Oshkosh -- We did it!

That's right! YOU made this possible. You with your friendship, and encouraging words, and advice and admonishments as needed.



Thanks to a lot of people -- but of late, Brad Benson -- I was able to fly an airplane I built into the world' busiest airport.

I couldn't tell you what Oshkosh looks like from the air; I was much, much too busy on the way in keeping track of everyone around me (I CAN tell you EXACTLY what the back of an RV-9A looks like). So on the way out, Brad filmed the taxi and departure, because I was, again, too busy flying an airplane.

It was, as I'm sure you can imagine -- breathtaking. What I didn't anticipate was the tremendous boost in confidence it provided.

I'll write up my trip report soon, but here's Brad's video.

Congratulations!

I've been awaiting your PIREP!

Fantastic achievement.
Well done that man!

John

Bob,
I am so glad you got the chance to live your dream. You had a bump in the road, but you still were able to do what you had wanted to do. I am glad you had a friend who could help you out when you needed it.

Best of luck on your trek back into the pilot's seat.

Awesome. It's a long way from when we both had just a gleam of hope for the future at your OSH digs in 2005. Congratulations.

I hope to catch up to you someday (flying my own bird to OSH)

Congratulations Bob. Wish you could have made it earlier in the week.

We were sitting around late last night and I said the only thing I wish is we could've made the get-together. I had a blast there last year. Next year for sure. Thanks for doing that.

Bill, I'm looking forward to seeing you and your plane. Next year?

Way to go Bob! Sorry we missed you earlier in the week!

Talk about a feel good moment!

Thanks for sharing that Mr. Collins.

Bob Axsom

Bob--you are an inspiration!
Tom

Congrats on the trip, Bob.

I like very much the looks of the airplane as I am headed that way for now. You must be the expert "buffer" here....I need help in that area and have much to learn. The pads keep getting all junked up.

Yeah, it's a typical thing. Are you using the wool bonnets and the little spinny thing?

The most common problem that I had was using too much polish. I've used less and less and gotten better and better results, even if the whole section I'm doing doesn't turn evenly black.

But, yeah, I end up soaking the things in a bucket of TSP and then throwing them in the washer. So far, Carolie hasn't noticed so I think I'm good there.

I have a different bonnet for each grade (actually two for each grade) and I probably did them all twice in the course of the many months (off and on, of course) of doing the plane.

I fell into the trap that a lot of polishers fall into, also. The first time you polish it you think, "wow, this is the greatest shine ever," and then once you get used to it, you shift to, "man, that looks kinda cloudy; they're going to laugh me right out of Oshkosh."

But, once I got to Oshkosh and examined all the other polish jobs, I found the plane pretty much held its own. There were exceptions, of course.

The downside of a polish job at OSH -- especially if you park in the back of HBC near the road -- is you get dust almost immediately and with the nightly dew, there's nothing you can do about it. You surely do not want to wipe the dew off.

Basler filled up the tanks on Saturday and the guy started wiping all around the fuel tank, grinding in the dust and creating some really awful looking swirls. No matter. The cyclo and the fleece cloth will take them out pretty quickly.

So today I'm going to learn how to hose off an RV without getting anything inside the thing (the seal between the tip-up forward skin and the top skin is fairly non existent; I think I'll run a line of Scotch tape across it). And I've got something to occupy my time until the FAA reissues the med certificate.

Once I'm flying again, I'd be happy to hop down and bring my equipment and add a second worker to your efforts if you'd like.

Very nice!! I hope to do that in my RV12 someday. Thanks for sharing the video!

Bob, use ELECTRICAL TAPE ...

LettersFromFlyoverCountry said:

Yeah, it's a typical thing. Are you using the wool bonnets and the little spinny thing?

<<<SNIP>>

So today I'm going to learn how to hose off an RV without getting anything inside the thing (the seal between the tip-up forward skin and the top skin is fairly non existent; I think I'll run a line of Scotch tape across it).

.

Click to expand...

Bob, I think that you will find that electrical tape works best on the seam. It is also rather easy to remove.

This is from 10 years of having to tape the seal when washing the plane.

James