dirtstrip
Well-Known Member
Thanks to the site for sending the birthday greeting. Its been a long time since I posted here. I was done building my plane and it was painted a year ago. It was too late to make Oshkosh by then and probably those people weren't ready for me anyway so I gave them another year. I made it this time. After telling the story to my neighbors several times I was asked to write it up for the paper.
It was the first time ever that I flew in to Oshkosh. I flew it solo. They had received about eight inches of rain the week before the big airshow and the grounds were soggy. Along the way I stopped for fuel Sunday afternoon at Mauston Wiscconsin where I noticed my cowling crack running again. The Flight Base Operator happened by and opened the shop for me and I stop drilled the crack for the 2nd time and added a bolt and washer. It was too late to make Oshkosh that evening so I decided to try Monday morning. A friend of the FBO's gave me a ride to a Super 8 in his restored 1930 Model A . I went in style.
Monday morning I was 30 miles from Rippon, Wisconsin, the first entry point for the approach to Oshkosh when they announced they were only landing display or antique aircraft or those with reservations. Dry spaces were full. Fon Dulac airport camping was full as well. I could divert to Appleton airport but no camping was allowed there. Hey, I didn't fly to Oskosh to ride there in a bus from some other town so I turned around and went back to Mauston to regroup my thoughts. On landing I called the EAA HQ and was handed off to the Home Built Camp Ground manager. He told me some spots were drying out and he hadn't made the announcement yet, but would reopen Homebuilt camping at 11:00 AM. After retopping my tanks I timed my arrival over Rippon for 10 minutes before 11. This time I was allowed to proceed to Fisk and before I got there they announced they were opening some GA camping spots and it would be on first come basis so I got right in, held up my HBC sign, and ended up at HomeBuilt Camping just as I had wanted. I guess sometimes lucky is better than good.
I wandered the grounds for all of Monday and on Tuesday met a pilots group at the Hilton for lunch. Great bunch with a lot of experience. After lunch I had a little trouble getting back onto the airport grounds when the guy at the gate said,
Hey you.
Me?
Yeah you. Where's your wrist band?
What wristband, I answered. I don't have one.
They gave you a wrist band when you registered where is it?
What register? I never registered, I flew in. Been here since Monday morning.
He called security and at this point I realized that somewhere in my research and planning, I must not have read far enough. I got an escort all the way down to the Homebuilt registration booth near the brown arch near the center of the airfield. When I got that over with they looked at what I was flying and said they had never registered one like that.
What is this Dream Aircraft Tundra?
I told him I suppose he hadn't seen one because this is the first US completion and it's the first customer built one to fly to Oshkosh. He called over a woman in charge of the Homebuilt Review. She asked if I would want to fly in that.
OK, I said why not, after all I seem to be getting the full experience. I have just gone from ignorant felon to being part of the airshow at Oshkosh. Is this a great country or what.
Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.
Pilot briefing 9:00 AM Wednesday morning.
Twelve pilots heard the briefing that morning. The flags were flying straight out but the fly by would proceed as planned with take off on Runway 36 Left. It would not be moved to Runway 27 to favor the wind. The shows are performed along the north south runway. The take off pass would be in front of the crowd on 36L at 300', second pass would be between the runways over the grass at 500' and landing would be on 36 Right, which is actually the taxiway for 36L and it is somewhat narrower. The whole pattern would turn to the right in two passes in front of the crowd, spiraling from the outside to inward for the landing on 36R. He stated the crosswind on 36 was straight down the left wing and if any of us had a concern about the cross wind that they should not fly. The Baby Ace had a bungee cord gear that was too weak for this and so the pilot stepped out. At 1:30 we would be led out of our parking spot by volunteers on motor bikes and we would follow to a staging area, take a photo with our plane for the EAA and then fly at 2:30 to start off the air show.
An older man on a scooter came to get me and said,
I did this once, here's my advice: Try to put out of your mind that there are thousands of people and pilots, good pilots, that are going to watch you fly and land today. Some people let that affect how they do that. You should try not to think about that if you can. It messes up your landing, so try not to think about it.
I suspect his past experience in this event didn't go well for him but I told him thanks for the pointers and he led me to the taxiway where the controllers took over. I couldn't see enough planes, there should be 11 but I could only count 7 that showed. The old mans speech must have cut the ranks. We took off and as instructed flew the circuit two times past the crowd when the twin engine sea plane I was following requested a landing into the wind on 27 at the north airfield then he broke off from our group and left me with a big gap between me and the next plane. I could see now that the rest of them had already landed on the runway and as the last plane in the group, I now had the crowd all to myself. What luck, because only SOMETIMES its better to be lucky than good.
Actually, truth be told, I was busy with the cross wind and from take off to landing, I concentrated on nothing else. The cross wind took my mind off the crowd and I made the best two wheel cross wind landing I have ever made on asphalt. I hope someone noticed that landing but paid no attention to my late turn on the first pass that should not have extended past the end of Runway 36L.
My rewards for having attended:
I not only flew the Home Built Review Fly By for Wednesday's airshow but as part of it had my picture taken for doing so and my plane and I were then added to the historical records for the 2010 Oshkosh show and archived with past participants.
I got an invitation to fly up to Alaska to visit a new friend from Fairbanks.
I made the Dream Aircraft company team happy, they are giving me a new lower cowling of thicker aluminum and then they came to the camp ground, not once but twice, and went over my plane and did some adjustments and took pictures of mods that I did and will now use my plane to base future R&D on.
Saw some old friends, made some new ones and found that some of those work security.
Looked up a few pilot message board connections I have made over the past few years to just say hi. I even watched one demo his invention to others. Afterward I introduced myself and he asked me to stick around a bit to talk in between those that had questions for him. I had known him by his handle till now but his real name is Bill Berle, as in Milton Berle, as in... his son.
Here is the Oshkosh 2010 Historic Brown Gates Video. Just by chance, I am at 1:29 into the video.
I am at 58 years today only, but my present came early. For the better part of a week during Airventure I was the Forrest Gump of Aviation. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.
Oshkosh 365 - Discussion Boards - One word: Slick!
dirtstrip
It was the first time ever that I flew in to Oshkosh. I flew it solo. They had received about eight inches of rain the week before the big airshow and the grounds were soggy. Along the way I stopped for fuel Sunday afternoon at Mauston Wiscconsin where I noticed my cowling crack running again. The Flight Base Operator happened by and opened the shop for me and I stop drilled the crack for the 2nd time and added a bolt and washer. It was too late to make Oshkosh that evening so I decided to try Monday morning. A friend of the FBO's gave me a ride to a Super 8 in his restored 1930 Model A . I went in style.
Monday morning I was 30 miles from Rippon, Wisconsin, the first entry point for the approach to Oshkosh when they announced they were only landing display or antique aircraft or those with reservations. Dry spaces were full. Fon Dulac airport camping was full as well. I could divert to Appleton airport but no camping was allowed there. Hey, I didn't fly to Oskosh to ride there in a bus from some other town so I turned around and went back to Mauston to regroup my thoughts. On landing I called the EAA HQ and was handed off to the Home Built Camp Ground manager. He told me some spots were drying out and he hadn't made the announcement yet, but would reopen Homebuilt camping at 11:00 AM. After retopping my tanks I timed my arrival over Rippon for 10 minutes before 11. This time I was allowed to proceed to Fisk and before I got there they announced they were opening some GA camping spots and it would be on first come basis so I got right in, held up my HBC sign, and ended up at HomeBuilt Camping just as I had wanted. I guess sometimes lucky is better than good.
I wandered the grounds for all of Monday and on Tuesday met a pilots group at the Hilton for lunch. Great bunch with a lot of experience. After lunch I had a little trouble getting back onto the airport grounds when the guy at the gate said,
Hey you.
Me?
Yeah you. Where's your wrist band?
What wristband, I answered. I don't have one.
They gave you a wrist band when you registered where is it?
What register? I never registered, I flew in. Been here since Monday morning.
He called security and at this point I realized that somewhere in my research and planning, I must not have read far enough. I got an escort all the way down to the Homebuilt registration booth near the brown arch near the center of the airfield. When I got that over with they looked at what I was flying and said they had never registered one like that.
What is this Dream Aircraft Tundra?
I told him I suppose he hadn't seen one because this is the first US completion and it's the first customer built one to fly to Oshkosh. He called over a woman in charge of the Homebuilt Review. She asked if I would want to fly in that.
OK, I said why not, after all I seem to be getting the full experience. I have just gone from ignorant felon to being part of the airshow at Oshkosh. Is this a great country or what.
Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.
Pilot briefing 9:00 AM Wednesday morning.
Twelve pilots heard the briefing that morning. The flags were flying straight out but the fly by would proceed as planned with take off on Runway 36 Left. It would not be moved to Runway 27 to favor the wind. The shows are performed along the north south runway. The take off pass would be in front of the crowd on 36L at 300', second pass would be between the runways over the grass at 500' and landing would be on 36 Right, which is actually the taxiway for 36L and it is somewhat narrower. The whole pattern would turn to the right in two passes in front of the crowd, spiraling from the outside to inward for the landing on 36R. He stated the crosswind on 36 was straight down the left wing and if any of us had a concern about the cross wind that they should not fly. The Baby Ace had a bungee cord gear that was too weak for this and so the pilot stepped out. At 1:30 we would be led out of our parking spot by volunteers on motor bikes and we would follow to a staging area, take a photo with our plane for the EAA and then fly at 2:30 to start off the air show.
An older man on a scooter came to get me and said,
I did this once, here's my advice: Try to put out of your mind that there are thousands of people and pilots, good pilots, that are going to watch you fly and land today. Some people let that affect how they do that. You should try not to think about that if you can. It messes up your landing, so try not to think about it.
I suspect his past experience in this event didn't go well for him but I told him thanks for the pointers and he led me to the taxiway where the controllers took over. I couldn't see enough planes, there should be 11 but I could only count 7 that showed. The old mans speech must have cut the ranks. We took off and as instructed flew the circuit two times past the crowd when the twin engine sea plane I was following requested a landing into the wind on 27 at the north airfield then he broke off from our group and left me with a big gap between me and the next plane. I could see now that the rest of them had already landed on the runway and as the last plane in the group, I now had the crowd all to myself. What luck, because only SOMETIMES its better to be lucky than good.
Actually, truth be told, I was busy with the cross wind and from take off to landing, I concentrated on nothing else. The cross wind took my mind off the crowd and I made the best two wheel cross wind landing I have ever made on asphalt. I hope someone noticed that landing but paid no attention to my late turn on the first pass that should not have extended past the end of Runway 36L.
My rewards for having attended:
I not only flew the Home Built Review Fly By for Wednesday's airshow but as part of it had my picture taken for doing so and my plane and I were then added to the historical records for the 2010 Oshkosh show and archived with past participants.
I got an invitation to fly up to Alaska to visit a new friend from Fairbanks.
I made the Dream Aircraft company team happy, they are giving me a new lower cowling of thicker aluminum and then they came to the camp ground, not once but twice, and went over my plane and did some adjustments and took pictures of mods that I did and will now use my plane to base future R&D on.
Saw some old friends, made some new ones and found that some of those work security.
Looked up a few pilot message board connections I have made over the past few years to just say hi. I even watched one demo his invention to others. Afterward I introduced myself and he asked me to stick around a bit to talk in between those that had questions for him. I had known him by his handle till now but his real name is Bill Berle, as in Milton Berle, as in... his son.
Here is the Oshkosh 2010 Historic Brown Gates Video. Just by chance, I am at 1:29 into the video.
I am at 58 years today only, but my present came early. For the better part of a week during Airventure I was the Forrest Gump of Aviation. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.
Oshkosh 365 - Discussion Boards - One word: Slick!
dirtstrip
