I put my GoPro on the vertical stabilizer.  The mount I used wasn't the best...

AirVenture 2012 - Bucket List Item

Beth and I flew N1537J to Oshkosh, WI July 22, 2012 to attend EAA AirVenture 2012.  Beth and I have attended AirVenture before, but this is the first time that we have flown our own plane in.  It is quite a thrill to fly the VFR Fisk arrival to Oshkosh.  Check out the instructions to do it!  This was one of my bucket list items that I can now tick off.

The view from the back row...

When we made it to the ground, the ground crew directed us to our parking spot... Row 544!!! It turned out to be a pretty good spot after all.

Our little corner of AirVenture 2012.

Beth with one of the Mooney Sheiks.

On our way to the shower facilities, we passed the camp site of a very politically incorrect sort...  Beth knew we should document it.  So here it is.  What do you think?  The guys who set it up were both service men recently back from the mid-east.

Infidel Bar and Grill

Hanging at Target for the A/C.

Both Sunday and Monday the actual temperature topped 96 degrees, with a heat index of over 105 degrees.  So a trip to Target was a welcome break.

2005 Sweepstakes winner, 1964 Cherokee 140.

Our small camp...

Near buses and potties, as good as it gets!

A pair of Dyke Delta aircraft.

JD-2 Dyke Delta

While the Dyke Delta looks strange, it apparently flys very well and very fast.  Here is a link to an article about this particular airplane.

SX300

A very sharp  Swearingen SX300.  For more information about SX300s click this link.  For more information about this particular airplane click here.

Burt Rutan designed this unusual twin-engine airplane.

Click here to read more about the Boomerang!

Rutan Defiant, push-me pull-you?

Click here to read more about the Defiant.

Seawind.

Click here to read more about the Seawind.

HondaJet

Honda it finally getting into the aviation business.  This airplane should be a real winner for them.  To read more about the HondaJet, click here.

While we were in the HondaJet exibit, we saw a demonstration of ASIMO a humanoid robot that Honda has been working on for several years.  I was able to get into the front row and got some pretty good video.  

Check it out here.

Steve Miller Band entertains crowds at AirVenture: fox11online.com

A free Steve Miller Band concert, Monday evening...

Touch and Goes via webcam...

I had used my iPhone 4S to video some take-offs and landings last weekend with less than satisfactory results. The shutter speed of the camera and the propeller speed caused weird effects on the video, plus the mount I used would vibrate pretty violently at certian RPMs so the video was worthless.  So being the geek pilot I am, I wondered what would happen if I just used a webcam attached to my laptop computer to video the flying.  The problem with that is I don't have a good way to mount the webcam... or do I?

This is what you can do with a webcam and about twenty feet of clear packing tape...

This week I had a couple of guys in my class who had never flown in a small plane.  So, of course, I had to give them a ride around the Marshalltown area.

This young man is an electrical/instrumentation engineer for an oil company in Nigeria.  He enjoyed my explanation about how the controls work on an airplane... "When you push here the houses get bigger, and when you pull the houses get smaller..."  He understood pretty well.  When we were climbing out from the airport I let him have the controls and he did a pretty good job of keeping the sunny side up.  LOL

Even though it was this guys first time in a small plane, he was completely uneffected.  I'm sure he is ready to go again.

The weather didn't cooperate as much as I wish it would have...  It was pretty hazy, and within about 15 minutes, we had to beat it back to the airport to beat the evening fog, as it rolled in.