Oshkosh or Bust

The Oshkosh EAA fly-in (now called "EAA AirVenture") is the Mecca of general aviation pilots. Some 12000 planes and 860000 people converge on a small town in eastern Wisconsin. I decided to fly to Wisconsin for a family reunion the first week of August, stopping at Oshkosh for several days.

I started preparations for the trip months in advance. Some of my previous flights, including Kalamath Falls, Bend and Sunriver, provided experience with higher altitude cruise and moderately hot and high airports. The flight to Thun Field calibrated my ADF based thunderstorm detection. The Arlington fly-in was a dry run for traffic procedures and airplane camping at Oshkosh (not to mention a refresher in flying under wx). I studied the Oshkosh arrival video and printed instructions carefully. I practiced the 90 kt 1800' MSL approach configuration. Several days in advance I went cold turkey on caffeine to allow for longer flights.

I planned a range of starting dates so I could avoid unpleasant weather enroute. I would have preferred to leave Monday but the weather forecasts indicated bad weather in the Rocky Mountains that day. I left Sunday morning and flew "serious VFR" almost all the way to Oshkosh. The pilots of a Sherpa that started the flight Monday encountered thunderstorms in the mountains.

There is a saying about Skylanes: "If you can close the doors on it, it's probably safe and legal." My problem was getting the doors to close. A large sleeping bag, air mattress, chair, tent, step ladder, tool kit, computer, a week's clothes and associated odds and ends filled the baggage compartment and both rear seats. Maps, water cooler, a small ice cooler, and my flight bag took up most of the co-pilot's space. My folding bicycle and ice chest had to stay at home.

Shortly after takeoff from Hillsboro the ammeter registered a discharge, indicating alternator failure. The airplane does not need its electrical system to fly, but once the battery was drained communications and navaids would be out except for my handheld transceiver and GPS. This was not the first time an alternator had quit on me. I tried several times to reset it. By the time I gave up I was passing Portland International Airport (PDX). Flightcraft, a large Fixed Base Operation (FBO) at PDX offered an opportunity to rescue the Sunday morning flight.

Portland Approach asked if I needed assistance; I didn't. They asked if I had the airport in sight; it was hard to miss at that distance. I landed on runway 28 R. To avoid wake turbulence I landed a quarter mile down the runway. It's a long runway, and I made the midfield turnoff next to Flightcraft. Flightcraft called in one of their A&Ps and I resumed my trip a few hours later. I assumed the problem with the alternator was likely a blown diode or a bad regulator, either of which would require replacement parts. If I'd known the problem was simply a broken wire on the alternator field terminal, I might have fixed it myself.

Oshkosh wouldn't have been an adventure without some hiccups.

The Flightcraft lounge is nicer than many airline terminals. If you want to impress penguins (non-pilots) have them meet your plane at the Portland Flightcraft.

After liftoff from 28R the tower insisted I immediately turn right and fly low over the Columbia River. Once clear of the Portland airspace I turned on the oxygen and climbed to 15500 feet for the mountain crossing. Flying was smooth thousands of feet above scattered clouds. This altitude gave a wide choice of suitable forced landing sites within gliding range. A healthy engine kept me far above any "mountain flying" situations. While I appreciated the safety and smoothness of flying above it all, I missed the spectacular views afforded by flight at lower altitudes.

The Rockies ended about 40 miles west of Cut Bank Montana, my first stop after some 4 hours of flight. Once I descended below the scattered clouds the air was boiling with afternoon thermals. It was a hot day at 4000 feet elevation but my Skylane had performance to spare dealing with the 5000+ foot runways.

Cut Bank (CTB) was nearly deserted Sunday afternoon. I refuled at a card operated pump. A lone pilot was at the terminal building. She showed me an icebox in the kitchen which produced some ice cubes to replenish my water cooler.

After a weather briefing I resumed my trip East. Even at 9500 feet Communications with Air Traffic Control were spotty. At one point I had to call Flight Service twice to get a working ATC frequency. Somewhere in Montana my 10 year old Loran lost its bearings. Be prepared for solitude when flying across Montana. I followed U.S. Highway 2.

The morning's delay made it impossible to reach Fargo before nightfall, and I didn't wish to fly over unfamiliar country at night in a single engine airplane. I selected Sloulin International at Williston ND (ISN) for my overnight stop. I landed shortly after sundown. It was strange to land at an uncontrolled airport with a radar. Service was friendly at the airport. I decided to walk several blocks to a nearby motel in order to get a feel for Williston.

Monday morning was the climax of the trip. The 700 mile flight from Williston to Oshkosh took more than 5 hours including the approach via Ripon. Most of the flight was in cool air above scattered clouds with a tailwind giving me a ground speed of 157 knots (180 mph). About an hour west of Oshkosh the clouds started thickening and I decided to get under them while I could do so legally. Perhaps this was a mistake as the rest of the ride was rather hot and bumpy (there was an airmet for turbulence), and I lost 10 knots of tailwind. I reduced airspeed to lighten the load on my buns. Glad I wasn't flying a 152.

Navigating this segment was interesting. Surface features were plentiful but few were distinctive. Some of the geographic features have names that are more fanciful than accurate. Big Round Lake is neither big nor round. Half of the low frequency beacons I dialed up were off the air. To find Ripon I tuned the ADF to WCWC in Ripon and verified the station. By the time I approached Ripon I had positively identified several local landmarks and had no further need for electronic navigation.

The Oshkosh fly-in generates incredible traffic density. Sometimes the traffic pattern looked like a hornet's nest had been kicked over. The special procedures for VFR arrivals call for pilots to line up single file over Ripon and maintain radio silence. Pilots acknowledge instructions by rocking their wings. During the approach the controllers were emphasizing the need for flying a tight pattern. That's the way I like to fly anyway.

On the downwind to runway 27 I was surprised to see planes in the distance turning base halfway across Lake Winnebago. I expected to follow this traffic. I'm a fair swimmer but swimming halfway across the lake wasn't what I had in mind. I kept my altitude. Then tower told me to turn base over the airport terminal building, cutting in front of all those planes maneuvering over the lake. After I turned final tower saw a plane coming in underneath me and redirected me to the right downwind for Runway 36 L.

The ATIS had warned of a healthy crosswind on Runway 36. I flew a longer downwind than usual so I could accurately gauge the crosswind on final approach and make sure I could hold course. A few days earlier I practiced a 12 knot crosswind landing at Hillsboro without difficulty. Monday's crosswind component was much stronger, with numbers from 17 to 26 knots being mentioned. The airmet for turbulence and possible low level wind shear was still active.

On final I dropped the left wing into the wind. Really dropped the left wing. This required considerable force on the yoke and rudder pedal to offset the strong crosswind. None of the usual "two fingers on the yoke" bit. My left hand, sweaty from the last hour's wallowing in the hot afternoon, kept slipping off the yoke until I devised a more secure grip. Perhaps some leather on the yoke would be in order.

It was an interesting couple of landings. The first was the best, but the wind shifted and I was lofted back up in the air some 10 or 15 feet. I didn't bounce the landing, I was lifted up after I had touched down. I started to go around but with such a long runway (8000 feet) I decided to give landing another try before mixing it up in the traffic pattern. The second landing was more interesting. I don't recall a side load, but the tires screeched for an eternity. I thought I'd blown one for sure. I was told later that several planes had scraped wingtips in the crosswind. Even a few of the planes landing directly into the wind on runway 27 had interesting arrivals. Under control of EAA volunteers I taxied over concrete and grass to a prepaid camping area arranged for members of Compuserve's AVSIG. I arrived with two hours fuel and 20 minutes bladder remaining.

I had to sharpen the business end of the tiedowns I bought from Sporty's and dampen the soil before I could get them to dig in. I didn't try pitching my tent until the wind died down. When the winds returned Tuesday my tent (and many others) blew over.

I camped with a most amiable and experienced crowd. The hangar talk was fantastic. These guys (and a few gals) have an incredible amount of knowledge about all aspects of aviation - accident investigation, aviation law, bush operations, warbirds, classic airliners, you name it.

I also had a chance to talk to some of the boffins in the GPS industry. King (Allied Signal) admitted their KX-155 radios interfere with GPS. They knew II Morrow was having trouble with this interference. A King salesman told me King's solution was to redesign their GPS receiver so it would ignore the interference. I presumed King had used signal processing techniques to remove the narrowband interference from the wideband GPS signal. I later discovered the King "fix" was simply to ignore the loss of data for 30 seconds or more before flagging a failure.

I attended a number of seminars. Before spending kilobucks for weather radar check out the data links that will soon be generally available. Seminars were presented on a wide range of subjects including psychological factors, FAA topics, homebuilding techniques, even a seminar specific to the Cessna 182 I fly.

One of the quaintest sights I saw were platoons of Civil Air Patrol (CAP) cadet volunteers marching to their posts. Reminded me of the first day of the new school year at Western Military Academy.

Be sure to bring plenty of cash, you will need it. The $2.00 price for this average size ice cream bar is representative of the on site food costs. A grocery supermarket was visible in the distance, but getting there and returning with groceries is a bit much for most.

An incredible number of warbirds show up at Oshkosh, including this Junkers JU-52 in Nazi livery. (The dark sky was an artifact of a camera shutter slowed by a weak battery.) Notable in the daily airshows were mass warbird flybys and a Beech 18 doing graceful aerobatics.
The EAA AirVenture covers a large area. Veterans recommend bringing extra pairs of good walking shoes. Expect to spend plenty of time walking. Some fans came up with interesting solutions to the mobility problem.

Incredibly, the million people descending on Oshkosh did not result in much waiting in line. I never had to wait for a shower and the showers did not run out of lukewarm water, at least not when I was using them. Even porta-potties were abundant except near the forum tents and exhibit buildings. However, some care is required anticipating nature's call because it takes a long time to get up, dress, unzip the tent, and walk a quarter mile to the nearest loo.

Click Here for Aerial view of AirVenture 98

Top Eliminator

Come Saturday morning it was time to depart for Eagle River and the family reunion. I was eager to join my family in the Northwoods but reluctant to leave such a neat group of friends. I took my time packing up and preflighting the airplane.

Taxiing was again well orchestrated by an army of volunteers. In no time at all I was first at the hold short line South of runway 27. The controller asked "white and green Cessna, are you ready?". I responded "Yup" - maybe not as elegant as "affirmative" but much quicker. I was told to taxi and hold next to the VOR. I pulled onto the runway with the window still open to give some relief from the heat. A moment later the controller spotted a plane on final that was uncomfortably close, and cleared me for takeoff. If he didn't explicitly say "immediate takeoff" he said it with the tone of his voice. After smoothly but quickly applying full power I reached over to close the window but didn't grab it well enough to get it. I was starting to build up speed and had to let the window take care of itself. (The window is safe to leave open at all legal airspeeds, but it's noisy and drafty.)

During the takeoff I passed a Mooney who had started his takeoff on the right side of the runway. Once airborne I leaned to the left to get more separation. The controller seemed a bit concerned until the Mooney had me in sight. After everybody was safely on their way he congratulated us for a good job.

Nostalgia Trip

On the way to Eagle River I retraced the route my Father used in the 60's to avoid traffic driving up from Madison. This was easier said than done. The sectional chart showed landmarks necessary for pilotage but did not show the back roads my Father used. A Wisconsin state map showed the county roads but few landmarks. I circled the airports on the road map and noted their frequencies so I would be aware of any traffic. So many roads were visible from the air I wasn't sure I was over County J and not some other road nearby. I didn't have the option of swooping down to study road signs.

Subsequently I used a $30 street map program to generate a set of coordinates detailing the exact route. Then I had to write a Unix program to convert the coordinates from the format used by the street map program to a format acceptable to Flitesoft. I now have a Flitesoft flight plan with dozens of waypoints. With a few tweeks to avoid airspaces and right angle doglegs it will be ready to enter into the GPS. Then I'll see if George can fly it. Come to think of it, I need to a few test runs over the local area to see how closely the autopilot can track such a detailed flight plan. Normally waypoints are many miles apart, but some of the waypoints in this "route" are as short as a third of a mile. But first I'll have to figure out how to enter a flight plan into the GPS. A brain drain from a laptop would be nice.

Sugar Camp

South of Rhinelander I picked up Highway 17 and started recognizing landmarks. Between Rhinelander and Eagle River (EGV) I took pictures of Sugar Camp Lake, where I spent much of my youthful summers. Sugar Camp Lake is in the middle of the above picture. Highway 17 is on the left. The lake is divided by a peninsula. Sugar Camp Lodge was on the West side of the lake across from the peninsula. A shallow sandbar connects the two halves of Sugar Camp Lake. Indian Lake is in the background. Bass Lake is at the bottom left.

The water in Sugar Camp Lake is crystal clear. Note the areas where seaweed has been blasted from the sandy bottom by activity near the piers. In other lakes you can't see that deep. In the late fifties the water tested pure enough to drink. The sweet taste made for great coffee.

Flying West

CHIC FA 080945
WI RMNDR...CIG BKN010 OVC050 TOPS LYRD FL200. VIS 3-5SM BR. WDLY SCT -SHRA ISOLD -TSRA. BY 16-18Z CIG BKN015 OVC040. SCT -SHRA/-TSRA. TS TOPS FL450. OTLK...VFR.

The week in Eagle River didn't see decent vacation weather. I had hoped to enjoy some local flying and to get some sharper pictures of Sugar Camp and the other digs of my youth, but the sun was AWOL. Southeastern Wisconsin was waterlogged. The only thing to be said for wx in the Northwoods was that the rain was needed. After a week of hot, humid, cloudy and rainy weather, it was time to go home.

Saturday's weather wasn't the best for flying. A moist low was parked over Wisconsin, but the forecast suggested it would weaken during the day. I carefully studied the sectionals Friday, marking the tall obstructions (giant television transmitting antennas) and charted an obstruction free course westward to North Dakota.

My sister and her husband dropped me off at the airport. The Eagle River FBO has a continuously updated satellite delivered weather computer with customizable weather maps in addition to the usual textual weather information. As the morning wore on the weather reports from stations west of Eagle River slowly improved from IFR to MVFR/VFR. I called Flight Service for a briefing to Devil's Lake ND, my first bargain fuel stop. The briefer did not recommend VFR flight, but he did confirm that the weather along my route was no longer IFR, just as the forecast had promised.

So here was a classic go/no-go decision.
Con:

   NOTAMS
GTF 05/014 MLK AP RELOCATED TO 482200.99/1075509.64 WEF 9805151500