Oshkosh Pictures and The Story of The Missing Picture

This was our first Oshkosh trip. We camped for less than three days
but took lots of pictures and some videos. Here are the links to
images we took from Sunday July 23rd to Tuesday July 24th. The last
picture was taken at my brief meeting with some of the r.a.p regulars
at Jay Honeck's campsite. The dazed and crazed look on Jay's face
after the blinding flash convinced me to put my camera away ;-)

http://makeashorterlink.com/?U12A2148D

http://makeashorterlink.com/?E13A6448D

While reviewing the images, Rick told me that he wished we had taken a
picture of the DG while we were flying over Lake Erie enroute to
Oshkosh. Here is the story of the missing picture.

We delayed our Oshkosh bound trip until Sunday morning to wait for the
front to pass. All through Saturday until early Sunday, there were
quite a few of scattered thunderstorms. It was still quite hot and
humid when we departed at around 8am. Rick flew the first leg from
KPOU (Poughkeepsie, NY) to 8G2 (Corry, PA). After fueling both the
planes and ourselves, we put on our life jackets in preparation for the
flight over Lake Erie. The lake was at least 25nm away but it was
easier to don the jackets on the ground.

I was the PIC for the second leg from 8G2 to 3FM (Fremont, MI). We
cruised at 8000' with the OAT over 60F. The cabin felt much hotter
with the sun shining brightly from the East. After about 40 minutes of
flying with the life vest, I was hot and thirsty and reached for the
water bottle. Not sure whether the mouthful of water triggered some
reaction or it was just a coincidence, I felt a tickle in my nose and
had a spontaneous sneeze spraying water all over the instrument panel!
We watched in horror as the tiny rivulets of water made their way down
the panel. The most awful sight was the DG window. Within a few
seconds, the water had quickly seeped inside the glass by capillary
action forming tiny bubbles. The inside of the small round window was
filed with expanding and exploding bubbles! I searched the center
console in vain for some paper towels. With quick thinking, Rick
reached for the towel on the backseat yanking it from under piles of
approach charts and bags to wipe off the water. Everything dried off
quickly but we could not get the water out of the DG window. I thought
to myself "Oh my gosh, what have I done? We are flying over the
lake on an IFR flight plan and the DG is dying. How do I explain it to
ATC?" We nervously watched our DG heading, comparing it to the
compass and the GPS. The indicated heading barely visible under
bubbles inside the tiny cauldron still showed 290 plus or minus a few
degrees.

I did not remember how long that it took to cross Lake Erie but it
seemed like a long time. The water 8000 feet below us and the water
inside the DG got incorporated into my instrument scan with me trying
hard not to fixate on them. The numbers in the DG gradually became
clearer as the bubbles slowly coalesced into fewer and larger ones. By
the time we reached the other shore, most of them were gone. I felt a
few droplets of water on my knee. Not sure whether it was the water
dripping out from the DG or my own sweat bullets. The DG was still
rock solid. I felt a tremendous sense of relief. It was still hot and
humid. My throat was dry. I reached for the bottle of water again.
This time, I turned my head sideway, facing the copilot and not the
instrument panel ;-)

Hai Longworth
N30703