This has been a hard year in many respects, including the plane, work and family. The plane was down for months while we did a major upgrade of the avionics. Nancy's Dad got sick and passed away over the summer and we had to deal with the illness and then sorting out his affairs. Work has been just unrelenting. On top of all of that, we have had just ridiculously bad weather.
As a result, we flew less this year than we ever have in prior years. I also got behind on this blog for the first time. My friend Brett brought to my attention today just how long it has been since I've updated it, so ....here goes.
Even Oshkosh this year was a challenge. We have been going since the 80's and have flown in our plane 10 times. Over the years we have taken off before dawn, left late, dodged storms, gone over the lake, around the lake and almost to Iowa to dodge storms. This year topped them all.
As the weekend before the show approached, the forecast looked absolutely terrible, with rain forecast every day from Friday through Monday. We have left on Saturday and even Friday before to beat weather, but this year, it looked like our choice was either to leave extra early on Thursday for the Monday show or wait until the weather had (hopefully) cleared mid-show on Tuesday or Wednesday.
I was just not willing to miss any of the show, so we left on Thursday morning. The plan was a fuel stop outside Gary, Indiana, then over the lake into Oshkosh.
I have been asked about the baggage capacity of the Velocity. It is incredible. We loaded up our Highlander SUV with 4 people and all this stuff and the Velocity carried it.
A word of caution. This is operating at gross weight and means you can't expect the incredible takeoff and climb performance you are used to. You have to plan for a longer takeoff roll and shallower climb. Pick an airport with a longer runway and no obstructions at the departure end. Once you are in cruise, you won't notice any difference.
Video of our takeoff from Chester County Airport near Philadelphia for Oshkosh. We have four full sized people, full fuel and 100 pounds of bags, so the roll is long and the climb out shallow.
We check the Iphones en route. Sometimes we get signal even at cruise altitude. This allows us to communicate by text message with friends who are awaiting our arrival. Here's a screen shot of our back and forth with the Ferrells as we zoomed across Ohio.
We found out that Griffith- Merriville had a good restaurant on the field and decided to stop there for fuel and lunch before our final leg to Oshkosh. Here's a video of the landing.
The leg from our lunch stop to Oshkosh was more exciting than I would have liked. The idea was to form up with the Cabiroys, fly over Gary with flight following, then up the coast through the Chicago VFR corridor to get some photos, then on to Oshkosh.
I added full fuel at the stop, the temperature increased while we were there and a brisk crosswind developed. This all added up to a verrrrry scary takeoff over tall trees at the end of the runway, followed by an equally anemic initial rate of climb. However, Gary approach cleared us on course directly over the airport and up the coast.
As we head out on our final inland leg for Oshkosh, the map is filled with traffic targets and a huge weather system is bearing down on Oshkosh. We set up for high cruise and scream toward Oshkosh at over 200 mph at less than 3,000 feet. We easily outrun the other traffic. Love the Velocity!
Finally, Oshkosh comes into view. The special arrival procedures don't even start until Friday morning, so we contact the tower and are cleared into downwind for runway 18. We are doing 200 knots, so we chop and drop to enter the pattern.
We arrive at the dorms just ahead of the bad weather. It is fine here but there is weather in every direction. This becomes a theme for the next few days. It is not bad at Oshkosh, but the surrounding weather walls the place off from further arrivals. I'm already glad we left so early to beat this.
After we settle in to our dorm room, we meet up with the other early birds at Mahoney's restaurant, one of our favorite places. It is only a short walk from the dorms.
We flash the Velocity V sign to celebrate our first Oshkosh meal together
Nancy and Sean show off the Mahoney sized portions
On Friday, we wake up to rain and cold. No way we could have flown in today.
We sleep in, then head over to the cafeteria at the Blackhawk Commons in the dorms. They are not yet open for Airventure but we talk our way in and even get a super cheap student price for breakfast.
We hung out at the dorm for a while, then checked out the Chinese place across the street for lunch. The place is basic, but the food is tasty, cheap and the portions are HUGE.
After lunch, we took the city bus from the dorm into town to watch a movie, then to the grocery store to pick up $3.00 pillows and snacks.
The whole day was gloomy, but we managed to have a fun time. By the time Thursday night rolled around, we all gathered back at Mahoney's for dinner. By this time, more of our friends had arrived, including the Brainards, Reiff and Melissa Lorenz, Tim and Lurabeth Rodenbaugh, John Youngblood and Trystan Clark. We had a terrific time catching up.
Garret and Nancy duel with wine menus
The Velocity table. What a great bunch of friends.
Reiff's snazzy Velocity credit card
Tom Iron sings us into dinner
Nancy and Garret
John and Trystan
Jerry and Linda Brainard
Garret goes for the walleye. It's Wisconsin after all.
Saturday ends up cloudy and rainy again. We managed to get some time on the field and check out the plane. Again, I'm glad I didn't wait. Usually, things are beginning to fill up by now. We can picture the backlog of pilots all over the country waiting for a break in the weather. We are happy to be here.
Sunday arrives and there is finally some decent weather. As a result, there was complete pandemonium on the arrival procedure. It was totally overwhelmed with the volume of traffic. Pilots were spending hours in holding patterns dodging heavy traffic. Again, glad we are already here.
Sunday was the first day we could stay on the field all day. It was loads of fun as our friends arrived one after the other and pulled up on Velocity Row.
After getting settled in, we take our first pass through the exhibit buildings and the Fly Mart. If it is remotely related to aviation, you can find it. This is lots of fun.
Dream tool box. Wish I had this when I was building the plane.
Tuesday was just glorious with perfect weather and tons of friends. We spent a lot of the day just hanging out by the plane. Here are just a few of the many pictures I took.
View up Velocity Row as we arrive
Uncovering and wiping down the plane
Irions getting their plane ready for the day
Sean on his phone under the wing
Tom Irion
Steve Cabiroy opens up their plane. It's his first time flying in with his Velocity.
Hanging out on the row.
The fuel truck wanders by - a lucky break for me.
Camp Irion
With Sean and Nancy at the food court for lunch
Joined by Brett and Elizabeth Ferrell
Garret- Here comes the mirror man
With friends at our plane
I ran into buddy Al Nugent at the exhibit building
Nancy and Sean in front of the B1 bomber
The gatling gun on the A10
WWII bomber over our winglet
Velocity buddies stop by for a visit
Watching the air show from the plane
Brett, Kathryn and Kurt's son Reeve at our plane
Velocity Row
Group shot at N929X
My friend Chris Cleaver tries the plane on for size
Brett and the cheezy poofs deserve a section of their own. It's an Oshkosh thing.
Incoming!
"Gonna need another tub of these"
Orange satisfaction
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Wednesday is a perfect weather day. We head out to the exhibit buildings after opening up the plane.
Our buddy Kurt Winker just completed a long career as an air traffic controller. We saw these signs and couldn't resist.
Duane Swing loaned me the Velocity company's ladder for the group shot. As long as I had a ladder, I figured I'd try some shots of Velocity Row from that perspective. They turned out pretty well.
Thursday morning we load up the plane for departure. The weather at Oshkosh is great, but there is a big storm system blocking the middle of our route. We have onboard weather and decided to see if we could make our way around it.
