Max Trescott on General Aviation

Oshkosh Finale: the Photos

The Oshkosh photos, all 56 of them, are now loaded. You can find them by clicking here or going to the lower right of the blog page. There are a number of great aerial views from a Bell 47 helicopter and a Ford Trimotor that give a good feel for the enormity of AirVenture. There are also some great views from the new control tower. With this, we conclude our Oshkosh coverage and fall back to our normal 3 or 4 posts a month, depending upon what aviation tidbits catch our attention. I hope you've enjoyed the coverage and that it motivates you to go to AirVenture in 2009! 

Oshkosh Update--Flying a 1929 Ford Trimotor

Saturday was a completely unscheduled day and it was fun to just wander around and take in the random wonders of AirVenture. The day started by meeting up with Paul Plack of www.aero-news.net. If you’re not familiar with Paul’s work, then you’re missing out on an informative and fun part of general aviation. Paul spent more than 25 years in front of the microphone at a variety of radio stations around the country. He now applies his creative energy to understanding all facets of general aviation and produces daily podcasts for Aero-News Network. The guy is a pro and I highly recommend his podcasts.

We recorded a podcast related to...

Oshkosh Update Day 4 – Owning the Night

Another fabulous day and night at Oshkosh. But is there any other kind?

The day started out with official pictures in the EAA Museum with the four General Aviation Award winners in front of the new plaque that lists all of the past and current winners. Then there were the unofficial pictures. I’ve chosen to post one of those, which in this case shows a son and his proud mother. Mom took flying lessons as a teen, though never followed the footsteps of her father and older brother who completed their private licenses. So naturally it was mom who used to drive me to the airport at age 15, before I had a driver’s license, so that I could take flying lessons. I’m proud of you too mom and thanks for coming to share in the fun with me at Oshkosh this week.

Our awards also included...

Oshkosh Update—The View from the Top

It's going to be hard to top today--Oshkosh just keeps getting better and better. The day started out with the Master CFI breakfast, which usually draws around 50 of the approximately 550 Master CFIs. It’s a leisurely affair that affords lots of time to renew acquaintances with other CFI’s and friends in the media who attend.

For at least five years running, the keynote speaker has been...

Oshkosh Update—CFI of the Year

Day 2 was another great day in Oshkosh. But you’ve probably figured out that for me every day in Oshkosh is a great day. Actually there was the night in

Photo: Acting FAA Administrator Bobby Sturgell

2005 when a storm swept through about 9PM. I came back to my campsite and everything was gone. No tent, no cot or sleeping bag, nothing. I started asking around and people talked about watching a tent blow up the side of an RV and then over the top of it. Apparently it was quite a sight--I wish I’d seen it. After searching about a half hour I found my tent about a quarter of mile away in a ditch along side of a road. A passerby helped load the tent in the back of their pickup truck and drove it back to my campsite. By 11PM I was snug in my tent and smiling again. It’s hard to be upset for long when you’re settled in with tens of thousands of other happy people reveling in Oshkosh, which is really a synthesis of the best there is in aviation. If there were a Woodstock for pilots (without the bad connotations), this would be it.

I started the day...

Oshkosh Update--It doesn't Get Much Better than This!

Just as children eagerly await Christmas, I can’t wait each year to wake up and find that I’m in Oshkosh. If you’ve never been to Oshkosh, and you wonder how busy people manage to squeeze it into their schedule each year, let me explain how simple it is. Just start planning for it immediately. Mark if off the calendar for 2009 and then guard the time, as there will be at least a dozen activities that will compete for that time. Just keep saying no and then do what I’m doing now--smile because you’re in Oshkosh! Here’s a quick sampling of the past few weeks and my first full day at Oshkosh.

Friends and blog readers will note that I’ve been invisible...

Sun 'n Fun live over the internet!

Yes, those are the Thunderbirds! They've been roaring overhead all week, and if you can't be in Lakeland, FL for Sun 'n Fun, then you might be able to catch them live over the internet on Saturday. The FAA's TV production studios are located right in the middle of the Sun 'n Fun show, and they run a total of 7 cameras from various locations. You can learn more at the FAA's studios website. I was...

AirVenture 2007 Oshkosh

We are living in the most fascinating time in general aviation history. After decades of little change, we’re seeing cataclysmic change on all fronts. On the low end, Light Sport aircraft offer the promise of attracting new people back into aviation. In the middle, Cessna is developing their next generation piston aircraft and Cirrus has a new high flying, turbocharged SR22. Higher up, Cessna and Eclipse are both shipping Very Light Jets. And of course, glass cockpits are showing up everywhere, from light sport aircraft to the jets.

The one place to see it all is Oshkosh. For years, I read about it in the magazines and thought, "this sounds pretty good." But Oshkosh is so great that words and pictures simply don't do it justice. You must go there and experience it yourself to appreciate how great it is. AirVenture is Mecca for pilots, and all pilots should make a pilgrimage to Oshkosh at least once during their lifetime. You can find my Oshkosh pictures by clicking here, or on the Oshkosh Photo Album located on the main page of this blog. I spent five days at Oshkosh this year, and it was...