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What's your KOSH highlight

NYTOM said:
Very tired and sweaty up in the orange lot to get our chairs for the afternoon airshow my wife and I were walking back near the Airventure lodge we were cut off by a EAA official in one of those stretch golf carts. He wanted to know
" where ya going" and I was thinking we was about to be yelled at for being someplace we shouldn't be.
:eek:
Told him just walking back to see the Airshow. Well he put us in the back of that cart and drove us right down the Airshow Center. Always wondered what it felt like to be one of those VIP's you see getting carted around Airventure. :D. A nice little gesture that made us feel special and just one of the little things that keeps us coming year after year.;)
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Glad to hear that. We (members of the Board of Directors) have the carts to get from place to place and meeting to meeting. BUT, as the sign on them say we are happy to give someone a ride.

I find that not only are people very grateful but that I actually win out in the deal as I get to meet interesting people from around the world. It is also a chance to hear of opportunities for improvement.

I only had one person try to treat me as his personal chauffeur. I just smiled and ignored him. :)

Another case of two couples. The women wanted to go to warbirds. The men wanted me to take them to flight line. I told the men that WE were going to warbirds and if they wanted to they could come along. I enjoyed that and the ladies appreciated it as easy. They were given priority. :). :)

James
EAA Board Director
 
Jerry

As strange as it may sound the highlight of my trip was seeing Jerry's One Man Band was still right there on the corner. I'm not sure how many years Jerry has been playing at OSH but I cannot remember going to OSH when he wasn't there. I took a picture and texted it to my grown kids. They remember Jerry from the trips they made to OSH as kids. Great memories.

I also saw many carts stop and ask older folks if they needed a ride. Very courteous.
 
Seeing my college roommate win Outstanding Cessna 120/140 with his 1947 120 that he spent five or six years restoring, after gathering the parts which were scattered over three different cities, only to ground loop it a few weeks before OSH last year. The restoration and subsequent rebuild paid off for him!
 
I wasn't there but....

My highlight was hearing that the small team of teenage RV-12 builders (a mix from different Eagles Nest and Teen Flight build teams) completely built a set of RV-12 wings and flapperons for the EAA Give Flight program (More Info HERE) in 3 1/2 days.
The article reports that one wing set was already shipped out to the receiving chapter on Saturday (the RV-12 wings I presume), so I assume work was still going on the rest of the wing sets ;)

Great work guys (and gals)
 
WE got to see a few people we knew---and some that were email, phone, or in 1 case a Skype buddy (!).
Sadly missed the Beer fairy social---gee I needed one of those cart things like James had! LONG walk from 8th to Homebuilt Wednesday morning to meet up with customers from Ohio. And one from Israel.

Still figuring things out, but had a great time!
Tom and Suzanne
 
Sir..

roadrunner20 said:
Being my first Oshkosh, I was totally impressed with all the people I've met & the aviation community as a whole. There were so many activities I was glad I downloaded the app so I could keep everything straight. Still didn't get to see everything.
I'm leaving to go back home to Florida in the morning, but l leave knowing that I've made new friends.
Thank you Dan for the social & Vic for your inspiring standup at the Van's banquet.

And a big thanks to Jerry Fischer for taking such good care of us at HBC.
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It was our extreme pleasure, from all of our volunteers in HBC
 
My list (in no particular order)

- Arriving at OSH on opening day, with all the excitement of "what is this year going to be like" in my brain.
- Vans Social, meeting new people who said to me, the same stuff I said to others when I was new.
- Eating melted (burned) campfire desserts with fellow builders and flyers, while attempting to sing along to classic tunes on the radio.
- Drinking scotch and smoking cigars in Camp Scholler with fellow aviators, while watching the airshows
- Walking the grounds and running into more than a few friendly faces and fellow Coloradoans along the way.
- Eating soft serve cones with my friend Ladislaw and his family.
- Seeing my family at the airport when I returned home.

I can't wait for OSH 2016, when my family will be there with me!
 
My KOSH highlight was hearing my oldest son singing "People Are Strange" at the Charcoal Pit karaoke bar. You have to understand his life story to understood why "putting yourself out there" was such a big deal.

My worst KOSH highlight was the Charcoal Pit karaoke bar when everyone else was singing. :D

One other highlight: Good cockpit resource management on departure with son #2 (I made two trips). (Video)

oshkosh_departure.jpg
 
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My highlight was getting to see my friend Rick fly into Oshkosh in his new L39 jet, which was his first time ever to see Airventure. And yes, I've gotten to fly it from the rear seat for about a half hour a few months ago... it handles just like a big RV8... except it goes about 400 knots :D and has just a wee bit more fuel burn.
 
LettersFromFlyoverCountry said:
My KOSH highlight was hearing my oldest son singing "People Are Strange" at the Charcoal Pit karaoke bar. You have to understand his life story to understood why "putting yourself out there" was such a big deal.

My worst KOSH highlight was the Charcoal Pit karaoke bar when everyone else was singing. :D

One other highlight: Good cockpit resource management on departure with son #2 (I made two trips). (Video)

oshkosh_departure.jpg
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You sure have a very sexy airplane Bob. I enjoyed chatting with you in HBC
 
I finally met Bob Mills!

Ken Krueger too.

Jerry said I had ugly feet. That happens when the HBC grass is too good to not go barefoot.

No less than three different guys told me I was from another planet. Little do they know....

The new Goodyear airship is quiet enough to startle a fella when it appears directly overhead, from behind.

Missed the RV-8 gathering. Later Cousin Kevin told me that being AWOL meant I also missed a big bird cockpit tour (negative highlight).

My buddy Carol gave me a shirt with my name on it. Now I won't be confused the morning after the Social.

Gas for $4.04, and a free hotdog. Not at OSH of course...inbound.

Several controllers on frequency at the same time, up an octave or two, saying "Everybody go around!!!".

Nailed a crosswind arrival behind a couple of 701's doing a slow flight demo on final.

The weather....all week.

Tanya saved me a cookie.

Six cases of Spotted Cow on a truck back to Alabama.

It was a good week. Thank you all.
 
Forgot, another highlight

DaAV8R said:
As strange as it may sound the highlight of my trip was seeing Jerry's One Man Band was still right there on the corner.
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I forgot about Jerry. He had a sign a while back saying it was his last time there. I think maybe last year or even two years ago. As I walked past his empty spot I started thinking about him and wondered where he might be today. Been going to "Osh" for over twenty five years and he has always been a staple of the show.
It's was extremely refreshing on the second day when I passed again and there was old Jerry making his music with all his specialty equipment. Must admit it brought a big smile to my face. :)
 
Re: Jerry's One Man Band. Jerry's first year was 1986, which was also my first year. I assumed that he had been there forever, until I asked him about it a few years ago. Turns out he also used to play with my wife's uncle back in the day, small world.

Seeing Jerry is always a highlight.
 
Meeting up with those at the Beer Fairy social was absolutely cool. Running into others I never expected to meet was even cooler (Bruce, I'm looking at you. ;)).

By far, though, were my two days volunteering at Give Flight. Seeing the high school and college kids have their turn at riveting was fun (especially when the guys get their girlfriends in on the act as a dare). But the real little kids, seeing them light up after squeezing the pneumatic puller handle while I'm helping hold it. They may have been scared a bit of the gun. But seeing their faces when they point at their rivet afterwards and sign it. "That's MY rivet!" I asked a few of them if they played with Legos with their friends. I told them I do too, and pointed back at the table where the other volunteers were building the other wings. I asked them which do they like more now, Legos or building a real plane that will really fly. You can guess the answer. ;)

Oh, and shaming the parents into pulling a rivet also, then they light up too with this look of shock ("It's that easy?" "Sure, if you can forget you're doing it a couple thousand times...").

The second biggest question I always got, other than "Where's the at sign?" on the photo-taking iPad, were a variation on "so this is a demo wing / this is really going to fly on a real airplane?" "Yup", and point back to where the RV-12 wing set was going to Connecticut to be finished.

(And darnit Tom, I didn't realize you were up there also, like so many others I would've loved to meet had I known!)
 
sprucemoose said:
Re: Jerry's One Man Band. Jerry's first year was 1986, which was also my first year. I assumed that he had been there forever, until I asked him about it a few years ago. Turns out he also used to play with my wife's uncle back in the day, small world.

Seeing Jerry is always a highlight.
Click to expand...

I asked Jerry to sign my logbook last year. Was able to exchange friendly waves this year. Just a staple of OSHKOSH. Always a highlight to see him back.
 
Although I wasn't able to make the social, I did get there on Friday around noon. Got a great camping spot in GAC (60 secs from the bathroom, grocery and Major Goolsbys), my $34.00 tent and $5.00 sling chair got it all done. But the best highlight was watching the F22, P51 and P38 fly together. Very cool! I mean, where else are you going to see that? Only at OSH!

Next year, we're getting there earlier in the week!
 
One of the benefits of our North 40 group campsite is it is right on the taxiway between Kermit Weeks hangar and the fire house on the North side of 9/27. Every performer passes within feet of our pirate flagged site and all get a wave by. I'm not sure if the F35 made an appearance during the week and it was one of the things I was looking forward to seeing. Then, Friday night under cover of darkenss at 10:30 a slow moving shadow came rolling down the taxiway from the East. As it got closer the folks in our group pointed out what they thought was an F22 being towed. But as it passed within 20 feet of us it was obviously an F35! We guessed it was being towed to the Weeks hangar since that is where all the performers planes are kept. My buddy and I walked over a few minutes later and they backed it into the hangar there right in front of us. No care in the world we were there. We went and took a shower then back at the site around 11:15 a second just as dark shadow came rolling down the same path. Yup....number 2 was heading to the hangar. Pretty cool since they never park the F22's and now the F35's where you can get close to them. We departed for home Saturday morning so I never got to see them fly but there is always next year.
 
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I?ve attended AirVenture for about 20 of the past 25 years and it has come to be the look-forward-to summer highlight. This year, however, was the first time I brought by daughter, Amelia. Amelia is ten and, let?s say, possessed a ?casual? attitude toward aviation. Although I was aware of KidVenture, not having a kid in tow, I never really paid much attention to what was going on there - until now. Frankly, I was blown away by the variety of activities and the commitment of all the volunteers who worked with the seeming endless parade of kiddos.

For those unaware, one of the hangars at Pioneer Airport is split down the middle. The right side offers an introduction to piloting (a mini ground-school), and the left side offers activities geared toward maintenance (A&P). By 2:00 on Thursday, Amelia finished the ?ground school? activities which culminated in a simulated flight from OSH to FLD. While the simulated fence at FLD didn?t fare too well, she had fun a certainly learned a lot (not to mention the pride of earning a certificate as well as a spiffy back pack and ?wings?). Friday morning I asked Amelia if she wanted to go back to KidVenture and without hesitation said, ?oh yeah, I?m GOING to get that tool box?. The tool box was the ?prize? for completing all 8 of the maintenance activities ? and she did. Dad just had to lug it around for the rest of the day (a small price to pay).

Shame on me for not getting the names of at least some folks who really stood out, dedicated their time, and really made an effort to teach the next generation of aviators. Also thanks goes out to the corporate sponsors like Hartzell, Cleveland and UTC ? to name a few. Both Amelia and I really thought it was, ?Totally Awesome?.
 
Helping people at the Emergency repair barn all week.

Redline air air show was one of the best performances I have seen in a while. Old School smooth and accurate. Very very well done. I look forward to see in them in August at Port Clinton Ohio. Of course I am not unbiased since I am building a RV8.
 
Paint jobs

My wife walking with me to scope out paint jobs and agreeing on the color scheme.
 
FAA

A forum poster alerted us to the FAA altitude chamber. My wife and I took the opportunity to go to "29,000 feet".
I learned that my math skills are about what I expected. She learned why we use oxygen on most flights.
 
Best OSH ever! Nuff said. Too much to do in just one week, and I didn't have to work the booth this year.

Glad to hear all the wonderful comments on this thread. :)
 
Warbirds, P-51, Petie 2nd

First time at Oshkosh and camped with my friends 6a. So amazed at all of the RV's, and wandered over to the warbirds section. Saw this P-51 Mustang, and recalled that somewhere in my family tree a relative once owned one of these classics. Asked a guy who owned it, and to my amazement, it was my cousin Tony that I had not seen or talked to since my grandmothers funeral in Boone, Iowa in 1989! Maybe I can coax a ride outta him one of these days
 
Of course, the weather can make or break any trip and aside from the nasty weather on the first Saturday, the balance of the week was phenominal. My highlights include:

Ron "Shorts" Walker video taping in the airplane behind me my whole Ripon to Fisk to Oshkosh to parking arrival. How cool is that?
That guy that took my picture when I parked. Thanks, Brad O., I love you, man.
The Big Brown Arch Airventure 2015 Sign
Another forum presented by Burt Rutan
Lots more forums
Watching the super glue guy glue o-rings (again)
Not watching mechanical bull riding
Polite golf cart drivers
Polite volunteers
Bending a few with my buds at Kellys
Meeting people from other countries. Just think about that for a moment.
Corn on the cob
Watching a four year old son walking with his Dad
Airplanes airplanes airplanes
Vendors vendors vendors
Making new friends
Having the "privilege" of sharing one cookie Three Fricking Ways! Thanks Tanya.
Did I mention the weather?
SOS Brothers (okay, his nieces, sisters, daughters - I don?t know)
Brats at the bus park
More beer with my buds at Jeff's on Rugby
Seeing the move from "airventure" to "oshkosh" and more emphasis on homebuilding
Not seeing rows and rows of "vip" tents along the flightline
Just getting on the early morning bus from the dorms
and, sitting next to a guy from New Zealand
Of course, Jerry's One Man Band - why didn't I think to have him sign my log book
 
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