Oshkosh 2016 Trip Write-up

Holy cow, I can't believe it's already that time of year for Oshkosh! This year presented some unique challenges from last year. My best friend was getting married the week prior to Oshkosh (Thankfully it wasn't the same week...I might of skipped the wedding). Normally a wedding isn't a big deal, nor a big time commitment, but my friend decided to get married in Belize. So for the 8 days prior to Oshkosh, I was in paradise with my best friends and family. The way back from Belize offered no margin for airline or weather error. The flight arrived at 10pm, I would be at my home at 11pm, wash clothes, pack, sleep by 1am, and then up bright and early for blast-off to Oshkosh! I rolled out of my driveway a little before 6am.


This years haul to Oshkosh.


All packed up and ready for the adventure to begin.


The routing I take out to Oshkosh is the same as I always do - scoot south of KPIT's airspace, swing above Fort Wayne, stop for cheap fuel at KOXI (Free hot dogs), then blast up Lake Michigan and up to Oshkosh.


The day started off easy enough. Nice VFR out east.


I'm pretty psyched.


The fog was burning off in the valleys of central PA.


A good reason why you shouldn't always trust METAR's. KAFJ (Washington County) was reporting Low IFR. It boggled my mind since it was severely VFR about 10 miles from it.


Sure enough, over KAFJ, severely clear.


Crossing the OH river.

Day 1 (continued)

I'm not complaining I only have a 3 kts head wind heading west.


In eastern OH the weather continued to be severe VFR.


The storm moving through Northern Indiana progressed south a little over Fort Wayne. I normally go north around KFWA, but I diverted south of their airspace to avoid the weather.


The headwinds kicked up slightly to 12 kts at 4500'.


I'm really digging ADS-B radar being depicted on my GRT Sport EFIS's from the NavWorx AD600-EXP Transceiver. What other EFIS purchased in 2008 could do this? Love my GRT!


ADS-B radar was spot on, as I entered into some light rain showers.


The weather continued to deteriorate to MVFR the closer I got to KOXI.


After a quick fuel stop and grabbing some hot dogs, I jumped back in the air. The ramp at KOXI was full of Oshkosh bound airplanes. I knew all of them were waiting for the weather to improve in WI before they took off. I didn't want to be bunched with them going north, and I had a good idea in the 1.5 hour flight to Oshkosh the weather would be likely improving. Worst case, I would stop shy of OSH.


I love flying by Chicago. Such good sights.

Day 1 (continued)

Booyah! A couple of kts of tailwind made an appearance.


The ceiling was about 2,000' AGL as I approached OSH. The good thing about this was everyone else was flying right below the deck, at the same altitude. This made it quite easy to spot everyone converging on RIPON.


The arrival was quite painless this year. I landed a little before noon.


It isn't quite Oshkosh until your oil temps are SCREAMIN'!


My friend Jeff Orear snapped this pic of me taxing to HBC.


All of my neighbors in HBC. I got there just in time - it filled up really quickly!



About an hour after I arrived the 34 ship of RV-6's was passing over.


My Oshkosh schedule every year is typically booked for every night except for Sunday. The RV-10 folks hold and event, but everyone else is just waiting for Monday morning to get their free SteinAir t-shirt. I decided to put out a feeler on VAF to see if anyone would be interested in participating in a beer tasting. Everyone would simply bring a 6-pack of local beer, and all get to sample what they want from around the country. I originally thought this event would only have about 10-20 people interested. Boy, was I wrong! We had over 50 people register for the event, and I am sure more showed up. It was a great event, and Jerry Fischer was the key to pulling it off along with my great team of volunteers. We had 4 tubs filled with beer, used 250 lbs of ice, and the furthest beer was hand-flown from Germany!


It's tough to tell from these pictures if the event was a success?

Day 1 (continued)

Day 1 (continued)







Charlie Becker even stopped by to suck back a few suds.












The event was such a success, the prestigious Kitplanes magazine covered it!

Day 1 (continued)

Many of those who attended the beer tasting probably didn't remember what an awesome sunset we had at Oshkosh on Sunday Night I may be one of them!


Some newcomers I ran into from KPYM were a little parched after a few hours of beer tasting. I led them to the closest outlet for the caviar of Wisconsin - Deep Friend Cheese Curds at the SOS Brothers. Sunday night was relatively dead at SOS, so I decided to show my new friends how to properly drink a $10 bud light!


SOS Brothers has advanced greatly in the past year with investing in technology for two people to simultaneously do a beer bong from the same partitioned container.


I'm whooped. 4 hours of sleep and a full day of flying, setting up for the beer tasting and partying late night.

Day 2

Monday morning's weather couldn't of been better. Beautiful blue Wisconsin sky.


HBC/HBP was getting really full.


I quickly became friends with my RV-10 HBC neighbors Paul and Ken. We got along nearly immediately as soon as Ken and I realized we were both Electrical Engineers and didn't attend rival colleges!


Ken and Paul introduced me to "Pirate Coffee". It sure made my head feel better after my evening at SOS Brothers!


Off to the show for Day one! GRT introduced their Sport EX EFIS. It fits the same cutout as a Horizon HS EFIS, along eith it is very similar in size to the Dynon D100/120/180 EFIS's. They have an attractive pricing model with Ala-cart options for adding features.


I spent a good amount of time with the fine AirCam people. This is going to be my next build....as if you couldn't tell from my AirCam hat!


Some skywriting was going on throughout the mid-day.

Day 2 (continued)

The Rotac chopper was really cool. You have 7 different ways to burn your right leg!


The star of the show, The Martin Mars, flying overhead in the afternoon airshow.


During the airshow I took a little siesta under my wing to prep for the Beer Fair Social.


Next up today was the 2016 Oshkosh RV Social, more commonly known as the "Beer Fairy". Dan Horton does a great job of coordinating the event, and a number of great vendors pitch in to make this event free for all of us RV'ers.


The place was mobbed when we got there! This event keeps on getting more popular each year.




My friend Jim from Baltimore. Dang it, he stole my beer again!




Paul Dye was in attendance. He harassed me about writing some more articles for KitPlanes. I suppose I'll cave as it's good 100LL money he exchanges for my stories.


The party died down pretty close to the time we ran out of beer. A few of us were a little hungry so we strolled down Waukau Ave towards SOS Brothers for some dinner. Along the way we were treated with another great Oshkosh Sunset.

Day 2 (continued)

Tonight was the first night of music at the SOS Brothers. The food at the SOS brothers tent was fabulous tonight - Beef Brisket, Pulled Pork and cheese curds. Simply outstanding. The music was also fantastic. I know some of the curmudgeony campers in HBC wish the loud music didn't exist, but I find it one of my highlights of the trip.


Speaking of highlights of the trip, this my my friend Derek's first SOS Brothers beer bong.


I think young Derek was quite smitten with our bartender Karina! What a great fun filled first day at Oshkosh!

Day 3

So far the weather has been fantastic at Oshkosh. A little on the warm side, but it's better than rain! I realized today that I hadn't shot a proper picture of our camp complex that I shared with Ken and Paul.


The RV-6's did another overhead pass today in formation.


Dynon released the HDX Skyview. The new HDX has an angled control panel, along with a new screen layout which you can have the engine information along the bottom of the screen. The screens also boast higher resolution, improved anti-reflective properties, wider viewing angles and an improved touch interface.


Dynon sure has come a long way since the D10! This is a very nice EFIS.


Captain John and I attended a TIG welding class at the Lincoln Pavilion.


My friend Rich's son Andrew got to have some one on one time with Bob Hoover!


The food at Oshkosh and SOS does get old after a couple of days. We took advantage of an Uber to take us to Parnell's place where we enjoyed some of their famous broiled chicken.


Back to the SOS brothers tent for some evening entertainment. Tonight's band, Sonic Circus, was outstanding.


The party started off with the usual suspects of CJ and Derek.


It didn't take long for the other RV guys to gravitate towards our table.

Day 4

On Wednesday morning Paul Rosales (Rosey) coordinated a group photo of all RV pilots at 8:30am. What a sharp lookin' group!


It was nice to finally see the RivetBangers.com photographer, "Painless" working. He's been slacking on his job to earn his media pass!


Before the masses arrived today I wanted to tour Aeroshell Square to check out the C-5M Super Galaxy.




The Stemme S1- caught by eye. It's a motorglider, but where is the prop??


Pretty slick! The prop automatically collapses...and if I recall correctly, it is a variable pitch propeller to boot! It is powered by a Rotax 914 located behind the cockpit, with a solid driveshaft.


The prop practically disappears. This has to be one of the slickest things I saw at Oshkosh this year.


In my last 3 years at Oshkosh, the beautiful angles of Heavens Landing always begrudgingly allow me to take a picture with them. I'm sure it's only because I have a Media pass. Recently they partnered with a resort in the Exuma's, hence the mermaid.


Next up was a seminar put on by Superior on the proper way to do a compression check. This class was top notch and debunked a lot of myths about what is considered a bad compression test.

Day 4 (continued)

The presentation went into what to look for on the top of the valves with a borescope.


Very interesting facts on how rings work to expand when combustion occurs.



I'm sure Chad tries to hide when he sees me coming a mile away trying to seek out any freebies. Luckily for Chad, this was just a friendly visit -- I already have an entire wardrobe of Vertical Power attire from previous Oshkosh and Sun 'n Fun encounters!


Matt Tisdale's amazing AirCam, N331TT. It won a Kit Champion Oshkosh Homebuilt Award. Matt was a super nice guy...even nicer when I told him I was parked one row over and showed him where my beer stash was. My favorite conversion with Matt involved me asking him if he wanted a beer, and without hesitation, in his South Carolina accent accepting with a smirk and a simple "Well, Heck Yeah!".


Wednesday late morning brought a little weather to Oshkosh. It was welcome on my behalf to cool things off - thus far I've been roasting all week.


It's a big year for the RV-6!


The time had come for the annual Wednesday Night RivetBangers.com prime rib dinner at the Black Otter Supper Club. I don't have any idea how long this event has been going on, but I have been a loyal participant for each of the 5 time's I've been to Oshkosh. All of those without ground transportation eagerly met at 4pm to await the Welcome Wagon to take us over to Camp Scholler. Captain John, Brian, Shantel, and Bruce Hill all look excited for what awaits them!


This is my first time using this method of transportation at Oshkosh. I can get used to it after all of the walking I've done all week.


The Black Otter Supper Club is no joke. Serious place to get a great slab of beef.

Day 4 (continued)

As the president of RivetBangers.com, I was humbled by my loyal photographer to bow and present me with my first beer - a Spotted Cow of course!


Great group of people - Brian, Chantel, Bruce and CJ!


Why is CJ in every picture??? CJ, Bob, Ken, Steve, Frank and you're truly.


The prices can't be beat at the Otter. 32 oz for $29 or 72oz for $38. On a per-ounce basis, the 72oz is a no-brainer!


After CJ getting and complaining about how bad the Clam Chowder was (Really...a yankee from Plymouth complaining about Clam Chowder from WI? What did you expect???), the main course was delivered. Ladies and gentleman, the 72oz King Cut!


CJ's queen cut looks like a slice of brisket compared to mine!



Table 1!


Table 2!


The Steve's also manned up and got some King Cuts. Although, I think they planned better than I did to bring some home.

Day 4 (continued)

Eric was wise and got the crab legs.


Table 3! I think this is the most people we've had at a RivetBangers Black Otter dinner - 25!


Painless documents the anticipation of the first bite of perfectly cooked prime rib.


About 45 minutes later, he also documents my defeat by the same piece of meat. It was not meant to be tonight.


Even the waitress was disappointing in my lackluster performance. I swear she must of had losing odds on me!


I settled nicely into a meat comma and we headed south back toward Oshkosh. The trip home we got to see a good portion of the night air show. A couple of us decide to head back to SOS for a beer or so. Well, after nearly 72 oz of steak, I called it an evening pretty quickly. I was planning on flying out the following day, and wasn't going to be a night-owl tonight. As soon as I left SOS, I was greeted by a very proud owner of a foldable electric scooter. He raised the olive branch of peace in the form of the largest flask I have ever seen.


Unfortunately the content of the bedazzled "Big Daddy" flask were not all that tasty!


After a quick lesson on how to properly drive the newly acquired electric scooter I performed a series of high speed passes down Waukau Ave. There's a lot more to this story...next time you run into me at a fly in, please ask me for the full story!

Day 5

Thursday morning I awoke to some storms passing through the area. My plan was to make it to Flemming field in Minnesota (KSGS), however, the weather from Oshkosh to Flemming wasn't looking so good. MVFR and IFR the direct route. The forecast looked better if I left mid-day to head south near the WI/IL/IA border, then north towards MSP. I had some time to kill in the morning, so I took in the last sights of Oshkosh. I've known Painless forever, but this is the first time I've seen his RV-6. I also attended a seminar on Slick Magnetos put on by Champion which was excellent. The speaker was simply outstanding.


I packed up the campsite and took off into the MVFR skies of WI.


The deck was pretty low today. I needed to make a few U-turns to maintain VFR. Dare I say I felt like Vlad for a few minutes??


As you can see my route is nowhere near direct, but it's the safe way to make it to MSP.


This was one of the few sights of clear skies I saw along the route.


ADS-B really does paint a realistic picture of the weather and conditions. I couldn't imagine making this trip without onboard weather.


I said it before, and I'll say it again...these GRT EFIS's still amaze me!


Crossing the Wisconsin River.


And shortly afterward, crossing the mighty Mississippi river.

Day 5 (continued)

I ran into some more light rain along the way.


My fuel was getting low, and it had been a tough 2.1 hours fighting MVFR conditions, so I landed at KFKA for some fuel and a little rest.


The weather was getting cooler as I neared Minneapolis - 65 degrees at 2300'.


Safely on the ground under blue skies at Flemming field! A direct route was just about 1.3 hours, but it took 2.7 to get here while I avoided the muck in the skies.


Wipaire had a dominant presence at Flemming Field. This looks like a Grumman Goose under restoration.


A 182 getting fitting for floats.


Also a Cessna 208 getting her bathing suite.


802 Air Tractor's being converted into Fire Boss's.


My college friend Josh picked me up and we went out on the town for a few libations, good food and great conversation. It's great to use the RV to connect with friends from around the midwest after Oshkosh!

Day 6

I had a fantastic night in St Paul, but it was time to continue my adventure. My hosts Josh (the human) and Cooper (the dog) couldn't of been more cordial!


Josh's son Owen was really into airplanes. When I showed up to their house last night, he made sure to show me his airplane bed sheets. I told Josh and his wife it would be no problem for him to come out to the airport and walk around the airplanes on the field, sit in mine, and id he was up to it, I would taxi him around. Well, can you tell who had the best day of their life????? I suggested to Josh and his wife to start saving up for pilot lessons - this kid is a natural!


Next up on the long way home was to stop by Des Moines, IA to catch up with my friend Rene from college. Weather looked OK for getting there.


Skies near St Paul were clear as could be.


I don't mind a little wind on my tail.


Just a little south of MSP, near the Iowa state line, the weather started to deteriorate.


I kept on heading west to try to dodge the weather, but eventually it wasn't worth pushing on. I stopped at Fort Dodge (KFOD).


And what a brilliant decision this was! They had a nice spread of food for Oshkosh comers and goers.


After about 90 minutes of waiting, the weather between Fort Dodge and Des Moines (KIKV) went to a reasonable level of MVFR.


Tough to see in the distance, but there are a cluster of 2,000' AGL antenna's. It pays to study the VFR charts for these obstacles when making a run in MVFR conditions.

Day 6 (continued)

I arrived safely in Ankeny (KIKV) and met up with my friend Rene, his wife and newborn. We went out to a great Southern Comfort Food restaurant that just opened up yesterday - Bubba's.


The Italian-American Heritage Festival was going on downtown Des Moines so we headed there for some more food, libations and music.


The freshly minted 2016 Queen of the Italian-American festival caught wind of my attendance at the event and just had to have a picture with me. It's hard to believe my Oshkosh Media Pass is coveted this far west!

Day 7

I am really fortunate to have so many friends who live in the midwest to visit after Oshkosh. It really makes the trip to Oshkosh special as I get to catch up with a lot of great old friends who I usually don't get to see that often. Today's trip is to 2W5 - Westosha, WI. My friend Kara and her family have a house near Powers Lake and a pontoon boat to boot!


Much like EVERY flight this trip, I was met once again with MVFR conditions.


I flew between two layers of clouds for the first half of the trip. The lower layer was scattered, so I had a high margin for safety in case I needed to get down. I don't like to be over solid layers.


Just before I hit the Mississippi, the lower layer disappeared.


Crossing over the Mississippi, I noticed on the east bank what appeared to be a ski resort. Sure enough, it was the Chestnut Mountain Resort. Must be a cool place to ski in the wintertime with the view of the Mississippi in front of you!


The skies kept on clearing up the further east I got.


Headwinds heading east? I can't catch any weather breaks this trip!


I landed at Westosha airport, and just as I was finishing tying down my airplane for the night, my friends showed up - talk about perfect timing. We took a short 10 minute ride to the lake and immediately hopped on the pontoon boat and enjoyed a wonderful day on the lake.


The evening brought more fun with great food, beverages and stories. Plus Gracie the dog especially likes it when I visit as she gets extra attention!

Day 8

Today was a wonderful day in WI. My good friend Elmer has always asked for a ride in my airplane every time I visit in WI. Well, today's timing worked out for me to give him a great RV ride. We took off from Westosha and headed south down the shoreline of Lake Michigan by Chicago. On the way back I handed him the controls and he did a majority of the flying back to Westosha. I think I made his day - all he talked about all day when we were on the lake was his awesome flight. It's great to have something that when shared, brings so much joy to other people, when I consider it just normal.

I spent a little too much time today on the pontoon boat on the lake, and didn't make it to my airplane until about 5pm CDT. I was torn whether to spend another night in WI and make the trip home in the morning, or try it tonight. The weather looked good for most of tonights trip, my only concern was an overcast layer in PA. PA has very few ground lights in the mountainous area, so I was a little concerned about maintaining VFR. I decided to give it a shot - I gave a friend of mine who lives in Cleveland a heads up he might have an unexpected visitor!

The flight home was easy - fly up to Burlington, WI (KBUU) for some cheap gas, then make a more-or-less straight shot home after coming down Lake MI.


The weather today was the best it's been all week. Chicago off my wing.


After I started turning east I had an OK tailwind of 8 kts.


Indiana and OH had some minor storms I needed to swerve around.


The sunset was amazing. The pictures didn't nearly capture how great it was.


I've said it before, and I'll say it again - ADS-B radar on my 8 year old GRT screens is just awesome.


Near Western PA I picked up a nice tailwind of 16 kts.


The GRT fuel computer ended up being spot on. I landed at KDMW with exactly 13 gallons of fuel remaining. Can't beat the economy, speed and luxury of traveling from WI to MD for $100 in fuel! This was without a doubt the best Oshkosh trip yet. Great fun with awesome people at Oshkosh, and getting to visit 3 great friends and families along the way.

Nice write-up!

Great write up! It was good to meet you!

Great write up Mike. This has to be the longest and most enjoyable trip report I've read yet. And so glad some of those photos don't show me doing anything illegal!

Mike another great write up! Again, for those of us out there banging rivets these visions of what will be, are a great inspiration. From what I can see, we also need to keep an eye out for a decent craft brew to bring. Keep snapping pictures and leading the rest of us toward an RV grin! Appreciate the effort.

Great write up. I hope to make Oshkosh one year in my new 6A. Thanks for the motivation.