The Last Days of Oshkosh EAA Airventure 2017

It seemed to me that the number of attendees at the EAA Airventure during the final three days of the convention had grown. Part of the reason was the beautiful clear weather we had. Wednesday was the only day of rain for the entire week! Every building we entered seemed to be jammed with people. Most of the campers stayed the entire week, but we did see some early comings and goings. The space behind our campsite was occupied by a rental Class A on Thursday. An Australian couple had flown in to Chicago, had picked up the rental and made their way to Oshkosh. They specifically came to see the Cirrus’ new private jet. This is a small 5 passenger jet made for private, not commercial use. Cirrus is known for equipping their planes with parachutes.  They have been in the news several times for saving lives because of those parachutes. The husband had purchased a prop plane Cirrus 12 years ago to help manage his cattle station and now he was back to take a look at the jet (I’m guessing those cattle are getting faster.) When we visited with them on Saturday, they had taken a test drive in the jet and had indeed purchased one. Their new jet will be ferried over to Australia and they will take delivery around January. The plane costs $2M plus!

Russ and Chris did get into two workshops.  In one, they each made a small rib for a wing; they turned out to be sturdy little guys. I had them in a plastic bag and was carrying them on the handle of my scooter while I purchased a bag of ice at the camp store. When I went to leave, the bag straps came off the handle and I accidently ran over the two of them. Chris’ rib sustained a small crack and Russ’ had no damage. Thankful for that. Guess that demonstrated the strength of the rib’s design. Chris didn’t really buy that logic.

The second workshop involved welding aluminum and steel.  It was supposed to be a 1.5 hour workshop, but the lecture portion was two hours and then the welding work commenced.  I think they spent a total of 4 hours, but at least they both got a chance to try the welding.

We attended a discussion on women in aviation and listened to a panel including a woman astronaut, a rocket scientist and a couple others who were involved in management of suppliers and interfacing with the public on NASA projects. A lot of the points made about what it is like to be a woman in aviation and aerospace resonated with me.

We spent Thursday morning at the EAA museum. The planes that are on display included many home builts and replicas of planes that had a large impact on the field of aviation. There was also an exhibit on space exploration.  It isn’t a huge museum, but the planes are very interesting and the information is presented in an entertaining fashion. Dick Rutan, who flew the plane that circled the world without stopping gave a short talk while we were there. 

Friday evening had two key forums. The first was a Q&A session with the Blue Angel pilots.  I really enjoyed the children’s questions and the pilots’ responses. One very young girl asked, “Why does it have to be so loud, it hurts my ears!” After the laughter subsided, the lead pilot explained that they had really big engines.  He didn’t mention the fact that there were no mufflers.

The second was one that I had been looking forward to for several months. Seven astronauts and Gene Krantz (the flight director for the Apollo flights) reunited in honor of the 50^th anniversary of the landing on the Moon. Oh, it was so good! The crowd was huge, but the sound was good and there were big screens scattered around, so you could see the participants pretty well. The crowd just hung on every word. The participants were relaxed with each other and the interchanges were so interesting. The moderator basically walked through the flights and asked questions about each one so that I heard about things that had happened that I had not heard before.  The discussion on Apollo 13 was especially interesting because 2 of the 3 (Jim Lovell and Fred Haise) astronauts were present. They also commented on the movie and some of the differences. Wow, that Lovell guy is a true hero (well, they all were)! The calculations he had to make, the timing of the actions was critical to them getting back. Buzz Aldrin seemed to have difficulty staying on topic when he was asked a question, but his contribution was still interesting, especially his passionate belief that humans are going to go to Mars and stay there.  Everyone said that they came back from space changed. The experience made them realize just how fragile life is and fortunate we are to be on this planet. A lengthy standing ovation ended the talk.  I loved it!

Chris made a fashion statement with all of his daily admission bands.

This is the Cirrus Jet that our camping neighbors bought. Very nice looking.

Purdue University has an active aviation program. That is where Russ learned to fly when he was 19. His parents told him he could stay in his frat's house for a year or get his pilot's license.  He opted for the license.

The F-35 was on static display on Saturday.

A B-29. Of the remaining planes, only two are flyable. Both are at Oshkosh for the show. This is the type of plane that dropped the atomic bomb (Enola Gay).

A Huey helicopter. Huge vehicle - look for the guy standing on the top, by the rear rotor blades.

The two flyable B-29s.

A panoramic of the planes that were on static display.  Straight forward is the B-1B bomber. On the left are the B-29s and on the left, an F-18 and F-35.

The two similar looking tall cylinders are quite different critters.  On the left is the control tower. There is a banner on it that claims it is the busiest control tower in the country. On the right is a reusable rocket from Blue Origin. It has been launched several times and, each time, has landed on land. There was also a mockup of the crew capsule which will carry six passengers.

The guys getting instruction on how to weld aluminum.

Attended a NASA forum on women in aviation. So glad to hear of the advances that have happened over the years.  When I first started, I was one of only two female engineers in the division. It was hard to imagine women becoming senior executives, let along vice-presidents or presidents of companies.  

The EAA Museum has a very interesting display of aircraft, most of which were developed for private citizen use.

Russ had a dream of building a Lanceair (like the one behind the guys). But he realized he didn't have the spare time to accomplish it. It takes several thousands hours, which is hard to find when you are working and have a family.

I saw a whole row of these type of planes parked out where people flew their planes in for the convention.  There were many clubs that had flown ion and you could find clumps of like planes parked out on the grass.

This is a teeny, tiny plane.  It is flyable, if you can squish yourself into it.

There was a whole exhibit on Bert Rutan's impact on the industry. This is his design, Spaceship 1. This is a mockup. We saw the real one in Dulles.

The crowd that came to hear the Blue Angels and the Astronauts was huge!

One of the Blue Angel pilots, answers questions at the panel discussion.

Three of the seven Apollo astronauts. 

Gene Kranz, on the left, was the Apollo flight director. He remembered incredible detail of all the flights and corrected some of the astronauts during the discussion on what actually happened.

Jim Lovell, during his heyday in the space program.

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I've always had high respect for Lovell, but even more now because I have a better appreciation for just how critical his calculations and innovations were in getting the three astronauts from Apollo 13 safely back to Earth.

One of the digressions from the Apollo discussion was a discussion on the 14 day Gemini flight that Frank Borman and Jim Lovell did. They laughed about their experiences of sharing such intimate quarters for two weeks, but it was clear that they became fast, lifetime friends.

Borman on the left, Lovell on the right.

Buzz Aldrin was the character of the group. He had trouble staying on topic, but when he spoke passionately about humans traveling to Mars and settling there, he fired up the crowd.

Fred Haise back in the day.

Today's version.