Backcountry Pilot • What Stood Out at AirVenture?

What Stood Out at AirVenture?

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What Stood Out at AirVenture?

Great seeing so many BCPers at the meetup and around the show! 

What builds or birds caught your eye?

Meet any fellow BCPers?

Spot any cool gear or upgrades?

Learn anything new?

Whether you’re gone or still there, drop your stories, mods, gear finds, or photos below.
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Class E offline
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Re: What Stood Out at AirVenture?

I'm guessing the RV15 got a lot of attention.
It sure looks interesting to me.
It should fill a niche in between supercubs & skywagons.
hotrod180 offline
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Re: What Stood Out at AirVenture?

hotrod180 wrote:I'm guessing the RV15 got a lot of attention.
It sure looks interesting to me.
It should fill a niche in between supercubs & skywagons.


It's going to take some serious scratch to build one.....I'm guessing $250 K plus. Engine prices are ridiculous, among other stuff. Apparently, Van's can get the 390 engine and pass it along for ~ $63 K ish. Tack a $20 K prop on that......

Looks like it will be a very good airplane and functional. They're still working on the fuselage design. Recently moved the flap handle from up in the windshield to Cessna style between seats. A rep there said there are several things that are being changed. He noted that the seats in the plane at OSH were definitely not what will come with the kit.

They say the wing is done. They've shortened the wing some, which surprised me, but.....

They've apparently sold a number of wing kits already. I really like the look of the airplane, it should be a great backcountry plane. Room for a serious cooler, and all.
mtv offline
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Re: What Stood Out at AirVenture?

I went for the first time in 11 years. What a great time. I hung out with a buddy from Idaho, saw a lot of cool planes, and met some fellow backcountry and 180/185 pilots and enthusiasts. I bought some door handles and an AoA system for the 180 and looked at how to spend a whole lot more. I watched three airshows, heard a great talk on how to paint my airplane from the founder of Scheme Designers, and enjoyed chatting with air traffic controllers and drinking their coffee while a rain shower passed by.

I'm partial to turboprops so sitting in a Kodiak Quest was a highlight. I'll never own one but maybe I can fly one in the next chapter of life. I also love the warbirds. My favorite is the F4U Corsair, but as I stood looking at them I couldn't figure out why one had six machine guns and a three-bladed prop while the one next to it had four machine guns and a four-bladed prop. Luckily a 12-year-old kid nearby knew that the three-bladed variant was a WWII fighter and the four-bladed variant was used for ground attack in Korea. You go, kid!

I loved it, but sleeping amongst the noise for three nights wore me out. The party wound down about 11, then the porta-potty pumpers went to work at 0330 and the trash dumpster emptyers followed at 0430. Then the Mustangs started roaring off the airfield at 0600. I don't mind the Mustangs but maybe next time I need a quieter place to sleep.

I’m damned glad I went.
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Re: What Stood Out at AirVenture?

You must have been camped near the "Metro Warbirds"..... EAA has a strict quiet time in the evening, but I've never heard of them ever enforcing it. You nailed it on the "maintenance herd" making the rounds as well....but, then, the collective "we" do seem to fill those porta potty tanks pretty regularly.

I was hoteling it this year, and I really missed the camping under the wing, just sitting there in a camp chair as folks wander past..... And, if I walk enough in a day, I can pretty much sleep through anything.

I didn't really see anything new or really unusual this year. Which doesn't mean there was nothing to look at....... The exhibit barns had a lot of empty space compared to past events, and quite a few non aviation related stuff in exhibits this year.

A very cool collection of Grumman "Cats" in warbirds this year: F-4, F-6, F-8, F-7 All in really spectacular restoration shape.

The "flip" the main square every other day, so interesting stuff there. The last operational DC-8, belonging to Samaratin's Purse, and up graded with big fans in place of the serious smokers. Lots of Army stuff there as well, and the nice thing is, they don't mind us touching their birds......they are well used.

Lots of good seminars, though not enough time to do that justice. The SPA Corn Roast was a sell out as usual, and jam packed and noisy. Good brats and corn on the cob.

As always, an amazing event.

MTV
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Re: What Stood Out at AirVenture?

I think some of my favorite memories of OSH were wandering the grounds at night. Seeing the shapes loom up against the skyline and contemplating them in the relative quiet. But the best was when Concorde was there, all lit up with floodlights and gleaming white. No one around and chance to appreciate the beauty of the machine and its speed, it looked like it was going Mach 2 even at rest. (Then wide awake at the first light of gray dawn with two F-86's on the wing of a Lear 35 barreling down the flight line... good times! 8)

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Re: What Stood Out at AirVenture?

I got out of there Thursday without dumping $20k on a MT for the Cessna Cub, I consider that to be a victory. I learned about the Amish ice-cream right outside of the Red Barn gate, I wish I'd have known about that last year.
This was the second year I traveled with Big-Hal. Last year Lawnmower 4.0 had a fixed pitch prop, and that doesn't work well on a 916. We were running mach 90mph. This year Lawnmower 4.1 had CS prop, but we had a Kitfox 4 tagging along so mach 85mph was the norm.
After Sodbusters and 4 days of KOSH, I was ready to leave, but I'm already looking forward to next year
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