All | Aquariums | Arduino | Btrfs | Cars | Cats | Clubbing | Computers | Dining | Diving | Electronics | Exercising | Festivals | Flying | Halloween | Hiking | Linux | Linuxha | Monuments | Museums | Outings | Public | Rc | Sciencemuseums | Solar | Tfsf | Trips



Table of Content for oshkosh:

More pages: July 2016 July 2013 July 2011 July 2009 August 2008 July 2007





2016/07/26 EAA Airventure 2016
π 2016-07-26 01:01 in Flying, Nflying, Oshkosh

It had been 3 years since my last trip to Airventure, and this time I went with Daniel. We both flew to Milwaukee (direct via Southwest) and then drove the last bit with a rental car (1h30 each way, not too bad). I was actually flying from Osaka to SFO that day, and arrived in time to connect to our Southwest flight and arrive tuesday evening around 22:00 at our hotel. This time I picked the AmericInn because it was walking distance from one of the gates (still had to take a bus/shuttle, but it only took around 20mn once on the bus, so not too bad).

Nice to see the heat concentrator during the flight, again
Nice to see the heat concentrator during the flight, again


This year, I probably went to too many talks, so even though we had 4 days, I didn't have the time to see all the expos carefully enough once you add watching at least one airshow in the afternoon. I could have used 5 days, or next time I'll need to cut the airshow (sad) or just see fewer talks (although at least half of them were quite worthwhile, so it's a tough call).
Here are pictures of various parked planes, and warbirds:









that is a _very_ long nose
that is a _very_ long nose

Airbus had a hybrid-electric plane that could burn fuel to recharge batteries if needed
Airbus had a hybrid-electric plane that could burn fuel to recharge batteries if needed



and this
and this




an experimental heli trainer with a single seat? mmmmh...
an experimental heli trainer with a single seat? mmmmh...

prop and engines that retract back inside the glider? cool...
prop and engines that retract back inside the glider? cool...



And then, there was this beast with a big turbine engine. The video barely expresses how loud this plane was:


Center stage had interesting planes on display every day:














Then, we had warbirds:



















I didn't have/take/spend enough time to go see the multiple booths and tents, but here are a few pictures anyway:


very cool, sky surfing behind a tow plane, what could possibly go wrong ;)
very cool, sky surfing behind a tow plane, what could possibly go wrong ;)


augmented reality glasses would be great if the technology was ready
augmented reality glasses would be great if the technology was ready

in the meantime the made up demo looked cool :)
in the meantime the made up demo looked cool :)



Lots of other tents, with random plane bits to buy, or other things:


this one will buff right out :)
this one will buff right out :)

you can learn how to build your own plane
you can learn how to build your own plane


I was even able to get my global entry card fixed, sweet! :)
I was even able to get my global entry card fixed, sweet! :)



Our 2nd morning, we got up early and showed up at the museum to do a heli ride at 08:00 and avoid the long 1-2H waits later in the day:














A few pictures from the museum, they seem to change their displays:








Next, time to mention the many talks I went to, some were quite good:

I've seen Dick Rutan talk several times, but enjoy it each time
I've seen Dick Rutan talk several times, but enjoy it each time






a U2 landing on an aircraft carrier, madness...
a U2 landing on an aircraft carrier, madness...





pilot of the original U2 vs the newest glass cockpit U2
pilot of the original U2 vs the newest glass cockpit U2

Patty, nicely signing autographs
Patty, nicely signing autographs

Dick Rutan
Dick Rutan

And last, but not least, pictures from the airshows: prop planes, jet planes, and a long demonstration from the canadian snowbirds. Then we also had the night airshow and the fireworks:






tora tora tora, attack from the Japanese planes
tora tora tora, attack from the Japanese planes


















lucky us, we got a U2 overfly
lucky us, we got a U2 overfly




The snowbirds were awesome:


















And then came the night show and fireworks:










with a wall of fire as finale
with a wall of fire as finale

This was a good time as always, even if I'm a bit sad to have missed the olden days when you could see an SR71 flyby, or a concorde doing a touch and go in front of the audience :)


See more images for EAA Airventure 2016
2013/07/31 Oshkosh/EAA Airventure 2013 Flight and Report
π 2013-07-31 01:01 in Flying, Nflying, Oshkosh
I decided to go a bit last minute after failing to secure a fun plane to fly there with (that is FL250 capable and 200kts+ without wind), and I ended up flying commercial to Milwaukee and connecting to a 2H+ bus ride from there since I did not feel like renting a car and driving that much.

I got there on wednesday late afternoon, in time for the evening airshow (shown later down), but I'll give the summary in thematical order.

I'll start with the airplane expo pictures:

Honda still had the same jet for display, hopefully it's that much closer to being for sale :)
Honda still had the same jet for display, hopefully it's that much closer to being for sale :)

Happy Plane :)
Happy Plane :)



The Icon prototypes are coming along nicely
The Icon prototypes are coming along nicely

Nice paint job
Nice paint job

The cirrus jet is still moving along
The cirrus jet is still moving along

The terrafugia transition did a test flight for us
The terrafugia transition did a test flight for us


that one is pointy all right :)
that one is pointy all right :)

Then, a few pictures from the booths:

one of the electrical planes was still there
one of the electrical planes was still there

google glass like device for planes and pilots
google glass like device for planes and pilots

Yves Rossy had a booth about his Jetman wing
Yves Rossy had a booth about his Jetman wing

As always half the attraction are the planes that people bring:




planes of course get parked by type
planes of course get parked by type




this looks about 100 years old :)
this looks about 100 years old :)


yes, you can also bring your own Russian jet :)
yes, you can also bring your own Russian jet :)

Now that I've seen the basic things, I've taken more times to see some of the talks, and that's one of EAA's strongest points. Thankfully I got to catch a few talks from famous people like Chuck Yaeger, the two Ruthan Brothers, Dirk flew around the world nonstop in voyager, and Burt known for inventing some of the most innovative planes, including the ones going almost reaching space. You also get to hear from SR71, U2, and F117 pilots, and new pilots like Yves Rossi and his wingman jetwing.


Yves Rossi
Yves Rossi

Flying, you're doing it wrong :)
Flying, you're doing it wrong :)





that remotely launched drone didn't work too well
that remotely launched drone didn't work too well

Poor Bob Hoover is getting quite old, but still comes and gives talks
Poor Bob Hoover is getting quite old, but still comes and gives talks

Some of the talks are also at the air museum, and I still enjoy visiting parts of it:



Then, there is stuff that doesn't really belong, but is there anyway, like companies selling cars or other stuff. A few nicer pictures:

original car from Batman and Robin
original car from Batman and Robin


the jet truck was so wrong and so impressive :)
the jet truck was so wrong and so impressive :)

you indeed want to be nowhere close when it's running (more below)
you indeed want to be nowhere close when it's running (more below)

Honda had its Asimo display. I had already seen it at Disneyland, but since I had a bit of time this time, I figured why not, and went to see it again. It is indeed the exact same show, although it is pretty cool:




Now, the next cool thing at EAA is the great list of impressive airshows. I'll start with daytime airshows. The best airshow performers come for the chance to perform there, including the guy who brings his personally rebuilt harrier. Extra treats this year were Terrafugia who came to fly their car for us, and Jetman who also flew, although at 5000ft for his own safety, making it hard to see him and take pictures that far:








And a nice addition are the night night airshows, fireworks, and the wall of fire finale. Night airshows actually start just before sunset and go into the night:








The video doesn't convey how incredibly loud this truck was :)

I got there too late on wednesday, but some pictures from the thursday airshow:




almost feels like the power to weight ratio of my RC planes
almost feels like the power to weight ratio of my RC planes

you're not flying straight, son...
you're not flying straight, son...

still not flying straight...
still not flying straight...

ok, now you've done it, you're falling...
ok, now you've done it, you're falling...

great, another showoff :)
great, another showoff :)


and the redneck show shooting at their own airplane
and the redneck show shooting at their own airplane

landing on top of their truck
landing on top of their truck




ok, that's not supposed to happen either :)
ok, that's not supposed to happen either :)


Taking pictures of Jetman was as exercise in frustration, he was moving very fast and very high, so I had my zoom at 60X and following a fast target sure wasn't easy. Still:



he was easier to catch on the way down.
he was easier to catch on the way down.

And the finale:







And more pictures from the saturday airshow this time (they're different every day). Saturday, they re-enacted the attack on Pearl Harbour:




very nice collection of zeros
very nice collection of zeros






dogfighting
dogfighting


After that, more planes from later wars:







wing suits
wing suits


damn, another one who can't fly straight either
damn, another one who can't fly straight either



there you go, you goof off, you stall and fall :)
there you go, you goof off, you stall and fall :)

microjet
microjet

They had shockwave, the jet truck, doing a demo:


ok, ready to go
ok, ready to go

holly shit, it hot and loud, let's get the fuck out :)
holly shit, it hot and loud, let's get the fuck out :)

After the airshow, they had blues brothers re-enactors who were damn good:






By the time they were done, it was time for the 2nd night show:







And the fireworks with the wall of fire finale:







And that was it for EAA Airventure/Oshkosh:



I had planned to spend most of Sunday at Airventure, but in the end I took of my friends' offer to fly back in his Centurion. This took all of sunday (14H, that was a bit gruling), but eh, I didn't have to take a bus back to Milwaukee to catch my southwest flight back, and got to write a lot of code in the back of the plane when the scenary outside was kind of boring (the first 2/3rd of the trip over flyover America :)








Alliance Municipal Airport, Nebraska, mid america :)
Alliance Municipal Airport, Nebraska, mid america :)

Greg, my former coworker and pilot in chief that day :)
Greg, my former coworker and pilot in chief that day :)

Eventually, we got to more interesting terrain when approaching Utah. I really like the terrain between there and Nevada:



what on earth was this, a bit west of Salt Lake
what on earth was this, a bit west of Salt Lake


Our second fuel stop was at Wendover, just by the Utah/Nevada border. This base was involved in training for the 2 atomic bombs that were sent to Japan. They had a small museum inside, although there isn't much left. The end of an era:










From there, it was back to Palo Alto:


2011/07/29 Quick tour of Eaa/Oshkosh Airventure 2011
π 2011-07-29 01:01 in Flying, Nflying, Oshkosh
Due to a badly scheduled track day on thursday in the middle of Airventure, I ended up taking a hellish red eye from SFO to Chicago (arriving at 03:15 my time) and then a connection to nearby Appletown. I ended up arriving on friday morning at 09:30 and 10:30 at the door due to horrible traffic with very little sleep, and went around the grounds as quickly as I could to see as much as I could before sunday afternoon, when everything would be over.

Considering the tough trip and little time on hand, thanks to having been there before and knowing where things were and how to best optimize, I managed to see several interesting talks, see virtually every exhibit, and most of an air show (unfortunately it was stopped half way due to weather). I also had a lovely dinner with my friends at Seattle Avionics (food was kind of opportunistic since I had neither the time to get proper food, not that there is much proper food on the EAA grounds anyway. I had the worst cheeseburger in my life ever).

Anyway, let's get to the pictures:




new avionics
new avionics

nice to see a full size turbocharged engine
nice to see a full size turbocharged engine

there were lots of nice sims to try
there were lots of nice sims to try

Lots of planes to be seen as always:

the 787 was here for display and visits, line was way too long though
the 787 was here for display and visits, line was way too long though


burt's boomrang
burt's boomrang



harrier
harrier



rotocopters
rotocopters

you don't want to be probed by this guy :)
you don't want to be probed by this guy :)


huge engines, payload capacity, and fuel tanks
huge engines, payload capacity, and fuel tanks


Terrafugia was back with their V2 design:



It's a bit of an improvement over the areocar :)



Visiting the insides of the B29 Superfortress was cool too:





Someone also tried to sell me a pipistrel. Nice little plane to fly around, but eh I'm used to slightly faster planes with nice things like autopilots :)



Like every year lots of collectors bring their own fighter planes:










The other half of Oshkosh, is the aviation museum. Its displays are still good, but the best part is the talks that some world famous aviators give there:

new section on RC planes
new section on RC planes

voyager, the plane that flew around the world non stop
voyager, the plane that flew around the world non stop


kind of cramped inside
kind of cramped inside



talk on faster than sound airplanes we might have one day to replace the concorde
talk on faster than sound airplanes we might have one day to replace the concorde



Spaceship 1
Spaceship 1

But the best part is Dick Rutan telling the story of his flight around the world in Voyager built by his brother, Burt. It's a thrilling story:



Saturday evening, while waiting for the night show, Ford had a nice Blues Brothers Show:



they were actually quite good
they were actually quite good

And this leaves us with the pieces of airshow I caught:






weather turned bad quickly, rest of airshow was cancelled for that day
weather turned bad quickly, rest of airshow was cancelled for that day



And just to make things interesting, they started doing a night airshow the previous year:















And that was it. after 3 days of mostly bad food and running around to make it with the time I did have, it worked out pretty well in the end. At the Appletown airport, before leaving, I tried the heart attack food they do there, fried cheese curds, and fries smoltered with cheese and bacon :)


2009/07/28 Oshkosh/EAA Airventure 2009 Flight and Report
π 2009-07-28 01:01 in Flying, Nflying, Oshkosh
Here's the complete track of our trip:


As you can see the flightpath went north somewhat to avoid restricted airspace, and then south for the way back to avoid thunderstorms over the rockies.

Flight From Palo Alto to Oshkosh

This year I picked the club's Mooney Acclaim and an experienced CFI. Unfortunately, the plane's payload is abysmal and between the two of us, we could only put 70 gallons of fuel instead of the full 102 gallons that would have allowed for a flight with a single refueling stop.
We left soon after 7 in light IMC conditions (typical morning overcast), and picked up some favourable winds which put us in KRKS with around 15 gallons to spare.

IFR Departure from Palo Alto
IFR Departure from Palo Alto

Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe


Salt Lake City's Salt Lake
Salt Lake City's Salt Lake

bis
bis

Fuel stop #1
Fuel stop #1

Weather wasn't bad, but we picked up our IFR flight plan for the second leg as there were still some clouds around our altitude. My forcast said that winds were less favourable at higher altitudes, so we stayed at 19,000ft. In hindsight I kind of regret not knowing what the true airspeed at FL250 was going to be. We only got around 200kts TAS at 30.5" MAP lean of peak.

IFR over the top
IFR over the top

Bad weather on the way, but south of us
Bad weather on the way, but south of us

We were watching the weather on the way, but thankfully the bad weather was moving south and allowed us to land at Appleton without problems and on schedule (before 20:00). I totally could have landed at Oshkosh proper, but I figured we'd try Appleton this time (a reliever airport) to have more leeway on when we could arrive and leave. In hindsight, the $50/1H-ish cab ride each way actually made it longer and more expensive than staying at Bassler FBO at Oshkosh proper, but eh, you can't always know.

Second fuel stop
Second fuel stop

Weather getting worse, even closing up behind us, but clear ahead
Weather getting worse, even closing up behind us, but clear ahead

On the ground at Appleton, just north of Oshkosh
On the ground at Appleton, just north of Oshkosh

Just 45mn before sunset or so
Just 45mn before sunset or so

Flying the Acclaim wasn't too hard, but I totally sucked at landing it, apparently because I didn't quite get the nose up picture during the flare which I thought to be the same than the SR22/TB20, but wasn't the same at all.

Planes on display

The first day, I visited the Airbus 380 despite the hellishly long line.






The terrafugia roadable airplane was moving along nicely



heavy load carrier, mostly used for carrying water and dropping it over fires
heavy load carrier, mostly used for carrying water and dropping it over fires


the border patrol UAV
the border patrol UAV




Overflies

Although I missed the simulated army overflies because I'm a moron, there were still many to see




Airshows

Of course, Airventure still had its daily airshows








The Redbull Helicopter, still doing what helis aren't supposed to do
The Redbull Helicopter, still doing what helis aren't supposed to do


The Spaceship 1 Carrier
The Spaceship 1 Carrier






Flight back home

Flying home was not going to be a piece of cake due to bad weather forecast, but thankfully it passed through in the early morning and we were able to take off by 11 local time. However, this put us quite behind schedule.

my flyties came in handy for staying on the grass
my flyties came in handy for staying on the grass

ready for a flight back
ready for a flight back

bad weather just passed us, ready to go
bad weather just passed us, ready to go

first fuel stop was Winter airport
first fuel stop was Winter airport

fuel was self serve, based on the honor system (you wrote your own fuel use and receipt)
fuel was self serve, based on the honor system (you wrote your own fuel use and receipt)

at least we were still able to fly high enough to benefit from O2 (headwinds died down as we proceeded forward)
at least we were still able to fly high enough to benefit from O2 (headwinds died down as we proceeded forward)

a bit on IFR, allowing me to log a few approaches
a bit on IFR, allowing me to log a few approaches

Evanston, a good place for our fuel stop and deciding how to proceed ahead
Evanston, a good place for our fuel stop and deciding how to proceed ahead

I was joking that if we walked to the end of the runway, we'd be in Utah. I was actually right :)
I was joking that if we walked to the end of the runway, we'd be in Utah. I was actually right :)

thunderstorms over the rockies were nasty, but we found a course around them
thunderstorms over the rockies were nasty, but we found a course around them

well, kinda, with some help from ATC
well, kinda, with some help from ATC

clouds at FL200 gave us traces of icing, but nothing too bad
clouds at FL200 gave us traces of icing, but nothing too bad

nice sky pictures though.
nice sky pictures though.



250kts in the descent, woohoo! :)
250kts in the descent, woohoo! :)

home, sweet home
home, sweet home

Flight times were 8.5H to fly there (air hobbs) and 9.5H to fly back with the headwinds and weather detours. Not as fast as the supposedly 220-240kt airplane should have delivered (POH quoted 220kts+ for our density altitude, which was apparently a sack of lies, by a whole 20kts), but still pretty good and a personal record for me :)
A big thanks to my trusty CFI, Don Styles, for salvaging my poor landings in the plane, and teaching me about dealing with weather, which was part of the point of this trip (we rarely have "weather" in california :) ).

More pictures

  • flight from PAO to ATW
  • EAA displays
  • Planes displays
  • Parked Planes
  • Overflies
  • Airshows
  • Museum
  • Talks
  • Misc
  • flight from ATW back to PAO
  • 2008/08/03 Oshkosh/EAA Airventure 2008 Report
    π 2008-08-03 23:51 by Merlin in Flying, Nflying, Oshkosh

    First, you should likely look at my report from last year for more details on the conference as I'll only mention new things.
    Just like last year, trying to see everything was of course not possible, but knowing what to expect gave me a better chance to manage my time and plan for all the talks I wanted to see. This year I was able to attend several talks from pioneers in aviation, pilots who flew the U2, the SR71, as well as talks on night flying, and thunderstorms, and legendary pilots like Bob Hoover ( see video of what he can do ), or how Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew Voyager, the first and only unrefueled flight around the world .







    Slides from the talk on thunderstorms


    Bob Hoover


    Those talks were definitely worth it, and I'm quite happy to got to hear from pioneers in aviation before they're not around to tell their stories anymore.

    For the rest, I went through all the expos in the hangars, spent some time with the nice folks from Seattle Avionics who've been hearing a lot from me on bug reports or feature improvements :) and I also went to check out the other moving map/flight planner/EFB solutions, and from what I saw, Voyager is still the winner (Vistanav of course has nice synthetic vision, but they were lacking on the flight planning and EFB sides last year, and didn't show up at Oshkosh this year from what I could see).
    A few notable things I saw this year outside of the great airshows, and finally being able to see the F22 perform, were unexpected things like a working jetpack (with a projected flight time of 30mn) and the first prototype of the terrafugia flying car.



    Frasca had a very convincing SR22 simulator


    Some exhibit was using a corvette LS1 engine with a gear reduction ratio as a plane engine


    Impressive little plane (the biggest cargo lifter)


    How Virgin Galactic will take you to space for a mere $200,000


    Trainer U2




    The first terrafugia car/plane prototype (should drive and fly this year)






    Yes, yes, a working jetpack from Martin (not for sale yet, still being tested)


    F


    2


    2 :)






    Nice planes brought by attendees in the warbird section
















    this guy was looked like he was barely able to take off :)


    Rocket Racers
















    I have many more pictures, you can find them in the EAA Airventure 2008 pictures and videos ( especially the airshow )
    2008/08/03 Flight to Oshkosh and Back in Turbo SR22 G3 Perspective
    π 2008-08-03 22:37 by Merlin in Flying, Nflying, Oshkosh

    After my trip to Oshkosh last year, I wanted to go back this year, especially as I found an even better plane to fly in: a brand new Cirrus Turbo SR22 G3 perspective (i.e. with G1000 and synthetic vision).
    The turbo gave us the option to fly at 25,000ft (FL250) while perspective fixed my long dislike of avidyne in what is otherwise a fairly good plane, by replacing the avionics with a nice G1000 with G700 autopilot and synthetic vision, which was the first time I got to fly the last 2.
    It is pretty cool to know that I'm probably the first person to ever rent and fly a Cirrus Perspective for such a trip :)

    My CFI Dave and I went to San Carlos airport to get the plane ready, and figure out how to connect our O2 masks to the plane's O2 system, adn by the time that was done, we headed out, IFR, around 11:00 and climbed to FL250.
    Unfortunately, I soon found out that the plane's 12V supply did not actually work and that my fancy new EFB (samsung Q1U tablet running Seattle Avionics Voyager), was running out of batteries. Unfortunately, I had to turn it off until our first scheduled stop (KRWL) where I was able to recharge it a bit. Luckily, we got such a tailwind (20-30kts) that we easily made the fuelstop I had scheduled, so I didn't have to use my EFB to look up other options in flight.



    A brand new 40h plane


    FL250 required O2 masks


    Once we were cruising at altitude, I gave my CFI control of the plane so that I was legally only a passenger, and I tried to use the nose canula for O2 instead of the mask. According to the oxymetre we were using, my O2 saturation was in the 90%+ range the entire time, and while it's not legal to be pilot in command with a canula at that altitude, it worked much better for me, especially compared to a mask where you lose O2 when you have to remove it to talk to ATC. From my research, and asking, canulas don't work as well for everyone at that altitude, which is why masks are required. That means I have to go with the less efficient solution and use the mask when I'm sole pilot in command.
    Then, I tried to see what would happen if I didn't use oxygen at 25,000ft (8000 metres, or around the altitude at the top of everest), and I got intense tingling in my body first for the first minute, tried to plug my oxygen back in during the second minute, and passed out after that. My CFI who was also the pilot at the time then plugged me back in and I came back to in less than one minute. This was a good way to see how important supplemental oxygen is at that altitude, and how quickly you become incapacitated without it (I remember trying to plug my oxygen back in, but I never actually managed to do so on my own before passing out). This was the best way to see how little effective time of useful consciousness (TUC), you may have that high, and how important O2 and checking your oxymetre, are.



    We got some interesting weather on the way






    Nice Avionics shots


    Our fuel stop also required an O2 fill




    Now is a time to mention my two rants on the plane (I love just about everything else): with two 170lbs people in it, and a mere 80lbs of luggage, we were not even able to fill the tanks and had to settle for 86 gallons instead of 92 gallons. In other words, the payload is pretty poor with full fuel. While I had planned that we could actually do the whole trip with just one fuel stop, flying with 6 gallons missing made that a bit more dicy, and we had decided to cut the trip in two anyway since 10 hours of flying is a long stretch.
    The second part is that it's pretty annoying how Cirrus couldn't get their doors right from the start. The old ones, you were supposed to close gently so as not to damage them, and the new ones have to be slammed shut pretty vigorously, to the point that I had just slammed mine a little after the first fuel stop, and we had to turn back after takeoff and land at KRWL again to shut my door properly because it wasn't secure.
    Then, just to make things fun, as we climbed out the second time, we hit some icing on the way up, which thankfully we got out of quickly, and TKS was able to get rid of.
    But the weather just got worse as we went more east, and we had to divert north and eventually land at KPIR, as the weather just wasn't good east of us.



    Soon after takeoff, we hit some weather and got light icing while climbing to FL250. Thankfully we got out of it quickly and TKS took are of it




    Weather got bad, we had to divert and go north. We even elected to land early at KPIR




    The next morning, we finished the flight to Oshkosh, in time for half a day of show left.





    Oshkosh, Finally!




    Thankfully, the nice folks from Cirrus as Oshkosh were able to find someone who fixed the electrical problem on our plane, and allowed us to have 12V power on the way back home. Yeah!
    For the flight home, I had initially planned to get out early Sunday morning and do a one day flight (timezones and daylight being on our side), but I figured out that by saturday noon I'd have seen what there was to see, so we were able to get out in time before they closed the runways around 14:30, and while we could have gone a bit further, our goal was to reach Rapid City and use the extra daylight to drive to the Mt Rushmore Monument.



    Mississippi river


    My Voyager EFB, finally working on the way back




    We had a few hours to kill in Rapid City and used the time to go to Mt Rushmore


    The next morning, I had a flight plan going a bit north, over Yellowstone, and flew by Jackson Hole, which my CFI recommended, and we saw portion of the national park, including Grand Téton :)







    Grand Téton in Yellowstone








    A nice demo of the synthetic vision showing the runway on an ILS approach


    After a stop in Elko for fuel and lunch (no O2 because headwinds forced us to fly much lower, around 10,000ft which doesn't require oxygen. In return, we got a better view of what we were overflying), we finished the flight by shooting a quick approach at Stockton to check out the synthetic vision system (if you look at the picture above closely, you'll see the runway, aligned on the screen), and landed uneventfully at San Carlos.
    The google maps track above shows the flight, but you can also download the GPX track of the flight .
    Of course, I have plenty of other pictures. One good idea is to open the the map and you'll be able to click on the google maps links by the pictures in the library to see where they were taken, and open the picture links in a new window (right click, open link in new window). That way, by clicking on google maps link, you'll see where the picture was taken, on the SQL LVW PIR OSH flight and the OSH RAP EKO SQL flight .
    2007/07/27 Oshkosh/EAA Airventure 2007 report
    π 2007-07-27 23:18 by Merlin in Flying, Nflying, Oshkosh

    One of the few things you're likely to notice when you get there, is the amount of planes parked everywhere. It's pretty amazing.



    >




    Then, you get through the main gate, and go look around at all the vendors and displays. If you're thorough, it can take 2-3 days (especially if you account for pretty much guaranteed times of bad weather where you'll be hiding in vendor tents).
    Seeing the vendors in the big hangars was definitely useful, I learned about a nice Angle of Attack (or reserve lift) indicator which should be on all planes in my opinion, as well as saw the Vista Nav 3D synthetic vision device, and got to meet the nice folks from Seattle Avionics I had corresponded with many times.
    I also learned in the process that Garmin were actually a bunch of bastards who managed to get near exclusive rights to all XM weather hardware, preventing innovation or competition among XM weather receivers for PC tablets, which is a damn shame considering that XM weather should be available to all due to the extra safety it brings to pilots. Anyway, I'm personally hoping for a combined PC tablet with solid state hard drive, a small XM weather receiver/GPS combo and vistanav + voyager on it. We're close, but not quite there yet.















    The Xwind trainer is a great idea, I paid for a session and it was quite useful






    What's also cool is some of the formation flights over the expo. Likely more planes than you'll have seen anywhere else.







    There was so much to see and do. In 3.5 days, I only got to see a portion of it (and missed a few evening movies and talks due to being a bit too far and too tired to come back just for them). It was nice to be able to see and hear historic people like Chuck Yeager recounting his war stories and talking about how he broke the sound barrier.





    Of course, a good portion of your day is likely to be taken by the airshow performances, some of which are quite good. Unfortunately, the F22 performance got cancelled two days in a row (the second day, due to a fatality during the air show unfortunately), so I never got to see them perform outside of their arrival from a distance. Seeing a couple of Harriers doing hovering up close was pretty ool though.


















    Outside of the main conference location, about a 15mn walk way, the air museum was nice to visit, and across from the museum, they were selling cheap 7mn heli rides above the whole place. Nice to get a bird's view if you were too busy flying the plane when you got in (as you should have been :) )










    Before heading home, at the recommendation of Dave, my CFI, I got a real live briefing at a flight service station, probably something I won't get to do again in the future. It was nice to see one of the guys who picks up when you call WXBRIEF





    I was a bit apprehensive about landing at Oshkosh, mostly due to some horror stories I heard about very long wait times to get out. I didn't quite figure it out, but on wednesday morning, I walked to the entrance instead of taking the bus (not very smart: 2.5miles/45mn), but I got to see a scary line of people waiting to get out:









    Luckily, when we left on saturday morning around 09:00, they were sending planes out 2 at a time and we got out in less than 15mn.

    I obviously have many many more pictures. You can following this link for the pictures of EAA/Oshkosh 2007 including the 10H flight from and to Oshkosh.
    It was definitely worth attending and made for an interesting cross country flight.
    2007/07/23 Long cross country flight to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and back
    π 2007-07-23 11:59 by Merlin in Flying, Nflying, Oshkosh

    I hadn't been able to go to Oshkosh last year because it conflicted with OLS, which in turn conflicted with my Birthday. This year, I only had a double conflict (my BD), so I figured I'd give it a shot.
    I used the flight to make more serious use of Seattle Avionics, my flight planning software, and it did a good job. My main problem was to have to print all those pages of airports I might stop at, or not, just because I couldn't use my laptop at altitude in the plane. I think I'll be getting a custom laptop/EFB with a solid state hard drive (i.e. Flash Ram) so that I can just use that in flight and not have to worry.

    I was first hoping to rent a Mooney 231 for the flight so as to get a good cruising speed (190kts), but unfortunately, it was already rented, so I had to select another aircraft. I had to settle for a Cirrus SR22 :) (well, it was settle because it did cost a fair amount more and was somewhat slower. That said, we got slightly better avionics in return)

    The trip was nice for my getting used to the plane, There is no better than a 22H/3200NM cross country to get used to a plane :) but it confirmed that I don't like Avydine avionics. They have too many quirks and just aren't well integrated. We had several bad behaviours from the STEC 55x autopilot (going left and right on an ILS without staying on centerline, or pitching wildly down), a total localizer heading failure on NAV 1 (Garmin 430) where it went on a completely incorrect centerline, and weird communication problems between the PFD, MFD, and Garmin 430s. Stuff that's just unacceptable for a $400k plane.
    Apart from those issues, the plane itself flew well though, and we ended up averaging 160kts ground speed on the way there, and 170kts+ on the way back (yes, I know it's opposite from the typical prevailing winds), and I did the flight with one of my CFIs, both to learn from his experience in flying around or close to thunderstorms, as a copilot to help out if I got too tired, and because I wasn't fully checked out to solo in the SR22 yet.





    Let's now look at the legs:

    Flight from Palo Alto to Oshkosh


    The flight was about 1900NM (3060km) in 10.9H of hobbs time and 3 legs. We left a bit after 09:30 and first stopped at Evanston, Wyoming to refuel. In hindsight, we had enough fuel to go a bit further and we should have because we almost got pinned in the airport by a thunderstorm. Luckily, it was only a big rain and thunderstorm cloud, and it blew over while we waited on the runway.
    After that, we went to Sioux City and we had to traverse a line of thunderstorm sigmet to get there. Luckily, it was rather mild, and thanks to XM weather and looking out the window, we were able to find a reasonable hole in that line of thunderstorms to get through.
    The next morning, we left for Oshkosh by first finding a hole in the low broken clouds at Sioux City, and we got to Oshkosh under lowering overcasts 'on the green dot' of runway 27 thanks to Dave's help feeding me the instructions on how to fly there while I was doing the flying.



    Our plane at Palo Alto


    I brought in a good bottle of Oxygen so that we could climb at higher altitudes (low fuel flow/high speed cruise at 12500 to 14500)


    Departure at Palo Alto was almost IFR but we got out




    Salt Lake City


    Approaching Evanston, NV for landing


    By the time it took to refuel, weather had caught up with us: thunderstorms with lightening on upwind. Luckily we were able to get out




    I went through my first convective sigmet, a line of thunderstorms, that was exicting (even if they were mild)




    Arrived in time at Sioux City (KSUX) before sunset and before the fuel tank ran dry :)


    Flight to Oshkosh was medium to low-ish ceilings


    Landing at KOSH on runway 27


    The pictures from this flight are here

    Return flight from Oshkosh to Palo Alto


    The return flight was easier to do in a day since we had 2 hours additional in that day instead of two hours fewer (or a 4 hour differential).
    I had planned the flight a bit more to the north to stop at Rapid City, South Dakota for refueling and a quick lunch, and then to fly by Mount Rushmore before flying north of Salt Lake city towards Elko, Nevada. We did a quick refuel in Elko and got to Palo Alto "soon" after that.
    Turns out that by sheer luck, my alternate routing mostly kept us out of thunderstorms, which made the flight pretty uneventful.
    We got home a bit quicker, but I still recorded 10.9H hobbs on the way back since I shot some approaches for each of the 3 landings, including an ILS approach into Moffett, which was a bit of a detour.



    Waiting in line for takeoff (thankfully a short wait)


    People were leaving let and right, and those were only the ones that had their transponders on (they were supposed to be left off for about 30NM)


    Some light thunderstorms on the way back too


    Crossing the Mississippi


    Our lunch stop in rapid city, mixed with a few airliners




    Mount Rushmore


    There were some thunderstorms on the way, but by luck, my flight plan managed to skirt the edges of them without having to worry about them much








    Salt Lake City seen from the North this time


    A quick fuel stop in Elko, NV for fuel (KEKO)




    The pictures from this flight are here

    Conclusion


    All in all, it took about 20H of flying (plus ground run time), 3800NM (7000km) of distance covered, nice landscapes along the way, and weather that was interesting enough to learn from, but never a thread to the flight.
    It was definitely a nice experience, in addition to the time at EEA itself (see separate entry for that)

    More pages: July 2016 July 2013 July 2011 July 2009 August 2008 July 2007

    Contact Email