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Chris and I flew to Oshkosh Wisconsin to attend Airventure 2003, the world's largest air show and fly-in. I had traveled to Oshkosh the previous year in a friend's plane, but this was my first time flying my own plane into Oshkosh. The outbound leg took us from South County airport near our home in Morgan Hill, CA over Lake Tahoe and on to Ogden, UT near Salt Lake City. After an overnight stay there, we flew on to Madison, Wisconsin with a fuel stop in Valentine, Nebraska. While in Madison, we visited my friend Norm who showed us around downtown. The following morning we made the final hop into Oshkosh. We were very fortunate to have good weather on the way out.
Crossing the Mississippi Happily, the conditions were VFR. For the week of the air show, Oshkosh becomes the busiest airport in the world. So busy that arriving and departing aircraft are allowed only to listen to ATC, not to respond on the radio. Just as we reached the first visual waypoint on the approach to Oshkosh, ATC put a hold on arriving traffic. We then had to fly in circles above the town of Ripon with about 20 other aircraft of varying types and at varying altitudes. After about 12 minutes of holding, we were directed to proceed and everyone formed a mostly-single-file line along the railroad tracks leading to Oshkosh. The railroad tracks took us to a right base for runways 18L (a converted taxiway) and 18R. There is another runway (9/27) crossing 18 at the approach end of 18 which was actively being used, so we were instructed to fly at 1000 feet AGL until crossing 9/27, then dive for our assigned runway and land. There were only two other aircraft on my assigned runway, so I chose a touchdown point well past them and landed.
The Airbus Beluga transport The Oshkosh experience was amazing. Approximately 8000 visiting aircraft combined with hundreds of show aircraft and hundreds of vendor booths and tents created quite a spectacle. We visited all the vendors that might have something to improve N8BB with. And Chris, being fascinated with turbines, took pictures of just about every turbine we saw. We didn't have any accommodations arranged in advance, but were able to snap up a cancellation at a nice hotel just 10 minutes down the road in Neenah. The weather during the air show was mixed, with lots of sun interspersed with thundershowers. Some of the highlights were a Ford tri-motor ride and a visit to the seaplane base.
Big thunderstorm near Valentine Nebraska The flight home was fairly smooth. IFR conditions in the morning on Monday delayed our departure until the afternoon, and we made it to Valentine, Nebraska after diverting around a huge hail-producing thunderstorm. After a restful stay in the Super 8 honeymoon suite, we set off for home with a fuel stop in Logan, Utah. Last modified: 05/11/2012 |
