Oshkosh Memories in the Hangar

Here's a blast from the past! My first Aeroshell cow poster from 1997. When I moved to my new hangar last year, a lot of stuff ended up in boxes on shelves. Since the plane will be down for a few weeks for the prop repair, I decided to go out to the new hangar to organize, clean up and make it a little more homey.

My former hangar at Smoketown was new and gorgeous with lights, outlets and a great runway view. Unfortunately, the runway it viewed was only 2,400 feet long and uphill. That made it too short to use when loaded up with the family, so I moved over to Chester County, where I have an old hangar with no view of the much more comfortable 5,600 foot runway. I can take off here at max gross even on the hottest day with no worries. It's also only 12 minutes from home.

The only snag has been that it's old, dark and dirty. I am in the process of fixing that by cleaning, organizing, putting in some lights, etc. I got a big boost on all fronts when I found my cache of Oshkosh posters. They really brought back some great memories and I decided to put them up in order on the wall of the new hangar. It got me reflecting on all my trips to Oshkosh.

A Wall Full of Oshkosh Posters

I first went to Airventure in 1992 with my Dad. It was one of our few trips together and we had a great time. I've only missed one time since then and my life is very different now.

I remember the 1997 visit. It was my last trip with my wife before the birth of our first child, Katie, who is now a teenager. Our first plane, a standard RG, was under construction and we had the added fun of the Oshkosh treasure hunt, looking for avionics, hard to find hardware, leather for seats and the million other odds and ends needed for the plane. My backpack weighed about 40 pounds at the end of each day.

____________________________________________________________



I remember meeting our friends, Scott and Glema Keighan, in the line at the Velocity dinner the following year, when Katie was an infant and Glema was expecting their first child. We've been friends ever since.

In 2000, we flew our completed plane into Oshkosh for the first time. A lineman stopped us on a taxiway and we opened the doors to cool off. When he signaled for us to continue to taxi, I couldn't get the plane to move at first, then felt a bump and lurch as we started to move forward. The lineman signaled for us to stop and ran up to the plane. He handed me my scuffed up 35 mm (film!) camera and shouted "I think it's all done!". Turns out my wife had put it in the strake cutout in the door and dropped it on the pavement when the door opened.

Andy Millin still remembers meeting us and hearing me tell that story at that year's Velocity dinner. We sold our first plane that year with the intention of building the newly announced XL. Andy had just purchased his kit that year, and has now just finished it and will fly in the next few months. We never thought it would be 10 years before we finished our next kit, our XL.

I finally "finished" our XL last year and managed to fly it into Oshkosh in green and grey primer. It looked absolutely terrible, but I made it - flew into Oshkosh in my own plane again.


Every trip to Oshkosh is like a touchstone, a kind of milepost in my life. I see my flying friends, visit my favorite restaurants, bother the guys at the Velocity display and try to soak up every minute, knowing that those few days will go by in an instant.

As I go through my Oshkosh routine, I reflect on the changes in my life. I'm a middle aged father now, about to turn 50. Dad is no longer with us, and my beautiful girlfriend is now my beautiful wife. We have two great kids and plan to bring them with us for the first time this year.

It will mean a lot to me to share this place, this experience, with them at last. I hope it can become a family tradition we can share as they grow up.

To my friends, I look forward to seeing you again in a few weeks! To those following the blog, I hope you will stop by and say hello.

_________________________________________________________________

An Expensive Ding

We've had an incredible string of bad weather here this Spring with almost constant rain since we got back from the Bahamas. We finally got a nice stretch of sunny, if windy days, and I washed the plane in anticipation of starting the summer flying season. It looks great all cleaned up.

_______________________________________________________________

Ding and crack on aft side

Fine crack on forward side

Of course, in my world, it always seems I have to work a little extra for each step. An inspection before my next flight shows that a crack has propagated from a stone ding in the leading edge guard on one of the blades. It is hair fine, but it is there.

I am sorely tempted to ignore it, since the guard is not structural and is not delaminated from the blade at all. However, I have learned the hard way not to ignore anything out of the ordinary. I called the manufacturer, Aerocomposites, in Connecticut. They referred me to the company that does their repairs and overhauls, American Propeller Service, in California. Predictably, I am told that the guard will need to be replaced as it could delaminate and depart at any time.

!*!!##**!!! (or words to that effect)

I am kind of ticked off. The supposedly invulnerable leading edge guard obviously isn't. I will have to pay a local prop shop $1,000 to dismantle and reassemble the prop, shipping to and from California ( for the prop made only 2 hours drive from here in Pennsylvania)  and at least $1,000 to have the guard replaced, the blades refinished, painted and balanced.

I am told that this is unusual and just bad luck. Most of these are holding up well, even on pushers. I'll buy that this time.

The good news is that I'll have a new looking prop for the unveiling of the paint job at Oshkosh. The bad news is that I'm out quite a bit of cash to maintain a year old propeller.

Once again, I go back to those words of wisdom from Duane Swing at Velocity - " Don't hate it, fix it!"

_____________________________________________________________

I took off work today and removed the prop. Having done it multiple times, I can do it myself in about 40 minutes. It doesn't weigh much, but it is a little nerve wracking trying to get the last few bolts removed while holding the prop with oil soaked hands and trying not to drop it when if finally comes loose.

____________________________________________________________

There was no way the prop was going into my Infiniti. Incredibly, the prop sort of fits in my wife's Prius, which I usually refer to as her Clown Car because of its size.

I dropped it off for disassembly and shipment to California. With any luck, it's supposed to be back in 3 weeks all shiny and new looking. By then, it will be time to take a few tune up trips and head to Oshkosh.

I hope some of the folks following the blog will be able to stop by, say hello and check out the finish paint and revised interior in person.



______________________________________________________________