As we were driving up to the airport at Appleton to get on the plane back, we saw this on the freeway. Luckily it was just a semi being towed backwards, but it did look very real at first.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
Day 6 at the Oshkosh Airventure
Today was our third and final day at the Oshkosh Airventure. Having seen most of the booths we went through the 'Fly Market' section. It is very similar to a flea market but of course oriented to the 'flying crowd'. We saw many booths or tents with people selling airplane oriented T-shirts, DVDs, memorabilia, tools, nuts, bolts, carved wooden signs, hammocks, whirligigs for your garden, mattresses, jewelry, plus much, much more. Rich bought a digital caliper, LED work light some wire with alligator clip ends. We also picked up some souvenirs such as T-shirts, coffee mug, and I got a charm for our boat necklace. We also gotta Go Pro camera for the boat.
In the afternoon we watched another air show which included the only flying B-29. There was an F-18 that did low passes down the field, more parachutists and aerial aerobatics. The most interesting was the mock re-enactment of the bombing of Pearl Harbor with plenty of noise, smoke and fire.
Tomorrow we will be adieu to Oshkosh and over 25,000 airplanes and make our way back west.
Sent from SV Windarra iPad
In the afternoon we watched another air show which included the only flying B-29. There was an F-18 that did low passes down the field, more parachutists and aerial aerobatics. The most interesting was the mock re-enactment of the bombing of Pearl Harbor with plenty of noise, smoke and fire.
Tomorrow we will be adieu to Oshkosh and over 25,000 airplanes and make our way back west.
Sent from SV Windarra iPad
Day 5 at the Oshkosh Airventure
This morning we got up early to hear a talk by a former shuttle astronaut who is now working at Space X. It was a great presentation and we enjoyed hearing the talk and answering questions. It I was just getting out of college now, this is a company I would be interested in working at.
Today we went through the hangars full of vendors. It was like attending the boat show except since the focus was for airplanes and pilots we did not feel the pressure to look at everything. There were a lot of things that we were not interested in, which is very different from when we go to boat shows with the exception of the ski boats and ski boat paraphernalia. We skipped over hangar doors, riveting tools, information on flying in Russia, Dominican Republic and New Zealand, helicopters, aircraft instrumentation, flight schools, condos with hangars, alternators for airplanes, etc. we did stop to look at SPOT and GoPro cameras. We did stop by and say hi tonDan and Dave of Paraphenalia, who manufacture the "Softie", an emergency parachute for aerobatic pilots.
After we had gone through the 4 hangars worth of vendors, the rain started. It was time to catch a bus to the EAA museum while it rained outside. We got a chance to see Dick Rutan's Spaceship One as well as Voyager which he flew around the world non stop without refueling. Pretty amazing.
We returned to the main site and watched part of the afternoon air show, with included wing walking and an aerobatic helicopter.
Tomorrow will be our last day at the air show before heading back.
"I'm a basketball jones"....
Sent from SV Windarra iPad
Today we went through the hangars full of vendors. It was like attending the boat show except since the focus was for airplanes and pilots we did not feel the pressure to look at everything. There were a lot of things that we were not interested in, which is very different from when we go to boat shows with the exception of the ski boats and ski boat paraphernalia. We skipped over hangar doors, riveting tools, information on flying in Russia, Dominican Republic and New Zealand, helicopters, aircraft instrumentation, flight schools, condos with hangars, alternators for airplanes, etc. we did stop to look at SPOT and GoPro cameras. We did stop by and say hi tonDan and Dave of Paraphenalia, who manufacture the "Softie", an emergency parachute for aerobatic pilots.
After we had gone through the 4 hangars worth of vendors, the rain started. It was time to catch a bus to the EAA museum while it rained outside. We got a chance to see Dick Rutan's Spaceship One as well as Voyager which he flew around the world non stop without refueling. Pretty amazing.
We returned to the main site and watched part of the afternoon air show, with included wing walking and an aerobatic helicopter.
Tomorrow will be our last day at the air show before heading back.
"I'm a basketball jones"....
Sent from SV Windarra iPad
Day 4 at the Oshkosh Airventure
Today we went to the EAA Airventure at Oshkosh. This is the first time that Rich and I have been to this show. It is huge and today we saw only a small portion.
We walked around the Warbirds area. Almost all of the war planes we saw are in current flying condition. We saw the Glacier Girl, a P-38 Lightning built by Lockheed. It was one of a squadron of planes that were flying from Europe to the US during World War II. They were running out of fuel and belly landed on a glacier in Greenland. The crews, disabled the planes so if they were discovered by the enemy they could not fly them. They then hiked to the coast to be picked up by a naval ship and returned to the US. One of the planes were discovered in the late 1990's and recently recovered, To recover the plane, they had to dig down 250 feet through the ice to get to the plane, disassemble it to bring the parts up and then return the parts to the US to put it back together and restore. The plane is now in flying condition. Pretty amazing. Other warplanes we saw include Dauntless Dive bomber, P40, P51s and many others. The P indicate pursuit. When the Army Air Corp became the Air Force, they changed the designator to F for fighter.
We also saw exhibits by Embraer, Honda, flying cars, NASA, amphibian airplanes, Pilatus, plus many others. From 3:30 to 5:30 we watched the air show sponsored by Rockwell Collins. We saw warbirds taking off and flying simulated bombing runs, flying in formation, parachutists in coordinated jumps, parachutists jumping at two miles high in flying squirrels suits,trailing smoke so you could see them in the air, with parachutes being deployed to slow them down so they could land safely. We saw several aerobatics planes doing rolls, hammerheads, Cuban 8s, stalls, end over ends, spirals, tail stands maneuvers, individually and in groups including a group of home built planes known as 'RVs'. There was a lot of smoke in the air but the crowd was loving every bit of it despite the fact that it was 96 degrees and with the humidity it felt like 103 degrees.
This evening we joined Doug and Nancy for dinner with some friends, Jeff and Jennifer. Jeff has a Great Lakes biplane that they flew to the air show from Florida.
Today was a fun day and we hope to see more tomorrow.
Sent from SV Windarra iPad
We walked around the Warbirds area. Almost all of the war planes we saw are in current flying condition. We saw the Glacier Girl, a P-38 Lightning built by Lockheed. It was one of a squadron of planes that were flying from Europe to the US during World War II. They were running out of fuel and belly landed on a glacier in Greenland. The crews, disabled the planes so if they were discovered by the enemy they could not fly them. They then hiked to the coast to be picked up by a naval ship and returned to the US. One of the planes were discovered in the late 1990's and recently recovered, To recover the plane, they had to dig down 250 feet through the ice to get to the plane, disassemble it to bring the parts up and then return the parts to the US to put it back together and restore. The plane is now in flying condition. Pretty amazing. Other warplanes we saw include Dauntless Dive bomber, P40, P51s and many others. The P indicate pursuit. When the Army Air Corp became the Air Force, they changed the designator to F for fighter.
We also saw exhibits by Embraer, Honda, flying cars, NASA, amphibian airplanes, Pilatus, plus many others. From 3:30 to 5:30 we watched the air show sponsored by Rockwell Collins. We saw warbirds taking off and flying simulated bombing runs, flying in formation, parachutists in coordinated jumps, parachutists jumping at two miles high in flying squirrels suits,trailing smoke so you could see them in the air, with parachutes being deployed to slow them down so they could land safely. We saw several aerobatics planes doing rolls, hammerheads, Cuban 8s, stalls, end over ends, spirals, tail stands maneuvers, individually and in groups including a group of home built planes known as 'RVs'. There was a lot of smoke in the air but the crowd was loving every bit of it despite the fact that it was 96 degrees and with the humidity it felt like 103 degrees.
This evening we joined Doug and Nancy for dinner with some friends, Jeff and Jennifer. Jeff has a Great Lakes biplane that they flew to the air show from Florida.
Today was a fun day and we hope to see more tomorrow.
Sent from SV Windarra iPad
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Day 3 to Oshkosh
Early this morning the thunder and lightning started. It was predicted but we had hoped it would pass by quickly, which was not the case. Instead of getting up and ready for a taxi pickup at 7:30 am, we were more leisurely and did not arrive at the airport until 11:30 am. Given the choice of hanging around the airport or staying in the room, watching TV and surfing the web, we chose the latter.
I need to correct some of the information from my previous post on Mantako. The author was Sinclair Lewis, not Upton Sinclair, and it was 38 Dakota Indians, not 24, were hung on Dec. 26, 1862. Originally there were 303 Indians who were due to be executed, but 265 were pardoned by President Lincoln. This is per Wikipedia which I am trusting more than our taxi driver at the moment.
We left Mankato at 12:04 pm and we were able to slip between some cells but it meant that we flew west then north before turning east toward Oshkosh. Unfortunately, we missed the window to land at Oshkosh by 10 minutes. They have an air show in the afternoon from 3:00 to 5:00 pm and they close the airport for landing before the show so there is no traffic.
At 2:35 pm we were wheels down at Appleton, an airport just north of Oshkosh. Nancy, flew into Green Bay via commercial airlines from Seattle, picked up a rental car and got us. While we were waiting we were able to sample some 5 year aged extra sharp cheddar cheese (this is Wisconsin after all) and Rich bought us some to take home with us.
We are staying at a Motel 6 here in Oshkosh, a short distance from the airport and the air show. For dinner we went to Wendt's On the Lake and has their famous perch.
Now it is time to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day at the Experimental Aircraft Association 2012 Airventure Oshkosh.
Sent from SV Windarra iPad
I need to correct some of the information from my previous post on Mantako. The author was Sinclair Lewis, not Upton Sinclair, and it was 38 Dakota Indians, not 24, were hung on Dec. 26, 1862. Originally there were 303 Indians who were due to be executed, but 265 were pardoned by President Lincoln. This is per Wikipedia which I am trusting more than our taxi driver at the moment.
We left Mankato at 12:04 pm and we were able to slip between some cells but it meant that we flew west then north before turning east toward Oshkosh. Unfortunately, we missed the window to land at Oshkosh by 10 minutes. They have an air show in the afternoon from 3:00 to 5:00 pm and they close the airport for landing before the show so there is no traffic.
At 2:35 pm we were wheels down at Appleton, an airport just north of Oshkosh. Nancy, flew into Green Bay via commercial airlines from Seattle, picked up a rental car and got us. While we were waiting we were able to sample some 5 year aged extra sharp cheddar cheese (this is Wisconsin after all) and Rich bought us some to take home with us.
We are staying at a Motel 6 here in Oshkosh, a short distance from the airport and the air show. For dinner we went to Wendt's On the Lake and has their famous perch.
Now it is time to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day at the Experimental Aircraft Association 2012 Airventure Oshkosh.
Sent from SV Windarra iPad
Monday, July 23, 2012
Day 2 to Oshkosh
At 8:30 am we were starting our preflight of Whiskers, the plane. On the way to the airport we were joined by two gentlemen who were flying a Sikorsky Skycrane to Nebraska to support fire fighting in that area. The Skycrane has a lift capability of 42,000 lbs. To put that in perspective, it could lift Windarra, if the fuel and water tanks were empty. It is also between 7,000 and 8,000 gallons of water. Quite a splash. There was also a Caymen single seat, dual counter rotating, heavy lift helicopter, called 'The Hulk'. We suspect it is used for selective logging.
8:45 am was wheels up as we left Bozeman and headed east passing the Rockies and the continental divide. From the air we could see large gentleman ranch homes. Up some of the box canyons we see mining operations with settling ponds.
We passed over a smooth, green topped mountain, with deep v cut valleys heading down the slopes. Next we pass a river that cuts through the rock with steep vertical walls. It is part of Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.
We crossed Interstate 90, north of Buffalo, Wyoming, near Lake De Smet. Doug has cell reception on his iPad and was able to receive and send email to a customer in the Czech Republic from 9,400 ft. Isn't that amazing.
For all of you who are fans of the movie, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", we passed Devil's Tower in Wyoming. We came down to 5,500 MSL and flew clockwise around at 3 miles distant. It is quite impressive. Hopefully some of my photos will be decent. From looking at it, I would say that the scenes that were supposed to be on the top, when the spaceships come in and they play the notes to communicate were probably shot at either a different location or in a studio since there did not look to be enough flat ground on top that I could see. Still, it is quite an impressive site rising up from a relatively flat landscape around it.
After Devil's Tower we head towards the Black Hills of South Dakota. We take a clockwise turn around Crazy Horse monument. You can pick out the face and the top of his arm. Next we take a turn around Mt. Rushmore. This is the first time that I have ever seen it and it is an impressive piece of sculpture. It is also quite a tourist site, with a large infrastructure of hotels, restaurants and an amphitheater.
We arrived at Rapid City at 11:45 am local time for fuel, lunch, a chance to stretch our legs and to empty our bladders. After parking at WestJet we walked over to the main airport for salad. It was not gourmet but okay. Wheels were up at 12:40 pm. Before we took off we saw the Sikorsky Skycrane that we saw at Bozeman. I don't think they took the scenic route that we did.
We are 'cruising' at 9,500 ft. Below, the landscape is more brown than green, flat with trees close to the rivers and any homes or towns. Instead of the farm land being low and the hills rising above as in eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana, in South Dakota, the farming is on the high plain with the river flood plain below. We crossed the mighty Missouri River and the city of Pierre, South Dakota. As we pass Huron, SD, there is a lot more green fields in the landscape. Square and squares of fields instead of the circles we saw in Montana and Wyoming. Major roads lead off into the horizon, straight as an arrow either north-south or east-west. There are rows of trees along one side of some fields to act as a wind break I presume. We have seen a few wind farms along the way.
Just before 5 o'clock local we crossed into Minnesota, land of a thousand lakes on our way to Mankato, Minnesota our destination for this evening. Mankato was the home of Upton Sinclair for a period of time. He lived on the seedy side of town or so said our taxi driver. Mankato was also the site of the largest mass hanging in the US of 24 Sioux indians in the late 1800's. We are ensconced in a Comfort Inn for the night. Not sure where we will be having dinner.
The adventure continues....
Sent from SV Windarra iPad
8:45 am was wheels up as we left Bozeman and headed east passing the Rockies and the continental divide. From the air we could see large gentleman ranch homes. Up some of the box canyons we see mining operations with settling ponds.
We passed over a smooth, green topped mountain, with deep v cut valleys heading down the slopes. Next we pass a river that cuts through the rock with steep vertical walls. It is part of Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.
We crossed Interstate 90, north of Buffalo, Wyoming, near Lake De Smet. Doug has cell reception on his iPad and was able to receive and send email to a customer in the Czech Republic from 9,400 ft. Isn't that amazing.
For all of you who are fans of the movie, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", we passed Devil's Tower in Wyoming. We came down to 5,500 MSL and flew clockwise around at 3 miles distant. It is quite impressive. Hopefully some of my photos will be decent. From looking at it, I would say that the scenes that were supposed to be on the top, when the spaceships come in and they play the notes to communicate were probably shot at either a different location or in a studio since there did not look to be enough flat ground on top that I could see. Still, it is quite an impressive site rising up from a relatively flat landscape around it.
After Devil's Tower we head towards the Black Hills of South Dakota. We take a clockwise turn around Crazy Horse monument. You can pick out the face and the top of his arm. Next we take a turn around Mt. Rushmore. This is the first time that I have ever seen it and it is an impressive piece of sculpture. It is also quite a tourist site, with a large infrastructure of hotels, restaurants and an amphitheater.
We arrived at Rapid City at 11:45 am local time for fuel, lunch, a chance to stretch our legs and to empty our bladders. After parking at WestJet we walked over to the main airport for salad. It was not gourmet but okay. Wheels were up at 12:40 pm. Before we took off we saw the Sikorsky Skycrane that we saw at Bozeman. I don't think they took the scenic route that we did.
We are 'cruising' at 9,500 ft. Below, the landscape is more brown than green, flat with trees close to the rivers and any homes or towns. Instead of the farm land being low and the hills rising above as in eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana, in South Dakota, the farming is on the high plain with the river flood plain below. We crossed the mighty Missouri River and the city of Pierre, South Dakota. As we pass Huron, SD, there is a lot more green fields in the landscape. Square and squares of fields instead of the circles we saw in Montana and Wyoming. Major roads lead off into the horizon, straight as an arrow either north-south or east-west. There are rows of trees along one side of some fields to act as a wind break I presume. We have seen a few wind farms along the way.
Just before 5 o'clock local we crossed into Minnesota, land of a thousand lakes on our way to Mankato, Minnesota our destination for this evening. Mankato was the home of Upton Sinclair for a period of time. He lived on the seedy side of town or so said our taxi driver. Mankato was also the site of the largest mass hanging in the US of 24 Sioux indians in the late 1800's. We are ensconced in a Comfort Inn for the night. Not sure where we will be having dinner.
The adventure continues....
Sent from SV Windarra iPad
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