Jeff,
Sorry to have missed you at Oshkosh. Caught up with
John Wigley who very kindly took me for a fly. Arrival
at Oshkosh was a little more dramatic then yours. They
had a F22 Raptor doing low level circuits so we, with
2 others had to circle at 300ft off the end of 18R.
John handled it well. Caught up with Lance Sanford,
Don Heath and missed Paul McAlastair which was my
fault. Great show. Came 7000 miles with Gavin Lee
(another NZ Europa Builder)and was disappointed not to
see a Europa booth. However, must hand it to the
Americans, they know how to organise and run a
wonderful airshow. Hopefully catch up next time.
Regards,
Tim Ward
--- JEFF ROBERTS <jeff@rmmm.net> wrote:
> I hope this doesn't bore too many of you but a
> personal experience that
> was close to the feeling of my first flight is just
> too good to not
> share.
> I wasn't planning on going but last Monday the
> weather between
> Nashville and KOSH was perfect. My wife could see
> that I was itching to
> go so even though she was afraid for me to fly into
> Oshkosh, she gave
> me her green light. I had friends that drove up and
> were camping, so a
> tent and some personal things were all I needed
> stuffed into Gold Rush
> and I was off!
> I had a fantastic time flying over the farm lands
> and new windmills of
> the midwest are beautiful at 3500. I had no problem
> flying into the
> busy whitman field, but I must report that I cheated
> a bit going in. I
> flew into Dodge county just 25 mils south of
> Whitman, pitched my tent
> and waited for an early and hopefully slower traffic
> arrival. A great
> evening and some new friends were found there. My
> decision was spot on
> as you say. I found it very easy to get in line at
> Ripen the next
> morning as the traffic was light. The weather was
> perfect and they
> we're using a straight into approach to runway 9. In
> fact it was easier
> than flying into some of the Saturday breakfasts
> around here.
> Approaching KOSH from the air on a crisp morning,
> seeing a thousand
> planes and campers on the ground with the lake in
> the background was
> the most beautiful sight these eyes have seen in
> years. I'm happy to
> report I can now scratch flying my homebuilt to
> Oshkosh off my bucket
> list. To some that do it every year I'm sure it's
> not a big deal but to
> me it was the next best thing to ___! I may even do
> it again next year
> if the weather agrees. I got to talk to other Europa
> builders and
> enjoyed every minute of it! On the way back I needed
> to make two
> diversions because of weather. One of these stops
> caused 10 other Air
> venture planes to drop down into Rockford IL. Even
> that turned into
> something special. Two total strangers... one flying
> a 152 and the
> other a Rans headed for Georgia became instant
> friends. I had to spend
> the night but by the next day we I had two new,
> crazy aviation buddies!
> I don't use the term crazy lightly on these guys.
> ;o) On my second
> (forced by low ceilings) stop in Madison KY I had a
> great experience
> with a slow FBO that gave me a car to go eat lunch
> and to wait for
> things to improve.
> There is nothing special in this posting except
> this. Aviation has
> given me more experiences and better friends than
> anything else I've
> ever done. The EAA and the show at KOSH are great
> but it's the quality
> of people that it attracts that make it special.
> Wether it be there,
> Sun-N-Fun or any other aviation event that I may
> visit in the future. I
> don't believe I will need to second guess my
> decision to NOT install
> locks on N128LJ. Happy flying to you all, and
> remember it's the people
> that make what we do so special.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jeff R.
> A258 - N128LJ / Gold Rush 140 hours and climbing.
Tim Ward
12 Waiwetu Street
Fendalton
Christchurch.
New Zealand
Ph. 64 33515166
MOB 0210640221
ward.t@xtra.co.nz
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