Day 5 - Trying to absorb it all!

Today was the first official day of the BIG SHOW and the weather was perfect for wandering from vendor to vendor, plane to plane, conversation to conversation. The number of planes flown in by campers is significantly less because of the long wait for the grounds to dry and the campers opting to leave their planes at surrounding airports and just drive to OSH and camp. So we are seeing tent cities with no airplanes - a major departure from past years.

We wandered separately and I found myself sort of going in circles trying to decide what to see next. There is just SO MUCH! Most of my time was spent looking at little known new aircraft lines or unusual "niche" aircraft. Examples are:
The Terrafugia - the latest attempt to create a flying car (or roadable airplane)
The IconA - A very sleek-looking pusher amphibian for two (pretty limited market)
Light sport aircraft of every shape and design - Everyone seems to be trying to get in to this new market though sales have been slow (they still cost $100K!)

The first air show was well run with one aerobatic act quickly following the last for 2 1/2 hours! The new aerobatic aircraft are so light, so over-powered, and so strongly built that the typical routine has the aircraft tumbling through the air - sideways, tail first, and every which way! The show was closed by a stunt paid for by Ford where they had a Sikorsky sky crane helicopter bring in the 2011 model of the Ford Explorer, its first public display. Edsel Ford, himself, drove it from where the sky crane left it on the runway to the show center. That stunt was followed by an outdoor concert by Chicago, music well matched to the crowd!

One interesting incident occurred when I went to get a bite of lunch at one of the concession stands and sat across from an older gentleman. As is the custom here, we immediately started talking about flying and airplanes and how we got there. I suddenly realized, as did he, that he was the same person with whom Steve had had an hour-long conversation the afternoon before! Steve had told us of that conversation as the guy WAS fascinating. We both marveled that out of 80,000 people that "rematch" had happened.

Steve struck up a conversation with yet another ex-Flying Tiger captain and even got us an invitation to a party that his group of pilots - the Beechcraft crowd -is throwing Wednesday night!

Tomorrow will be a Warbird day for me. And another air show!

Dick