2 mile walk from north side of RV parking to south end of antique/classic.
13. An RV-7 I saw incorporated an aluminum console between the seats, maybe 3-4? wide. People entering the cockpit are asked to step on the console, then onto the floor with their other foot, thus protecting the seats from footprints and associated dirt. The lid of the console is hinged to open it up for storage. Pretty neat idea.
14. Icom A-210 does look pretty good & they say it has a real intercom. Stores 200 freqs in blocks of ten. When I talked to RV drivers at Arlington, none said they actually stored more than about 8 freqs, so I am not sure the 200 would be useful. Price will be about the same as the X-com I was considering.
15. Staying in the dorms was OK, but you need to run over to Walmart or Target & buy a fan. A 16" X 16" box fan cost me $9. Some nights were pretty warm. Upper floors have poor ventilation. First floor they can open doors on the ends of the building, so the halls get ventilated. In our building, the men's restroom & showers were on the 1st & 3rd. floors, women's on the 2nd & 4th. Dinner at the Blackwood Center was all you can eat, usually good food, buffet, $12, breakfast $8. Or eat at the student union where breakfast cost me about $5. Buses run to the dorms until 10 pm. If staying more than 5 days, buy a bus pass good for the whole time for $20; otherwise the bus costs $5 per day, round trip. Parking at the fly-in was $7 per day, so the bus is a good deal. They run frequently. Buses for the rest of town stop running at 6:15 pm. It looked like they had plenty of room in the dorms, so if you arrive without housing arrangements or if your camp gets washed out, you can probably get a last minute room in the dorms. There are computers you can use in the student union, but you may have to wait your turn. There is WIFI access in the student union.
16. If arriving in a spamcan, you better plan on arriving early. It looked like spamcan parking was full when I arrived a day before the show opened. Showplanes, (homebuilts, antiques, etc.) may thin out early depending on weather forecasts. About a third or more of them left by Thursday.
All in all, it was a great show. Oshkosh is listed in a book, "1000 Places to See Before You Die" and deserves that listing. If you haven't been to Oshkosh, go!
