Coolest thing you saw at Oshkosh 2017

Not seen at Oshkosh -- Any trace of the Terrafugia Transition.

I don't remember seeing it last year either. Info online indicates they're still in business and expecting first delivery in 2019. IIRC first delivery was supposed to be about five years ago. Anyone heard anything definitive? Methinks if they were still in business they'd be at AirVenture because that's their market.
 
I thought the Mako was my favorite. Good looking aircraft, and the automatic nose gear was interesting. It takes data from the avionics regarding AGL, speed, flaps, etc, and automatically drops the gear. 2 of 3 criteria have to be met for the gear to automatically lower, and 4 of 4 criteria have to be met for the gear to retract. If it works, I would imagine other retractable gear aircraft to follow suit. They said it does have a manual override as well. :)
 
Cluemeister said:
I thought the Mako was my favorite. Good looking aircraft, and the automatic nose gear was interesting. It takes data from the avionics regarding AGL, speed, flaps, etc, and automatically drops the gear. 2 of 3 criteria have to be met for the gear to automatically lower, and 4 of 4 criteria have to be met for the gear to retract. If it works, I would imagine other retractable gear aircraft to follow suit. They said it does have a manual override as well. :)
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Hey, my 172 already has that feature. Every time I do my GUMPS check the gear is already down and welded. It is automagic! :D
 
Van Johnston said:
"We're turning a hardware problem into a software problem."

Yikes!

But it does look cool.
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Yeah I didn't think he was the best interviewer or representative of the product, but that thing does look friggin awesome!
 
I'm not there so I didn't get to see it, but my neighbor just won "Best restoration of a classic homebuilt aircraft" for his Pitts restoration.
 
Well, this was my first OSH, so all of it was pretty cool (save for the massive abundance of perverts).

Highlights - BBQ with Cirrus 2 Airventure pals in the North 40, having Buzz Aldrin pop into a dinner I was at, getting to go up in @write-stuff 's DC-3 for some fun maneueving and low approaches over the field, watching the Blue Angels with @Dave Theisen , and meeting lots of new friends and some folks from PoA.

But the coolest thing I saw was two little girls standing by the wing of a B-29 pointing and gawking and smiling at planes performing at one of the airshows. Those kids, and those like them, are the future of aviation.
 
Stuck at home due to a job change and no vacation available to burn, but the coolest thing I saw was arrivals. I could sit in my air conditioning and watch arrival all day. Best of all, only one pervert to deal with and I just don't annoy myself that much.

Next year, and hopefully flying in.
 
Ok @Cajun_Flyer , it's easy to say that meeting you is on my list of coolest things, but it's a tough sell that I'm anywhere on yours. :) I'm glad we were able to meet up.

I would have liked to have met more PoAer's, but running around with just one day to spend, it was tough trying to do as much as possible. I'm grateful for the one day, but it sucked getting home and thinking, "I forgot to go see this or I wish I could have met xxxxxx". But still a great experience as always.

One neat thing was talking to one of my former students. He was just a high school kid at the time and is a special memory because he got his license (yeah, I know, certificate) on the day my daughter was born. In the picture of us together on the flight school website, you can see the hospital bracelet on my wrist. He's now a grown ass man working for Cub Crafters and my daughter starts high school tomorrow!
 
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Didn't realize OSH was a popular gathering for perverts.:D
 
I got to see my son fly the Ripon approach and land at OSH. That was the coolest thing for me.

Second may have been seeing how much difference it made parking on 12x12 squares of plywood. Everyone around me got out but many of them had sunk into the ground enough to require a lot of help. We had my Archer rolled out of the spot and turned with little effort. Definitely worth the couple pounds of payload it cost.

But overall there were too many cool things to list!
 
Not the coolest, but it made me laugh. One of the massage chair displays had a sign hanging that said in large letters "LOCALLY MADE", and then in very small letters below that "In Japan".
 
Tie between a F-35, A-10, 2 P-51 heritage flight, and double B-29, double B-25 missing man with a -29 doing the pull-up.

Jim

PS - Nah...I think the missing man tops the list.
 
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I was very impressed with the C-123 "Thunder Pig" exhibit. Not only is it a cool aircraft, but the pictures of it in the service, restoration history, and the extremely helpful/friendly staff inside were all wonderful. I think that was my favorite static display at the show. A lot of that credit goes to the guys inside who were sharing information and giving context to the photos and other gear inside.
 
tmcquinn said:
Second may have been seeing how much difference it made parking on 12x12 squares of plywood. Everyone around me got out but many of them had sunk into the ground enough to require a lot of help. We had my Archer rolled out of the spot and turned with little effort. Definitely worth the couple pounds of payload it cost.
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Guess what my co-owner forgot in the hangar? :)

He said $20 and a couple of teenagers took care of the problem. I know anyone at OSH would have helped him push out, so he just wanted to be nice to the teens. :)
 
Sea plane base is always a nice quiet break. The Wednesday night air show (before the rain). The B1, or any jet with the afterburners on full boil passing overhead. The A10. One of my favorite warbirds. F14 is tops, but the A10 is just silly awesome.
Not meeting any POA'rs. I dont like people so thats a bonus to me. :)
 
denverpilot said:
Guess what my co-owner forgot in the hangar? :)

He said $20 and a couple of teenagers took care of the problem. I know anyone at OSH would have helped him push out, so he just wanted to be nice to the teens. :)
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Forgot the plywood? That's nothing! Last year I BROUGHT plywood, then looked around and said, "no one else is using it, I'm not going to bother". It took four of us a Hell of a time to get that Bonanza to move. Never Again!
 
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I bought cheap plastic cutting boards from walmart. They worked better than nothing but they still dished out a little bit.
 
Hmm, seems a fella could make a little pocket change selling plywood at Oshkosh to you rich airplane owners. What's wrong with them Wisconsin boys? Too much Old Style injection I reckon.
 
denverpilot said:
Ummmm. Want to edit that?

My former brother in law is aboard ISS right now. :)
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Well, I'd like to thank him and the rest of the ISS crew for once again joining us at Oshkosh. On Saturday night. Immediately following the Wall of Fire. It was a perfectly clear night, and you couldn't miss the ISS streaking across the sky.
 
Smart thing I saw while parking planes was aluminum diamond plate with chocks bent into one side of them. Roll the plane right onto them, then stick a chock behind the tires.

I managed to get in with a large group that does it right: they get a large tent, bring in multiple grills, cools, kegs....

And we were camped right on the taxiway. One day when everyone was leaving, there were a few multimillion $turbines lined up and waiting on the 09/27 taxiway for 15-20 minutes. Then this guy. Then more multimillion $turbines. We tried to get his attention to give him a burger before he flew out, but he focused forward. He's more EAA than the other planes that were in line IMO. That tail# is registered in FL. Good long flight in a 150.

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Coolest thing(s) in the air: The aforementioned missing man with both B-29s, and the jet-bomber flyby (B-1, B-2, B-52 in formation).

Coolest thing(s) on the ground: Cheaper avionics. I'm particularly impressed with Dynon's suite - 10" display, backup display, ADS-B in/out transponder, autopilot, and all the other goodies for $16Kish. They said the pricing is the same as it is for experimental, plus $2K for the STC. Since the G3X Touch is also now in a Part 23-certified airplane, I'm expecting Garmin to follow suit quickly. Pricing will dictate what we buy.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Coolest thing(s) on the ground: Cheaper avionics. I'm particularly impressed with Dynon's suite - 10" display, backup display, ADS-B in/out transponder, autopilot, and all the other goodies for $16Kish. They said the pricing is the same as it is for experimental, plus $2K for the STC. Since the G3X Touch is also now in a Part 23-certified airplane, I'm expecting Garmin to follow suit quickly. Pricing will dictate what we buy.
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I love when we think that an LCD screen and a crappy processor are "cheap" at $16K. Airplanes. Sheesh. Can get a laptop with more horsepower for $350.

I assume you're saying that you want a fully integrated flight deck type solution then? Price wise, dual G5s is cheaper than the Dynon setup. Not saying the Dynon isn't cool, but if the choice is really being made with price as primary...
 
denverpilot said:
I love when we think that an LCD screen and a crappy processor are "cheap" at $16K. Airplanes. Sheesh. Can get a laptop with more horsepower for $350.

I assume you're saying that you want a fully integrated flight deck type solution then? Price wise, dual G5s is cheaper than the Dynon setup. Not saying the Dynon isn't cool, but if the choice is really being made with price as primary...
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I would like the big screens. If there was an attitude pickoff for the KFC150 on the G5, we'd be doing dual G5s this year. As it is, we're going to wait a year or two - Dynon's autopilot is cheap enough we'd just get rid of the KFC150. Garmin would hopefully either follow with the same pricing model or be able to drive the KFC150 until it dies.

We did get the template stickers from Garmin, and I discovered that I don't have as much panel space as I thought! The panel is separated exactly on the centerline of the aircraft, and to the right of that we have dual radio stacks, and to the right of that it's all circuit breakers. So, no dual 10" displays - All that would fit is a portrait 7" on the right.
 
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