U
Unregistered
Guest
Dear OtA Readers:
Greetings from the first full day of the big show at Oshkosh AirVenture 2006.
I departed Akron, NY (9G3) yesterday morning at 14Z along with my two wingmen, Dan Maloney in his RV-4 and Mark Croce in his Cirrus SR22. I filed an IFR plan, flight of three, Oshkosh (KOSH) direct. My crew consisted of FO Shawn Maloney and two passengers, daughter Erica, age 16 and boyfriend Blake, also age 16. Dan's passenger was Tom King, age 16, and Mark's passengers were Liz King and Greg Barnhard, age 16.
Our three aircraft lifted off one right after another into the cool eastern skies and joined up for our 3.5 hour formation flight at a planned altitude of 10,000 feet.
Our route of flight took us along the northern shoreline of Lake Erie, London, Ontario, then over the southern tip of Lake Huron, over central Michigan to Saginaw, then Victor 26 over Lake Michigan at its midpoint to just south of Greenbay, Wisconsin, then director to KOSH.
SR22 pilot, Mark Croce, was new to formation flying so it took us a bit longer to form up at a mutually acceptable airspeed. He had to dial his power back to about 55% to enable my T-210 to keep up. Dan had no trouble keeping his RV-4 in the pack.
The only wrinkle in the flight occurred as we traversed through about 10 miles of solid stratiform clouds rising well above our 10,000' cruising altitude. We immediately lost visual contact with each other despite our otherwise close proximity. I was in the lead and held my heading, airspeed, and altitude. We instructed Mark to back off his power to put some spacing between he and me. Dan rolled right for the same reason.
Obviously, formation flying in the clouds requires close coordination. Mine was the only aircraft with transponder on and squawking altitude. Dan and Mark's transponders were turned off. Our hope was to break back out into the clear before having to notify ATC that we were about to break formation. To do this would have required new IFR flight plans for Dan and Mark. Without an IFR reservation slot into KOSH, they would have had to either land some place else, or cancel and land with the conga line of VFR arrivals.
Fortunately, it didn't take long before we were in the clear and back in formation to Oshkosh.
Just before crossing the 80 mile wide span of Lake Michigan, Dan gave us a standard military ditching briefing. If one of us had to drop into the lake, one of the other of us would circle low over the ditched aircraft while the other would circle high to relay position information to search and rescue. Fortunately, it was just a briefing! Needless to say, we kept a close eye on the position of boats along our route of flight over the lake.
About 5 miles from reaching the western shoreline of Lake Michigan, Minneapolis Center called and lowered us to 8,000 feet in preparation for our arrival into KOSH. We tightened our formation with me, the slowest of the three airplanes in the lead, followed by Mark in the Cirrus, and Dan in his RV-4. Our plan was to hang on to our IFR clearance all the way to the runway. This would preclude us from from following the circuitous VFR arrival route over RIPON and FISK. This work out just as planned.
Our final approach segment to the VOR/GPS Runway 9 approach was strangely quiet. We seemed to be three of only a handful of arrivals to KOSH despite this being just one day before the actual show start. We learned, sadly, that the airport had been closed for nearly two hours immediately prior to our arrival. The reason was the crash of a two seat aircraft just short of the Runway 9 threshold. The pilot apparently entered a stall followed by a unrecoverable spin. Both died in the accident.
The three of us touched down simulatenously with me landing long, Mark landing midfield, and Dan landing short. Mark and I rolled off into the general aviation parking area while Dan taxiied over to the homebuilt parking area.
EAA 46 president Jim Cavanaugh drove over in his van and picked us all up for our brief ride over to our camping area. We spent the afternoon meeting and talking with the 30 or so other EAA 46 members who had arrived several days earlier. Our kids connected with kids that they hadn't seen since this time last year.
After a couple of cold ones, be dedicated ourselves to setting up tents and arranging air mattresses and sleeping bags. By this time, dinner was being prepared John and Carol, long time EAA 46 members.
After dinner, the hangar stories were getting taller and more unbelievable as the chilly wine took the edge off of the humid, warm air. Most of us didn't get into the tents until well after mid-night.
The night passed uneventfully with light sprinkles taking the humidity out of the air. The tents remained comfortably cool right through the next morning (this morning).
Most of us awoke around 7am and headed right for our circus tent where customed ordered breakfast orders were being taken. We all continued to chat, then one by one we showered, shaved, and eventually made our way over to the show.
Our first stop was Exhibition Hall B where we spent the cool hours of the morning looking over the latest in A/C equipment. With a whole week still ahead of us, we took our time visiting with each vendor of the first of five large exhibition halls of vendors. From there, we walked up through AeroShell Square and the flight line.
The first day at Oshkosh is always the best. Everybody is so friendly and enthused. There is a special sense of excitement in the air. So much to see and even with a full week here, there seems to be so little time.
It is now 1920Z, the weather is clear with light breezes. Temperature is in the mid-80s. My plan is to now return to the flight line for the first of six upcoming airshows, followed by a Beach Boys concert on the flight line at 6pm local.
After that, we will all return to the campsite and likely join in with a large contingent of South Africans who are known for their entertaining parties.
I enjoy sharing these experiences with my OTA readers. I'll keep you posted throughout the week. I hope you enjoy them!
And remember, the current OTA issue can always be found at http://overtheairwaves.com . Please be sure to bookmark that as a favorite.
Fly safe,
Bob Miller, ATP, CFII
Remote from Oshkosh Airventure
Greetings from the first full day of the big show at Oshkosh AirVenture 2006.
I departed Akron, NY (9G3) yesterday morning at 14Z along with my two wingmen, Dan Maloney in his RV-4 and Mark Croce in his Cirrus SR22. I filed an IFR plan, flight of three, Oshkosh (KOSH) direct. My crew consisted of FO Shawn Maloney and two passengers, daughter Erica, age 16 and boyfriend Blake, also age 16. Dan's passenger was Tom King, age 16, and Mark's passengers were Liz King and Greg Barnhard, age 16.
Our three aircraft lifted off one right after another into the cool eastern skies and joined up for our 3.5 hour formation flight at a planned altitude of 10,000 feet.
Our route of flight took us along the northern shoreline of Lake Erie, London, Ontario, then over the southern tip of Lake Huron, over central Michigan to Saginaw, then Victor 26 over Lake Michigan at its midpoint to just south of Greenbay, Wisconsin, then director to KOSH.
SR22 pilot, Mark Croce, was new to formation flying so it took us a bit longer to form up at a mutually acceptable airspeed. He had to dial his power back to about 55% to enable my T-210 to keep up. Dan had no trouble keeping his RV-4 in the pack.
The only wrinkle in the flight occurred as we traversed through about 10 miles of solid stratiform clouds rising well above our 10,000' cruising altitude. We immediately lost visual contact with each other despite our otherwise close proximity. I was in the lead and held my heading, airspeed, and altitude. We instructed Mark to back off his power to put some spacing between he and me. Dan rolled right for the same reason.
Obviously, formation flying in the clouds requires close coordination. Mine was the only aircraft with transponder on and squawking altitude. Dan and Mark's transponders were turned off. Our hope was to break back out into the clear before having to notify ATC that we were about to break formation. To do this would have required new IFR flight plans for Dan and Mark. Without an IFR reservation slot into KOSH, they would have had to either land some place else, or cancel and land with the conga line of VFR arrivals.
Fortunately, it didn't take long before we were in the clear and back in formation to Oshkosh.
Just before crossing the 80 mile wide span of Lake Michigan, Dan gave us a standard military ditching briefing. If one of us had to drop into the lake, one of the other of us would circle low over the ditched aircraft while the other would circle high to relay position information to search and rescue. Fortunately, it was just a briefing! Needless to say, we kept a close eye on the position of boats along our route of flight over the lake.
About 5 miles from reaching the western shoreline of Lake Michigan, Minneapolis Center called and lowered us to 8,000 feet in preparation for our arrival into KOSH. We tightened our formation with me, the slowest of the three airplanes in the lead, followed by Mark in the Cirrus, and Dan in his RV-4. Our plan was to hang on to our IFR clearance all the way to the runway. This would preclude us from from following the circuitous VFR arrival route over RIPON and FISK. This work out just as planned.
Our final approach segment to the VOR/GPS Runway 9 approach was strangely quiet. We seemed to be three of only a handful of arrivals to KOSH despite this being just one day before the actual show start. We learned, sadly, that the airport had been closed for nearly two hours immediately prior to our arrival. The reason was the crash of a two seat aircraft just short of the Runway 9 threshold. The pilot apparently entered a stall followed by a unrecoverable spin. Both died in the accident.
The three of us touched down simulatenously with me landing long, Mark landing midfield, and Dan landing short. Mark and I rolled off into the general aviation parking area while Dan taxiied over to the homebuilt parking area.
EAA 46 president Jim Cavanaugh drove over in his van and picked us all up for our brief ride over to our camping area. We spent the afternoon meeting and talking with the 30 or so other EAA 46 members who had arrived several days earlier. Our kids connected with kids that they hadn't seen since this time last year.
After a couple of cold ones, be dedicated ourselves to setting up tents and arranging air mattresses and sleeping bags. By this time, dinner was being prepared John and Carol, long time EAA 46 members.
After dinner, the hangar stories were getting taller and more unbelievable as the chilly wine took the edge off of the humid, warm air. Most of us didn't get into the tents until well after mid-night.
The night passed uneventfully with light sprinkles taking the humidity out of the air. The tents remained comfortably cool right through the next morning (this morning).
Most of us awoke around 7am and headed right for our circus tent where customed ordered breakfast orders were being taken. We all continued to chat, then one by one we showered, shaved, and eventually made our way over to the show.
Our first stop was Exhibition Hall B where we spent the cool hours of the morning looking over the latest in A/C equipment. With a whole week still ahead of us, we took our time visiting with each vendor of the first of five large exhibition halls of vendors. From there, we walked up through AeroShell Square and the flight line.
The first day at Oshkosh is always the best. Everybody is so friendly and enthused. There is a special sense of excitement in the air. So much to see and even with a full week here, there seems to be so little time.
It is now 1920Z, the weather is clear with light breezes. Temperature is in the mid-80s. My plan is to now return to the flight line for the first of six upcoming airshows, followed by a Beach Boys concert on the flight line at 6pm local.
After that, we will all return to the campsite and likely join in with a large contingent of South Africans who are known for their entertaining parties.
I enjoy sharing these experiences with my OTA readers. I'll keep you posted throughout the week. I hope you enjoy them!
And remember, the current OTA issue can always be found at http://overtheairwaves.com . Please be sure to bookmark that as a favorite.
Fly safe,
Bob Miller, ATP, CFII
Remote from Oshkosh Airventure
