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#1
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Oshkosh 2003 Redux
(Jay Honeck wrote)
snipped stuff And our rec.aviation get-together was a rousing success, I'm hoping [Montblack] snagged the beer before some EAA lineguy did... Random thoughts, because I'm tired - haven't unpacked yet... I did find the "abandoned" beer cooler - thank you Jay. And please thank Mary for me. Jack Allison and his brother, another Steve, were at the (rec.aviation.N40festival) - He flew a 172 in from Sacramento California, IIRC. It was nice to meet everyone who was there. Went to Friar Tuck's twice this week. I recommend the $3.50 Chef Salad and the $3.95 Little John or Mini-Tuck or (whatever), long bun beef melt thing - excellent. Stay away from the onion rings. Pitcher prices were ok-reasonable. Cheeseburger was the size of a car hubcap - $3.50. I liked the place. Never did bump into Jim Weir ...at the dorms (I was 2nd floor Fletcher) or at Friar Tuck's. I'll have to attend one of his seminar(s). Next year. Never been to Oshkosh before this year. Will return. I kept stumbling across Australians and New Zealanders. Lots of them - everywhere you went ...there they were. It got to be kind of spooky after awhile. Quick blurb on today - Sunday Woke up in the dorms. Planned on meeting Jay, Mary and their two OshKids for breakfast. Larry, from rec.homebuilt, couldn't make it to breakfast with us because of morning forums. Everyone else I knew at Oshkosh had already headed for home. Packed up the room, checked out, loaded the car and drove over to the Hilton, which is practically on the field. We hung around Jay's plane from 8:30am until enough voices pleaded, "I'm hungry" - then we walked 100 yds over to the Hilton for buffet breakfast. Had a relaxing and enjoyable breakfast. After breakfast, Jay and Mary were planing their Sunday departure options. Looked iffy for VFR. I said good-bye and caught the school bus over to the warbirds, before Mary could put me to work packing up the camp. Bus dropped me off by Fighter Ally (or whatever it's called). Many of the planes were all rev'd up and in line to depart. I think most pilots saw a weather window and figured it's now or ...who knows when? Sat on the grass for over an hour watching the parade of (mostly) warplanes taxi in front of us (me, and 100's of other gawkers). Poor planes were in quite a traffic jam - I was worried some might overheat. There was one emergency declared while I was listening on my scanner. A Warrior type took off, declared emergency - "engine out" (his words), and returned to the airport safely. He seemed to have some power when he returned. There were other return-to-the-airport planes, but that was the only person who declared "emergency". Next year I'll bring an earjack for the scanner. All those warbirds, in a departure parade traffic jam, made too much noise for me to be able to hear the scanner all that well Saw more of the vendor tents today. Went through many buildings today. Carried a plastic bag (with handles) around for info sheets, brochures, my scanner and a 32oz PowerAde/Gatorade bottle - for water. Water faucets everywhere. I went through over a gallon per day (5-6 bottles). Riley Superskyrocket was scheduled for a space (#65) but were a no-show. The juicy scoop I got from SMA Diesel was, SMA is -- "no longer in communication with Riley". (Read between the lines) Symphony planes had the right idea - remove the wings and doors, then display the plane. People could walk right up and see the roomy(?) interior. Enjoyed talking with the Russian "Sherpa" kit plane folks. They had a t-shirt that had (in big red letters) OSHKOSH 2003. And because it was theirs, and not EAA's, it only cost $5.00. Perfect gift!! D-Jet was cool at Diamond. Single engine ..."Williams 44" Mustang has a MONSTROUSLY HUGE display screen in their panel. Eclipse had a fun tent. From a "big picture" cynic's point of view, however ....it looked like a damage control display as much as anything else. Ran out of time, didn't see the Adam A-700 Jet. Didn't see any booths for the other small jet players. Looked like rain, so I dropped plans to watch the afternoon air show and headed back to the busses. Jay was gone, beer cooler was waiting for me vBg. I got to my car, a short distance away, just as the rain started. Air show was on hold because of lightning. I listened to the Oshkosh EAA AM radio feed, driving back to Minnesota. They threw together an abbreviated effort for the visitors - car was out of range after a while so I couldn't hear how it finished. 300+ miles (6 hours TT) got home around 10 pm. Nice relaxing drive - no deer, no tickets. Other fun stuff, must sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.....mmm...D-jet (2006)....zzzzzzzzz -- Montblack |
#2
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Jay Honeck ) wrote:
snip - Once again Oshkosh was heaven on earth for one week, and the ONLY place to be during the last week of July. Our 21st consecutive Oshkosh was as fabulous as the first -- better, since we now know a bunch of you guys and gals! -- and we're already making plans to attend again NEXT year... Jay, thank you very much for providing your Oshkosh experiences here. The Lightspeed story was apropos, given all that I have been through as well. With all of the rain and t-storms there, you were able to leave VFR? I was watching the weather closely the last few days and noticed line after line of storms in the area of Oshkosh. -- Peter ----== Posted via Usenet.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.Usenet.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups ---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =--- |
#3
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Its amazing how much stuff one can miss that others report on!
I was tempted by the cessna 120 "project" plane in aeromart, but with no information (telephone number, logbooks, dataplate, etc), just didn't take it too seriously. Only $3K, and probably could have made more than that parting it out if it wasn't worth fixing. |
#4
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With all of the rain and t-storms there, you were able to leave VFR? I
was watching the weather closely the last few days and noticed line after line of storms in the area of Oshkosh. Yep -- it rained every day we were there! We departed yesterday knowing (from our North 40 FAA weather briefing) that there was a line of showers/storms stretching North/South down the state about 60 miles west of OSH. The radar was your typical summer shot of popcorn -- showers appearing and building out of no where, and then dissipating just as quickly. They weren't moving east much, just kind of developing in place. We launched figuring we'd be able to slide down the east side of the line, and eventually pick our way west in between the cells. In the Midwest, in summer, when faced with a disorganized line of storms (and with a good ceiling of at least 2500 feet), this is quite doable. Of course we called Flight Service in the air, who immediately advised us to "land in Madison for a weather briefing, as things look tough ahead for you". We were just east of Madison at that time, could see one big cell bearing down on Madison, with clear all around. We thanked him very much, bid him adieu, and simply flew around the cell. With one or two more minor diversions, we were home free. Didn't see another cloud until we arrived at Iowa City, where there was yet ANOTHER summer storm cell sitting over the airport. It moved on just in time for Mary to land on the wet runway. Typical August flying around here. -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#5
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Its amazing how much stuff one can miss that others report on!
Oshkosh is so big, there is simply no way for any two people to see the same show. -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#6
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This was a different OSH for me... the first year with kids in tow.
Boy, John, you sure nailed that on the head. I remember coming to OSH in the early 80s, just Mary and me riding a Kawasaki 750. (Brought my first propeller home lashed to Mary's backrest on the bike!) We could walk, and walk, and gawk, almost running from plane to plane. I was a pilot wannabe, and Mary was fairly indifferent to flying -- boy did that change! Then, along came the kids. First in the back-pack, then one in the pack and the wagon -- then BOTH in the wagon. We were suddenly able to only cover 25% of what we could once see, and the show became totally different for us. Now, at 9 and 12, the pace is picking up again. Soon, they'll be able to run from plane to plane, and I'll be too old and tired! Life is a river, eh? -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" "john smith" wrote in message ... My kids and I had a great time at the North 40 Festival 2003. Sorry I didn't join everyone at Friar Tuck's, we had just come from dinner at the Hilton prior to arriving at the party. I enjoyed meeting everyone. I wish that Colonel Jim had been in attendance so we could have "roasted" the non attendees. They enjoyed KidVenture, the Beluga and the NASA building, but didn't have any patience for the "Dad stuff". My son had his first Polish sausage and kept asking to go back for more. The worst thing that happened was my daughter losing her bandana in the Wright Flyer tent. That took alot of consoling to bring her out of her depression. I was fortunate to be at my campsite when the windstorm hit on Tuesday afternoon. I managed to get the tarp off my wing before it got whipped to shreds. I learned my lesson last year and bought the heavy duty, reinforced eyelet model this year. I need to get a bigger one for next year. Jay had a good location in front of the Hilton... perfect for displaying the Alexis Park Inn banner. WalMart should fire the real-estate person who moved the store two miles down the road. Why anyone would give up sales in the middle of summer that probably outdo Christmas is beyond comprehension. Target reaped the gain, selling out of sleeping bags, tents, and coolers and restocking quickly. I did things differently this year. Instead of sleeping bags, I brought fleece blankets and sleeping pads. This worked really well and required less space in the airplane. The bulky item was the stove and propane tank. It was heavy and took up space, but it paid off when it came to cooking meals and cleaning up. Fresh food was purchased from Piggly Wiggly each afternoon following the airshow. We walked the length of the flightline, from "North Fond du Lac" to the Warbirds. Wednesday, the airport was full! Looking at what was on the field Sunday night, I didn't think attendance would be as good as it was. Monday and Tuesday brought alot of arrivals. The rains which began Tuesday afternoon and continued each afternoon and evening thereafter, lead to many premature departures Thursday, Friday and Saturday. My tent, clothes and campsite stayed dry throughout as I was on the high ground. I need to point my airplane the other way next year so I can see the runway from under the tarp. It's the small touches that make the difference. |
#7
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What I want to know is what he said about fixing the quality control and
design problems? Lightspeed appears to have re-designed almost everything. The headband is different, so it won't break. The battery box is completely re-designed, and now comes with a little plastic "holster" that can be clipped (or permanently mounted) to the side panel. This takes the weight of the batteries off the wires, and sure looks nicer than the paperclip kludge I came up with... The ear pieces are now made of a different material that supposedly won't delaminate from the underlying foam. The microphone is a bit different -- maybe it won't loosen up and flop down so easily. They've even addressed the "tinny music" issue, which I had never even complained about, by adding a "bass-boost" and a "treble boost" button on the battery box. This feature makes formerly ANR-corrupted music sound much closer to normal. We'll see if he comes through, but I'm fairly impressed so far... -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#8
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"john smith" wrote in message
Fresh food was purchased from Piggly Wiggly each afternoon following the airshow. Speaking of that, did you hear the news that Dolly Parton was buying up all the Big Star, Piggly Wiggly's, and Harris Teeter stores up there around Wisconsin? Yes, she plans to put them all under one name: Big Wiggly Teeters -- Jim Fisher |
#9
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"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:b0yXa.64573$Ho3.9416@sccrnsc03...
What I want to know is what he said about fixing the quality control and design problems? Lightspeed appears to have re-designed almost everything. The headband is different, so it won't break. The battery box is completely re-designed, and now comes with a little plastic "holster" that can be clipped (or permanently mounted) to the side panel. ..... All true. The 30-3G is a redesign. However, judging from Peter R's experience with sending back 3 different headsets, and judging from my experience having a battery box which shorted out less than a month after receiving the headset, the QC issues could still use some work. The point of my other post was, it is nice that the President of Lightspeed offered you a free headset. It will be nice for you if he comes through. But there are plenty of other folks out there who spent comparable amounts of money on Lightspeed Headsets to you and Mary (ourselves amoung them, we own 3) and who are having recurrant problems, and what are they doing for us? I have to say it, and if you'll send me the guy's name and address I'll say it to him: we're very concerned that we've spent more than $1000 on comfortable headsets which we enjoy very much, but which are going to keep breaking, and that the great service and support to fix them will only be around as long as the company is. If they don't fix their QC issues and do *something* for their (current crop of) loyal customers who keep having to send in their headsets for repair, how long is that going to be? IMHO they need to do something beyond "supply the occasional free headset to a guy in the right place at the right time". They need to come up with (at least an attempt) at a retrograde fix for the 20K, 20XL, and 25XL design problems. Cheers, Sydney |
#10
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We had a lot of hail around those boomers, some as big as golf balls, and some leaving 2" of pea sized on the ground.
Gotta watch those temps aloft... -- Dan D. .. "Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:swtXa.62680$uu5.6087@sccrnsc04... With all of the rain and t-storms there, you were able to leave VFR? I was watching the weather closely the last few days and noticed line after line of storms in the area of Oshkosh. Yep -- it rained every day we were there! We departed yesterday knowing (from our North 40 FAA weather briefing) that there was a line of showers/storms stretching North/South down the state about 60 miles west of OSH. The radar was your typical summer shot of popcorn -- showers appearing and building out of no where, and then dissipating just as quickly. They weren't moving east much, just kind of developing in place. We launched figuring we'd be able to slide down the east side of the line, and eventually pick our way west in between the cells. In the Midwest, in summer, when faced with a disorganized line of storms (and with a good ceiling of at least 2500 feet), this is quite doable. Of course we called Flight Service in the air, who immediately advised us to "land in Madison for a weather briefing, as things look tough ahead for you". We were just east of Madison at that time, could see one big cell bearing down on Madison, with clear all around. We thanked him very much, bid him adieu, and simply flew around the cell. With one or two more minor diversions, we were home free. Didn't see another cloud until we arrived at Iowa City, where there was yet ANOTHER summer storm cell sitting over the airport. It moved on just in time for Mary to land on the wet runway. Typical August flying around here. -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
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