OSH’24 Field Reports (PIREPs / News / Pics .... post your OSH reports here!)

[chrispratt]

THE OSHKOSH SPIRIT

Traveled to Oshkosh in my RV-8 with my brother Mike for the first time in three years. This was my tenth Airventure flying-in over a span of 19 years operating my RV-8 and the first time I encountered a few “issues” with the plane.

Early morning departure from my home field at Aero Valley (52F) was smooth with ceilings about 5,500 ft. for the first leg to SkyHaven (KRMC) about halfway to KOSH.

On the way to Skyhaven at 176 knots ground speed

All the numbers look good

Ceiling 5,500 ft

The second leg was intended to be direct to Oshkosh and we were on pace to beat the 1:00 p.m. mass arrival of Bonanzas when I changed channel on my old Garmin GNC 250XL and the mechanical tuning knob just spun and spun. Not being able to change frequencies was not going to work for the Fisk arrival.

So a detour to non-controlled Iowa City Airport (KIOW) in the hope of finding someone there with the very small Allen wrench I needed to fix the radio knob. Probably the smallest Allen wrench size there is.

Iowa City Airport FBO

I kept remembering what I used to tell others, “Don’t worry. It’s Oshkosh, it will all work out.” Sure enough the young man on duty at the front desk and the one in the back office scrounged the maintenance boxes and voila – a tiny Allen wrench. The fix was done and onward. Thank you, Iowa City Airport. (Note: small Allen wrench is the next purchase for my trip emergency kit.)

On the ramp at Iowa City Airport

Now, we had just missed the window before a mass arrival – the “conga line” into KOSH filled the entire screen of my Aera 660. So another divert to Baraboo, The Dells (KDLL) for fuel. The FBO was providing a free lunch so’s all is good. Nice, friendly place that I’ll plan to visit again.

The Green Lake Arrival was being used and now that the Bonanzas had landed, the arrival was one of the least stressful I can remember. Runway 27, Green Dot, and park in row 357 right near Homebuilders Headquarters. Perfect.

I spent much of the show relaxing in a comfy lawn chair provided by brother Mike (see pic of Mike demonstrating the chair) next to my RV and chatting with people who had questions about their own RV-8 build. Frankly, I love this more than the events at the show.

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These air shows are intense


My view of the flightline

[url=https://chrispratt.smugmug.com/VAF-Postings/i-2cbnbNj/A][/url]
And another view


It’s a tradition to visit the Sisters of the Sacred Heart concession stand – I recommend the brats

Visitors from Argentina, France, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa stopped by including two (they came at separate times) who were 6’ 4” and wanted to know if they would fit in an RV-8. So I told them to “get in” and try it. Definitely not going to fit in my RV-8, designed for my 5’ 9” frame and I told them to order the tall man seat option and to tell the interior maker their height so the cushion would be accordingly. They were really grateful for the demo.

Not any breakthrough RV-related events at the show, but just had to go slightly off script here to show a pic of the amazing P-38 two-thirds replica displayed near the Brown Arch. Incredible. An RV build is a piece-of-cake by comparison.


Can you imagine building this 2/3 scale flyable P-38? I could’ve built 4 RVs during that time.

Homeward bound on Thursday. Taxied out to Runway 18 which made it the quickest I have ever gotten out of Oshkosh. Between startup and takeoff was maybe ten minutes tops. Sweet.


Nice weather departing KOSH


Homeward bound with my brother Mike in back

My second issue for the trip was a mechanical challenge landing back at RCMP. I had replaced the tail wheel locking pin and spring before departing to Oshkosh. No problem on the four landings up to KOSH but the return landing at KRCM the pin would not engage and tailwheel free-castoring on touchdown at landing. That will get your attention. Again, the Oshkosh spirit came through and the folks at the FBO for University of Central Missouri helped with some tools, supplies and transport that got me back in the air quickly. Further analysis to follow.


Home again at 52F, safe and sound. Great trip. Wonderful people. Magic machine.


Time to relax with my new friend made during the trip . Till next year. Cheers.

Chris

 

[Bruce]

THE OSHKOSH SPIRIT

Traveled to Oshkosh in my RV-8 with my brother Mike for the first time in three years. This was my tenth Airventure flying-in over a span of 19 years operating my RV-8 and the first time I encountered a few “issues” with the plane.

Early morning departure from my home field at Aero Valley (52F) was smooth with ceilings about 5,500 ft. for the first leg to SkyHaven (KRMC) about halfway to KOSH.

On the way to Skyhaven at 176 knots ground speed

All the numbers look good

Ceiling 5,500 ft

The second leg was intended to be direct to Oshkosh and we were on pace to beat the 1:00 p.m. mass arrival of Bonanzas when I changed channel on my old Garmin GNC 250XL and the mechanical tuning knob just spun and spun. Not being able to change frequencies was not going to work for the Fisk arrival.

So a detour to non-controlled Iowa City Airport (KIOW) in the hope of finding someone there with the very small Allen wrench I needed to fix the radio knob. Probably the smallest Allen wrench size there is.

Iowa City Airport FBO

I kept remembering what I used to tell others, “Don’t worry. It’s Oshkosh, it will all work out.” Sure enough the young man on duty at the front desk and the one in the back office scrounged the maintenance boxes and voila – a tiny Allen wrench. The fix was done and onward. Thank you, Iowa City Airport. (Note: small Allen wrench is the next purchase for my trip emergency kit.)

On the ramp at Iowa City Airport

Now, we had just missed the window before a mass arrival – the “conga line” into KOSH filled the entire screen of my Aera 660. So another divert to Baraboo, The Dells (KDLL) for fuel. The FBO was providing a free lunch so’s all is good. Nice, friendly place that I’ll plan to visit again.

The Green Lake Arrival was being used and now that the Bonanzas had landed, the arrival was one of the least stressful I can remember. Runway 27, Green Dot, and park in row 357 right near Homebuilders Headquarters. Perfect.

I spent much of the show relaxing in a comfy lawn chair provided by brother Mike (see pic of Mike demonstrating the chair) next to my RV and chatting with people who had questions about their own RV-8 build. Frankly, I love this more than the events at the show.

[/url]
These air shows are intense


My view of the flightline

[url=https://chrispratt.smugmug.com/VAF-Postings/i-2cbnbNj/A][/url]
And another view


It’s a tradition to visit the Sisters of the Sacred Heart concession stand – I recommend the brats

Visitors from Argentina, France, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa stopped by including two (they came at separate times) who were 6’ 4” and wanted to know if they would fit in an RV-8. So I told them to “get in” and try it. Definitely not going to fit in my RV-8, designed for my 5’ 9” frame and I told them to order the tall man seat option and to tell the interior maker their height so the cushion would be accordingly. They were really grateful for the demo.

Not any breakthrough RV-related events at the show, but just had to go slightly off script here to show a pic of the amazing P-38 two-thirds replica displayed near the Brown Arch. Incredible. An RV build is a piece-of-cake by comparison.


Can you imagine building this 2/3 scale flyable P-38? I could’ve built 4 RVs during that time.

Homeward bound on Thursday. Taxied out to Runway 18 which made it the quickest I have ever gotten out of Oshkosh. Between startup and takeoff was maybe ten minutes tops. Sweet.


Nice weather departing KOSH


Homeward bound with my brother Mike in back

My second issue for the trip was a mechanical challenge landing back at RCMP. I had replaced the tail wheel locking pin and spring before departing to Oshkosh. No problem on the four landings up to KOSH but the return landing at KRCM the pin would not engage and tailwheel free-castoring on touchdown at landing. That will get your attention. Again, the Oshkosh spirit came through and the folks at the FBO for University of Central Missouri helped with some tools, supplies and transport that got me back in the air quickly. Further analysis to follow.


Home again at 52F, safe and sound. Great trip. Wonderful people. Magic machine.


Time to relax with my new friend made during the trip . Till next year. Cheers.

Chris

Nice write up

 

[cacflyer]

Really nice weather this year. I attended numerous forums, the Vans and the HB banquets. I arrived Thursday before OSH week, earliest ever for me to not repeat last year’s Sunday arrival chaos. I think the best part is the friends made and reunited with during the week. After 8 nights in the tent, I departed Friday around 10:30 ish for the return to Columbus Ga. Somewhere just south of Terre Haute IN visibility got uncomfortable so I diverted to Terre Haute. What a great airport and friendly people. I met a gentleman named Jim at the airport who as very interested in my RV8, asking all sorts of questions. Jim is in the market for a RV9A, and was at OSH earlier in the week visiting a friend with a RV14A. Jim showed me a pic of his friends plane in HBC, and well, it was parked one plane away from mine! I overnighted in Terre Haute and departed the next day arriving in Columbus safe and sound.

 

[swjohnsey]

For those who leave early, there are no flagmen (oops, flagpersons) on duty until 7 AM, You have to find your on way to the end of the active runway of your choice from the ATIS.

 

[chrispratt]

Nice write up

Thank you.

 

[graywoodworking]

Really nice weather this year. I attended numerous forums, the Vans and the HB banquets. I arrived Thursday before OSH week, earliest ever for me to not repeat last year’s Sunday arrival chaos. I think the best part is the friends made and reunited with during the week. After 8 nights in the tent, I departed Friday around 10:30 ish for the return to Columbus Ga. Somewhere just south of Terre Haute IN visibility got uncomfortable so I diverted to Terre Haute. What a great airport and friendly people. I met a gentleman named Jim at the airport who as very interested in my RV8, asking all sorts of questions. Jim is in the market for a RV9A, and was at OSH earlier in the week visiting a friend with a RV14A. Jim showed me a pic of his friends plane in HBC, and well, it was parked one plane away from mine! I overnighted in Terre Haute and departed the next day arriving in Columbus safe and sound.

Hey, that was me in the RV-14A! N486LJ Jim texted me and said he met you at Terre Haute. Small world. Glad you made it home.

Larry

 

[rv8ch]

I spent much of the show relaxing in a comfy lawn chair provided by brother Mike (see pic of Mike demonstrating the chair) next to my RV and chatting with people who had questions about their own RV-8 build. Frankly, I love this more than the events at the show.

Hey Chris, you are doing a great service to the community by doing this. When I was building, these few minutes looking at an aircraft and talking to the builder were invaluable.

I'll be interested to read what you find on the tailwheel pin. I have had this happen, and would like to find a better solution than to take it apart, file it, and re-grease it every 10 hours.

 

[DanH]

Home Friday, good ride. Had a beer, went to bed at 6 PM, and slept through till morning

Usual suspects ganged up for victuals. Chef Figs is our fearless leader. The rest of us are mere sous. A few examples below. Wait until you see the Stack 'o Steaks. Who has that picture?





Really nice ring compressor in use at the Lycoming build seminar. Need to fire up the lathe. Not buying any Lycoming-branded tools (too pricey) but I can darn sure copy them.



I admit to some fascination with this new kit. It was right across from the Vans booth. Powered with a Verner radial. I heard Verner was going to introduce a larger sibling to the Scarlett 9S. How about a 2-place cross between a Gee Bee R1 and a Gee Bee Sportster?



Found a use for discarded laser cut parts...make furniture! This example seems to be made with old airline seat frames, but you get the idea.

 

[Ironflight]

Hey Dan, I got dibs on that red/black Speedster review….but when they told me they had just over six hours on it, and I asked how it flies, they said they didn’t know yet - it was all taxi time! I told them I’d love to fly it after they finish Phase 1 - its an awesome looking original design that probably will need a few adjustments here and there…..

 

[DanH]

Hey Dan, I got dibs on that red/black Speedster review….but when they told me they had just over six hours on it, and I asked how it flies, they said they didn’t know yet - it was all taxi time! I told them I’d love to fly it after they finish Phase 1 - its an awesome looking original design that probably will need a few adjustments here and there…..

I'm good with that. No disrespect to the designer, but I'd rather have your flight report.

BTW, did you sit in it? The standard seat is two inches too low for me. Even with your butt jacked up, it will be as blind as anything you've ever flown. Their test pilot is apparently a Super Cub guy, and the view makes him a bit nervous. Needs old J-3 guys like us

 

[Kyle Boatright]

BTW, did you sit in it? The standard seat is two inches too low for me. Even with your butt jacked up, it will be as blind as anything you've ever flown.

They are really pushing for that early 30’s racer look, which means a low pilot seat and a very low windscreen. Looks good, but from a practical perspective, it’s not very pilot friendly.

Has anyone flown their P-36 replica?

 

[chrispratt]

Hey Chris, you are doing a great service to the community by doing this. When I was building, these few minutes looking at an aircraft and talking to the builder were invaluable.

I'll be interested to read what you find on the tailwheel pin. I have had this happen, and would like to find a better solution than to take it apart, file it, and re-grease it every 10 hours.

I'll let you know on the tailwheel. I have some ideas but need to check with -8 veterans on the field. I'll let you know what I find.

Thanks for the post comment. The two 6' 4" guys were really excited to be able to sit in the RV and get my input. And the other visitors were just as pleasurable to talk to and share thoughts and experiences. In my mind, it's the real joy of building.

Chris

 

[Jerry Fischer]

Jay Pratt photograph of some guy named Paul
View attachment 66925

I think I know this guy, sure looks familiar...

 

[rocketman1988]

I sat in the speedster. I am 6’1” and 275 lbs. No problem sitting in it.

The seat pan in the display model will be raised 1 1/4” on the production models. I sat on the foam board to see where the new level would be and I thought the visibility would not really be an issue. Right down the center, maybe but you sit to the side as it’s a two seater. I also discussed adding doors to the sides to make ingress/egress a non issue. Nick said that was doable.

 

[DanH]

Has anyone flown their P-36 replica?

Scale Birds, different outfit.

 

[rocketman1988]

Scale Birds, different outfit.

Sat in that one, too. Once inside, it is huge!

 

[MIKE JG]

Anyone know if Jack is a member here and if not, the story behind his Subaru powered RV-8A. Stopped me dead in my tracks!

 

[thehagg501]

What does George think caused the UND problem?

He tested the fuel on an engine with 8.5 to 1 compression and 25 degrees of timing same as the UND engines and found there was predetonation occurring a higher rate then allowable.

Then he had the fuel analyzed and found chemicals "ETBE" that weren't supposed to be in the fuel that were causing the predetonation. Im not sure if 94UL is supposed to contain this or not. One of the Swift guys questioned where he got the fuel and George said at an airport that sold 94UL.

George did admit that it was probably due to a contamination by the blender facility.

This a very short version of what I took from the seminar, I wish I could compare notes with someone else that attended.

 

[DanH]

Minor point regarding terms. Two distinct combustion phenomena, detonation and preignition, are often conflated or confused. They are very different.

"Predetonation" would merely be normal combustion. The onset of detonation can be described as a spontaneous ignition of some part of the fuel/air mix out beyond the moving flame front, generally due to heating and pressure rise, following normal ignition. Detonation ranges from mild to severe. Mild doesn't hurt much, but does drive up CHT. That's why folks like George can steer their dyno engines in and out of detonation all day long to research onset based on octane, timing, compression, etc.

Preignition is a whole 'nother cat. It can be described just like it sounds...ignition by some source, typically something glowing hot, usually prior to the desired ignition point. Ignition early in the compression stroke drives cylinder pressures through the roof,

 

[PilotjohnS]

He tested the fuel on an engine with 8.5 to 1 compression and 25 degrees of timing same as the UND engines and found there was predetonation occurring a higher rate then allowable.

Then he had the fuel analyzed and found chemicals "ETBE" that weren't supposed to be in the fuel that were causing the predetonation. Im not sure if 94UL is supposed to contain this or not. One of the Swift guys questioned where he got the fuel and George said at an airport that sold 94UL.

George did admit that it was probably due to a contamination by the blender facility.

This a very short version of what I took from the seminar, I wish I could compare notes with someone else that attended.

So George took a sample of 94UL from a FBO. Had it analyzed and found octane was right about 95. ( along with some nasty things one doesn't want in a fuel) Ran it in his test Lycoming engine with 8.5:1 pistons, 25 BTDC timing (Lycoming recommended) and found pre ignition, or slight detonation) and a possible contributor to the UND valve recession problem.

I have a IO320 with 8.5 and 25 BTDC timing. I tried the UL94 from Red Hillview and the engine did not like it at all. During taxi, it was missing, and takeoff was lethargic. Never experienced this with 100LL. George's testing was consistent with my experience.
I think I will stay away from 94UL.
I am excited to try George's G100UL because i hear its octane rating can be well north of 100

 

[ronrapp]

BTW, did you sit in it? The standard seat is two inches too low for me. Even with your butt jacked up, it will be as blind as anything you've ever flown. Their test pilot is apparently a Super Cub guy, and the view makes him a bit nervous. Needs old J-3 guys like us

A mid-wing Extra 300 pilot would do the trick. Not much worse unless you start including things with periscopes that flew across the Atlantic a hundred years ago.

 

[rv8ch]

I tried the UL94 from Red Hillview and the engine did not like it at all.

Which manufacturer was this fuel from? I use UL91 from Total, and it works great in my aircraft. Only things I don't like about is that it's not as widely available as I would like, and it's much more expensive than mogas (about the same price as 100LL).

 

[thehagg501]

Here is the presentation

 

[Ironflight]

So more than a decade ago, when I moved out to Nevada and was answering lots of avionics questions for guys as a Tech Counselor, Stein threatened to give me the title “Steinair West”. At his Airventure BBQ on Thursday night, I won an “employee” shirt in the door prize drawing….think it was fixed?

 

[PilotjohnS]

Here is the presentation

Thanks for the video. It seems some charts were removed, like the one where he discusses the test of 94UL from a local distributor.

 

[thehagg501]

Thanks for the video. It seems some charts were removed, like the one where he discusses the test of 94UL from a local distributor.

I noticed that as well, some other "entertaining" portions were edited as well. I suppose George wanted to keep it classy.

 

[mikefox]

FWIW, our 912iS Rotax has run very nicely on 94UL(mostly) and 100LL. I’m leaning towards a 916iS in an RV-9A build too. Eventually, there will be a good 100UL for other engines. I’m wanting that to be sooner rather than later, so everyone can be confident and happy with a replacement for 100LL. Keep flying and enjoying your RV! My RV smile——- >