Getting There
We left home a day earlier than planned (Friday 7/22) so that we could be in front of a line of bad weather that looked like it might be a problem if we waited until Saturday. Because we left so late in the day however, we weren't going to be able to make it to Oshkosh before the airport closed at 8:00 PM, so we set our sights on Baraboo, WI (KDLL) to spend the night. Our original plan was to fly formation as a flight of 4 aircraft (us in the Archer, Dan in a Cardinal RG, Gretchen in a Citabria, and Jonathan in an experimental biplane called a Burrows MB-360... a "motley crew" if there ever was one!); but since we were in sort of a rush to get airborne, and everyone would be departing from different home base airports in a staggered fashion, we figured we'd just improvise our way up to DLL and then do a "real" formation the next morning. So, we loaded up "Julie" the Archer with our 315lb of camping gear and set off into the dusk, headed for Baraboo.About halfway there, as we were crossing the Mississippi River and wondering if we were going to hear from anyone in the formation on discrete frequency, I got a text message from Jonathan (I know I know, texting and flying...) that said "had an engine failure, all is ok." I thought whoa, not good at all. We decided to continue on, and after landing at Baraboo we called him to get the whole story. Long story short, the MB-360's engine quit on him at about 500' AGL just after takeoff from IIB. Biplanes aren't exactly known for their streamlined aerodynamics, and thus without power they basically become controllable bricks falling through the air. He ended up making a flawless forced landing on the road beside the airport, coasted into the neighbor's driveway (Bob Hoover style, from the sounds of it), and, I can only imagine, proceeded to reach for a fresh pair of shorts from his camping gear before climbing out of the airplane.
So after the dust settled with all that excitement, Jonathan and Gretchen decided to stay on the ground for the week, and in lieu of going to OSH they took a road trip and went camping around some different parks in the area. Sounds like they had a great time, and it was probably a well-earned reprieve from flying after that whole ordeal. That left Sarah and I in the Archer, and our friends Dan and Alexis in their Cardinal RG, who ended up also making their way to Baraboo that night.
We all split a hotel room, ate some frozen pizza from the hotel bar, drank a few Spotted Cows, and called it a night. The next morning, we looked up at the sky to realize it was pretty well socked in. The METAR was reporting BKN003, which is well below the limits for safe VFR flight. More bad news to the west: A line of storms had formed and were making their way toward us. The bright side of this was that at least we were on the correct side of the storms-- had we waited to leave home until now, we would have been completely stuck. This was unfortunately the case for our friends Roy and Merry, who were waiting to depart from IIB in a 172 to come and join us.
Our first Spotted Cow of the trip!
We grabbed some breakfast from McDonald's and waited for the skies to clear. Although the METAR hadn't changed, we were noticing a few holes in the sky showing clear blue above, and they seemed to be increasing in both size and frequency... a good sign, but it was now a race to see if the skies would improve in time before the storm hit us from the west. So we gathered our gear, checked out of the hotel, and headed to the airport to be ready to pounce at the first sign of good weather. The four of us joined a group of about 20-30 people out on the ramp at DLL, all waiting for good weather to head to OSH. What made it particularly frustrating was that Oshkosh itself, a mere 50 miles away, was reporting beautiful clear skies and calm winds. That means that although we're grounded here, the arrivals to OSH are in full effect, and with every new arrival there, it pushes us one parking spot further away that we'll be stuck with.
Waiting to depart KDLL Saturday morning
I should point out that this entire situation is the kind of thing you can find many accident reports about... a pilot pressed by a number of external factors including both schedule and weather, and the fear of disappointing your passengers, in this case by potentially ending up in a less-than-ideal parking spot to camp in. Of course, the latter point wasn't really a factor, at least from Sarah herself. She is very much accustomed to the way things go in GA, and is about as easygoing as it gets when it comes to schedule changes and improvisation like in the current situation. That doesn't change my own desire to get us there on time, though, and it really does take quite a bit of mental gymnastics to come up with a correct and safe "game plan" that is untainted by external factors.
We ended up chatting with a couple guys who had a Ryan PT-22 and a Waco biplane, and were waiting for the weather to clear. As we talked, we saw a rather large "hole" in the sky begin to float right over the airport. This might be our chance! Talking with these two experienced pilots who were flying airplanes that performed significantly worse than our own, Dan and I made the decision to follow their lead and depart behind them (if they can make it out, we should be able to no problem, right?). We ran out to the ramp and climbed into our airplanes as they were hand-propping their antiques next to us. With four engines now roaring to life, we taxied out to the runway and watched this flight of two depart ahead of us and climb successfully through the hole, turning on course to Oshkosh. With nothing left to do but follow suit, Dan and I took the runway and departed in trail, climbing up and out into blue skies. After about 10 miles of flying towards OSH, the skies opened beneath to become ideal "clear and a million" weather for the rest of our arrival. Not the most ideal of circumstances, but we did make it out safely and legally... that's the important part!
The arrival itself was pretty painless... there were a few other planes around, but the spacing pretty much worked itself out on its own and we just flew up the tracks, with a right turn at Fisk Ave, left base for RW36L, and landed on the yellow dot without any issue. After a long taxi up to the North 40, we got parked in a nearly ideal camping spot and shut down... we made it!!
Parked and started unloading
Tent set up - home sweet home for the week!
The Week
What a week! I couldn't possibly go into detail about the whole trip, but let's just say Oshkosh never disappoints! We did get a bit more rain than usual, particularly in the first couple of days (remember all those storms we were racing to get in front of?), but by the middle/end of the week the weather became much more tolerable. Here's a few highlights:- Sunday we attended the RV-10 builder's dinner, put on by a number of current and former RV-10 builders in Camp Scholler. It's always great to see this group, meeting up with some old friends and making new ones, often finally being able to associate a face with a familiar online profile either from VAF or Facebook. It's a very diverse group from all over the country and even beyond!
- Monday we attended the RV builder's social, which is always a fun chance to "cut loose" a bit around your fellow RV family. It's sponsored by a number of vendors who cater to the experimental/RV aviation market, and there is always plenty of Spotted Cow (among other beers) flowing freely. It's become a tradition for us to attend this social and then stumble over to SOS when the kegs run dry, usually right around sunset, to grab some food and maybe a few more drinks. This is always a night we look forward to, but don't expect us to be ready for anything too early on Tuesday morning ;-)
- Tuesday night we had the tough decision to choose between the Van's Dinner Social or the EAA Chapter Presidents' dinner, sponsored by Ford. Since this is the first year I've attended OSH as a chapter president, we thought we'd give it a shot. We had a good time and ran into a good RV-10 friend (they seem to pop up everywhere don't they!), but honestly there wasn't much food and there was nowhere to sit. I guess it didn't really live up to what I thought it was going to be... I think next year we'll stick with the Van's dinner.
- Wednesday night we attended the EAA Young Eagles dinner in the Eagle Hangar at the museum. This is always an excellent event with delicious and somewhat healthy/square food, which can be a rare commodity at AirVenture! We even had the chance to get a photo op with Sully and Skiles!
- Thursday we had our Chapter 33 dinner at Saz's plaza. We had a decent turnout, maybe 8-10 members in attendance from the Cedar Rapids area. It's always fun to plan these kind of destination events!
- Friday we were invited to fellow RV-10 builder Mike T.'s campsite for dinner and a few drinks. We had a delicious dinner and great conversation that went well into the night. It's so humbling and awesome to meet so many genuinely great people at OSH!
- Saturday morning we ran the "Runway 5K" while tired and sore from the week's events, not to mention still full of salmon and Jim Beam from the night before. Needless to say, we didn't set any world records, but we made it through and enjoyed the free water, bananas and bagels at the end of the race (I remember asking the lady handing out bagels where the doughnuts were... lol).
- Sunday morning, it was time to pack up and head home... time to get back to building and look forward to OSH 2017! With any luck, we'll be flying our very own RV-10 by then....
RV Builders Social 2016! I got some crap from a few RV-10 friends who noticed my name tag said "Mike" the night before at the less-crazy RV-10 dinner, but tonight it was time for "Mikey J" to come out ;-)
We met Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and F.O. Jeff Skiles from the "Miracle on the Hudson" at the Wednesday Young Eagles dinner!
Probably the highlight of the entire trip, Sarah and I both had the chance to meet the legend himself, Mr. R.A. Bob Hoover!
Had the chance to meet up with another RV-10 builder friend Mike T, who graciously invited Sarah and I to dinner at his campsite. Fresh grilled salmon imported from New Zealand... yum!!! Thanks again Mike!!!!
We ran the Runway 5K! Nope, we weren't in it to win it, but we had fun :-)
Lounging in our new Wind Pouch inflatable couches... they are quite comfortable once you figure out how to properly inflate them!
Sunday morning departure, headed for our halfway stop at Lone Rock, WI for our usual breakfast at the Piccadilly Lilly. Just a few other airplanes showing on the TIS!
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