OSH 2008

I am writing this a month late, better lat than never.

I flew to OSH with Dan, a builder from Canada. He flew into Newark NJ, then took a train to Penn. Station and then the LIRR out to LI.

We flew to Harrisburg PA, stayed overnight at my Dad's, the next morning we stopped at BTP http://www.airnav.com/airport/BTP my hangar mate Rob, had alternator problems and I dropped off tools for him. His plan was to take the whole family to OSH. He ended up backtracking to Harrisburg, and spending some time at Hershey park.

We flew on to OXI, it is in the Chicago area, cheap gas, free dogs, dounuts etc. It is an hour out of OSH. Good to take a break before flying into OSH and freshen up.

As we approached Ripon, we were above a layer, and had to find a hole to descend through, we were looking for other aircraft and saw none. That was pretty scarey! We are going into the world's busiest airport and there are no planes to be seen!

I have been getting chicken about the approaches into OSH and if I was going to be solo, I Was going to land at another airport. They were even doing 2-way communication on the radio. I was shocked! We flew the high speed approach, never saw another plane the entire approach, until flying left pattern for 18 right and there was a breezy to the left, below me and landing ahead of me, I was landing past him.

There are few things I like better than talking airplanes to airplane people! Dan camped, I stayed at the regular farmhouse a mile South of the field.

I did the 2 Cozy forums, the Explorer hot dog BBQ, thanks Terry, and all the volunteers! Mark Beduhn's BBQ and the Cozy Dinner. It is great to meet the canardians that you e-mail on a daily basis. Thanks the people that came up to me and introduced themselves to me!

It was a great pleasure to speak with Terry Schubert, he gave me an hour long talk about Lean of Peak, cooling and drag reduction. THANKS Terry! I flew back at 9.5k from OSH to BDR 701 NM (for cheap fuel) in 4.5 hrs, averaging 7.1 GPH. LOP is amazing! Keep it full throttle, pull the mixture back, watch the EGTs peak and keep pulling back I had 10 plus gallons left after landing.

I am eagerly awaiting the trip to Rough River!