I arrived OSH about 7PM Monday with Bill Milton in a Cessna 195 he was delivering to a customer there. It was a very nice trip from upstate NY in 1950's style comfort! Uneventful trip until the last ten miles – the trip down the railroad tracks from Ripon was chaotic at best and dangerous at worst. Poor controller actions and a breakdown in pilot discipline – but that’s another story.
Had a great two days at the big show. Saw all the Van’s guys that we deal with from time to time, and had nice conversations with Ken Scott and Mitch Lock. Attended the Van’s dinner with Marty Santic (and family) and John Bender, and other RV-12’ers. Actually won a door prize! I have a coupon for a half price Koger sunshade. Gus did a great job emceeing the program and the speaker was most interesting. Got to shake hands with Scott McDaniels and thank him for all his support here on VAF.
Found all the 12’s that I could in the RV parking area and took pictures. The fleet is growing! Larry Geiger’s 12 was on display at the Rotax booth, and attracting a lot of attention. It gets the BigJohn “best workmanship” award by far! What a beautiful job with the fit and finish. I also attended the Rotax 912 seminar given by Phil Lockwood that was full of good info about the care and feeding of the 912.
I managed to get through all four exhibit buildings and particularly enjoyed checking out cold climate accessories like oil cooler thermostats and preheater options. Had a nice conversation with Bob Rieff about his product, which is reasonably priced ($229) and includes heaters on the oil tank and engine bottom. Picked up a couple of Rotax-specific items I needed at the Lockwood booth, and got information about the two-day repairman courses.
Of course the air shows were spectacular, as always, and the camaraderie great. EAA staff and volunteers did a great job recovering the site from the monsoons of the previous week. Looking forward to being back next year with my 12.
