Well, I finally was able to make it to Oshkosh for the first time and in my own plane to boot! After planning and putting the week aside on my calendar, I was anxious to make the trip. As many of you might know, flying into Oshkosh can be frightening and I was not going to do it for the first time alone, so I asked Karl Findley, an instructor at Heritage Flight Academy to join me. Another way to minimize the "pucker factor" was to go with a group in a mass fly in. Well, the other Glasair/Glastar owners were meeting in Madison on Saturday, the 24th for a Sunday arrival, the day before the official opening. This would be a great time to meet the other owners whom I relied on so much during my first year of ownership and to plan the actual arrival. Turned out to be a great decision. Here's my flight track for the trip from KISP to KMSN. We made two stops; first in Johnstown, PA (KJST) and then Wabash, IN (KIWH). We stayed a little bit south because of the weather, but it didn't add that much to the flight. We flew for 7 hours and 50 minutes and covered around 954.8 miles.
The weather in the Mid West was just awful the weeks leading up to the event. Oshkosh became "splashkosh" as the rains closed most of the parking area before anyone could arrive. Planes were being rerouted to Appleton and only vintage, classic and homebuilts were allowed to fly in on Sunday. This turned out to be a blessing in a way as there was little traffic over the first arrive point, FISK. The other owners were telling of horror stories of planes cutting each other off, coming in from above, below, flying to fast, etc., but for us it was smooth sailing.
I have attached a short clip on my arrival. It really was just awesome to land my plane at AirVenture and I ended up staying through Thursday. I can't wait to do it again in 2011.
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