Midway

We're about mid-way through the week here at Oshkosh now. Some things we're doing the same, some are a little different. We have some new campers this year, and have tried out some new places to eat. We have a text list we made up for golf cart runs to and from the gates, showers, and for dinner plans, and it has worked like a charm thus far.

One thing that has been a little different to me is that about four times now I've been walking along when I've heard "Laura? Laura!" I turn around and I don't recognize who it is until they tell me their name. They've been Facebook friends that spotted me wandering around, and that's kind of neat, really. I knew them once they said their name, but boy, at first... One was from the former restaurant at Muncie, Kacy J's, and he said he loved his time there, but it was time to go, and one of his favorite memories was this girl who used to fly in with a T-6 and give him a goodbye takeoff pass. :) Another invited me to a 15-ship formation fly-out of T-6s to Thunder over Michigan, and was okay with me not having a FAST card yet. The day he invited me to do that I'd already committed to doing T-6 rides at our competition's airport event for Down Syndrome. That's a little bit of a bummer, because it would be a good opportunity to meet more of the T-6 folks and get to do some formation with them, which usually ends up helping, but I made the other fly-in commitment first, so it wins.

Kaylee is doing well up here. She has a week pass on her wrist, and a new bike, and she's happy to bomb around by herself or with her friend Alyssa and go check things out. The other day they met up on the flightline, and then Alyssa lost her bike. We were off somewhere else. Steve called Kaylee to ask how she was doing, and Kaylee matter-of-factly told him that Alyssa's bike was missing, they were done walking so she'd texted AE for a golf cart pick-up, and that then they'd run over to the other gate and look for the bike, and when they found it they would just put the bike on the back of the golf cart, and haul it home. Steve asked if that would work, and she said they'd done it before. They had a problem, but rather than calling us or not knowing what to do, she came up with a plan and just handled it without even thinking about asking for help. Yesterday it rained a lot off and on, and the campsite and everyone in it stayed dry, but afterwards Kaylee and Alyssa went out and played soccer in the mud, so I got to drive them to the shower house while they hosed off. She's enjoying herself, and even has a new book to read whenever her friend's not around.

I went to the T-6 forum yesterday. It was more on operations and maintenance, with a dose of "this is what will kill you so don't do it" thrown in for good measure. They included a discussion on the crank, bank and yank move that took out the Mustang this month. He pointed out the numbers of where the T-6 will stall out in a 60 degree bank, a chart I've looked up a few times myself. He talked about spins, and asked how many folks had spun their T-6. A handful of hands went up, though not mine. He talked about how some T-6s won't recover and how Bob Hoover said not do spin it, which was why we didn't spin ours in the first place. He spins his though. I still am gonna pass on being the one to find out if ours is one that will recover properly from a spin or not. Then he asked how many people had ever practiced an aborted takeoff, tailwheel up, wheels coming off, chop the power and re-land it right then. My hand was the only one that went up, but nobody saw it including the presenter because he wasn't looking and I was late to the forum so sneaked in and was sitting in the very back seat. lol That's fine--I sent in my paper, I showed up, I might have learned some things if I can remember them. :) A lady was handing out some paperwork, a quiz and answers and some info, and they were running short on copies. I wanted a copy, and she'd ask "who still needs one?" and I'd raise my hand, and her eye would catch me and then she'd hand one over to another guy. Finally she gets back to me and there are only 3 copies left and several of us with our hands up. She hesitates and then bends down to me and gently says "These are only for T-6 pilots. Are you a T-6 owner?" I said "Yes, I am." She asked for my name, and when I told her she said "Oh! It's so nice to meet you!" Of course I'm not a T-6 owner, but I'm pretty sure Nathan wouldn't mind that little usurping of his ownership in those circumstances. ;)

Wednesday night we watched the night airshow from our trailer. Kaylee and I climbed up on the roof of our RV, because this one has a ladder up to there, and wrapped up in a blanket, and watched the show. For awhile we had the music streaming live too, but then the internet got too bad and it quit working...but the view was still nice.

Our trailer this year is really nice. It's not brand new or anything, but it's wide and spacious. The bathroom is a normal person size bathroom with a real size shower in it with glass enclosed door and everything. The living room is very wide, and we all have room to move and be comfy in there. I wish we could request this one for future years!

The Thunderbirds arrived yesterday for their first appearance at Oshkosh. First time any military jet formation team has been here. As they flew over, people came out of trailers, stopped their cars in the middle of the roads, and every head was tipped back watching them blast around. They didn't do a normal show today, just an arrival thing where they are checking out waypoints, boundaries, flying around in their "box" and figuring things out, while giving a little bit of a jet noise show.

I was sitting in camp the other night and I realized that of all the people sitting there, I had taught and signed off eight checkrides from six different people there. That's kind of funny. This morning, one of my former students, Kayleigh, is going on a formation photo mission with Doug from California. It's a five-ship I believe. Five or six. It'll be her first time in formation even just riding, but I think she'll like it. I told her, just don't yell or do anything abrupt while he's concentrating on what he's doing. ;)

Yesterday we were sitting at our campsite when we saw a pile of black smoke. Somebody commented on it, and then on the radio we had running behind us we heard the tower say that Oshkosh was now closed. An airplane had gone down, but we didn't know what or why. We had just seen a bunch of T-6s circling around for landing, so that wasn't good. Later we found out it was a Breezy. The pilot died at the hospital that afternoon, the female passenger was listed in serious condition, no idea on what happened yet. The airport was closed for about an hour, then they re-opened one runway, and eventually got the other runway open and life there went on as 'normal'.

Well, Friday has begun. We still have a few things to do and see. Time to get ready for the day.