George and Karl's 2nd Big AirVenture

Karl Barry writes: "I woke up at 3:45AM Monday morning so I could meet George at the airport (ORH) at 4:30AM so that we could leave for Oshkosh by 5:00AM. I am normally a morning person but 3:45AM is criminal."

The Campsite.jpg
The Campsite

We've put up a 2004 Oshkosh photo gallery on the web. Some good pictures of the airshows.


A little dark and some scattered clouds but off we went. I flew the first leg. We heard Chris Hallinan (with Cary Dillman) on frequency on his IFR flight plan to Rochester. We landed at Akron, NY (9G3) for fuel, bio-break, and to switch seats. George took over for the next leg over Ontario to Clare, MI (48D). George got about 30minutes of solid IMC. Somewhere over Ontario we heard Cary Dillman ask the controller about our position and was told "They are 14 miles ahead and have you by 10 knots". [Ed. Yes… we were gloating just a bit] We continued on, happy to let Cary & Chris eat our dust. Obviously better pilotage was at work here. We landed at Clare for fuel and to switch seats again but the real reason is for the ice cold chocolate malted they make for pilots passing though. After refueling ($2.55/gal) and weather update we left for OSH.

It was my leg again from Clare to Oshkosh. We crossed Lake Michigan from Big Sable Point to Manitowoc. Was our engine running a little rough or was it "lake roughness"? When we opened our over water flight plan we heard Chris on frequency. They had already begun their crossing and had opted for the more direct southern crossing from Little Sable Point to Sheboygan risking the extra 5 miles over water for the shorter overall distance. Curses!! When we got to Wisconsin side there was a "hold" for arrivals into OSH. We took our time going to Ripon and by the time we got there the "hold" was over. It is hard to describe the arrival into OSH. You really have to experience it. The controllers do an amazing job dealing with all of the pilots. We landed and taxied to parking/camping at row 533. We are still amazed at all the welcome signs for George (GAC). [Ed. "GAC" is the official Oshkosh sign for General Aviation Camping, and also happens to be my initials] We parked next to Cary & Chris who beat us in. Was that a smug smile on Chris's face? Jack & Rosemary Kvalita were also there in the next row. We set up our tent and relaxed.

[Ed. And yes, we heard from Chris about his superior piloting and beating us with our lead and faster plane just a few times]

We went to a few seminars which were pretty good. Al Haynes gave speech about the United 232 crash at Sioux City, IA in 1989. He has probably given that speech hundreds of times but it was still excellent. He praised everybody involved; the controller, flight crew, flight attendants, the people of Iowa. There was no "I" or "me" in his speech.

[Ed. We also got to hear a great presentation by an SR-71 pilot. He had lots of interesting facts and spent a bit of time debunking many of the urban legends surrounding the SR-71.]

The airshows were great! Mike Goulian (from Bedford, MA) was particularly good and had a tough wind to deal with.

We also got up early on Thursday for the Canon Dawn Patrol which started at 7am. Brad Miller arrived late on Wednesday and joined us on the Dawn Patrol along with a Alex, a WPI Student. It is a pretty good deal. Canon loans you a camera ($1000 Canon Rebel) and you get to go around a take pictures for an hour and a half. They also lend out cameras for full days on Thursday through Saturday. At the end of the day (or dawn patrol) you return the camera and they download pictures to a CD. All for free.

Thursday morning we checked weather for returning home. The forecast looked "iffy" for Friday & Saturday so we decided to return on Thursday. We returned to camp to pack, refuel and get our camping refund. [Ed. Good decision. Jack and Rosemary left on Friday and spent two days stuck in Sheboygan due to weather.] George had first leg and decided to depart VFR. The line was not too long but there was a short delay for some airshow arrivals. We departed and crossed Lake Michigan again. Another chocolate malted at Clare. A great VFR flight across Ontario passing by Niagara Falls. It's a beautiful sight from the air. Fuel at Akron again. We had an easy, relaxing VFR flight over New York and into ORH. I tried to convince George to see if we could find any F16s east of Worcester but he decided to pass on that.

Soon we start our planning for 2005 Air Venture

"Sure you can have eight miles behind the heavy…there'll be a United tri-jet between you and him." --ORD Tower

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