Capflyer
Well Known Member
Home today from another awesome week of AirVenture. This was my 14th year in a row and I don't see an end in sight. Every year I stay with a large group of mostly spam cans in the North 40. We have a whole infrustructure with three meals a day, beer on tap along with other libations, a large 20x30 party tent, and a storage bin to keep my OSH stuff in from year to year. The group has been around for a long time and over the years made many contacts from EAA. This year one of the guys had befriended a controller, Brian, a few months ago in Dallas who we met up with on his third year working Oshkosh. Great guy and brought a lot of insight to questions we all probably have thought about. First off, the controllers LOVE RV's. In fact so much that this year their Pink Shirts had this logo on them
Brian was an awesome guy who also has a pilots licence. We talked a little about the Fiske arrival and he said the controllers can't understand why it is so hard for people to follow the tracks. I offered him a ride the next morning to fly the Fiske arrival which he jumped at. We took off around 0830 for some fun RV stuff then I let him hand fly the approach. He was surprised the RV handled so well at 90kts and also found out that it is difficult to see not only the tracks on some sections but also actually seeing the Fiske controller's location. He also asked my opinion why some RV's find it necessary to fly the high approach. Brian fouind the whole approach eye opening from a pilot's perspective.
He offered us a tower tour which we jumped at. I was up in the tower when the 30 ship took off and did their fly-over. Very impressive to see everything from that vantage point. One of the other controllers saw my VAF hat and we struck up a converstaion. He is looking for an RV4. After we talked he came back and handed me their official patch for this year
So next year when you have a chance to meet up with any of the Pink Shirts take advantage of getting to know them. They love being there and love interacting with everyone attending.
Brian was an awesome guy who also has a pilots licence. We talked a little about the Fiske arrival and he said the controllers can't understand why it is so hard for people to follow the tracks. I offered him a ride the next morning to fly the Fiske arrival which he jumped at. We took off around 0830 for some fun RV stuff then I let him hand fly the approach. He was surprised the RV handled so well at 90kts and also found out that it is difficult to see not only the tracks on some sections but also actually seeing the Fiske controller's location. He also asked my opinion why some RV's find it necessary to fly the high approach. Brian fouind the whole approach eye opening from a pilot's perspective.
He offered us a tower tour which we jumped at. I was up in the tower when the 30 ship took off and did their fly-over. Very impressive to see everything from that vantage point. One of the other controllers saw my VAF hat and we struck up a converstaion. He is looking for an RV4. After we talked he came back and handed me their official patch for this year
So next year when you have a chance to meet up with any of the Pink Shirts take advantage of getting to know them. They love being there and love interacting with everyone attending.