Day 2 - Monday 29th July

Getting Serious . . .

This was the first serious day of the show and of course I ‘executed’ my cunning plan to make sure I did and saw all the things I wanted to do and see.  I made my away across to Blackhawk Common for breakfast and made of point of getting chatting to some people . . . I was very pleased to meet a lot of Americans and even some Australians.

Fabric Covering 101 . . .

First cab of the rank was to attend a workshop to learn how to put fabric on a plane.  There was a 40 minute 'lecture' about fabrics, glueing and the process and then about an hour actually doing the work under supervision.

Like all things, I sure it would take quite some time to become confident enough that it would work out well – but the basics are surprisingly easy.  The newer materials can be formed with heat to go around complex corners, the new technology glues are very strong and easy to work with and it is fairly easy to do a reasonable job.

And I was keen to learn about 'invisible gloves' - a cream that you rub on your hands when working with glues and other things.  The glue obviously sticks to the dried cream and once finished working you simply wash off the 'gloves' with warm soapy water and it takes the other stuff with it.  Ingenuous.

The instructional setting

Raw materials

Rough edges taped and first side glued

Many hands make light work

Head sensitive material responds well to an iron

Moving Right Along . . .

From there I checked out the other courses and confirmed which ones I was going to do . . . which is 'sheet metal' and 'wood'.  I also executed my geographical plan focusing my attention the 'Homebuilt' neighbourhood . . . otherwise you just spend time walking around in circles all day. 

I was on the lookout for a fold out seat - and I found one in the Jeppersen store.  Being 'branded' by a named company (owned by Boeing no less) it was a little pricey, but it did the job all week.  And it also doubled as my day bag.

Homebuilts . . .

As previously mentioned, my focus for today was the 'homebuilt' neighbourhood - and so I did.

 

Monday's Wander . . . 

 

Lunch . . . 

My best move of the day was to 'invite myself' into the Continental Motors hospitality tent.  It is amazing what a little bit front can do . . . I just rocked and they asked if I had been sent the registration details and I said 'no'.  No problem, was the reply and I filled in a card and got my entry pass for the week!  So I was able to sit in the shade, have a reasonable lunch (seriously - especially for the USA!), a cool drink and watch some of the flying . . . and I got to meet and chat to a bunch of new people every day.

Much better than sitting out in the paddock

Air Show . . .


I found a shady spot near the 'brown arch' (pretty much centre stage) to watch the afternoon air show . . . which went from 2:30pm to 6:30pm.  In truth that was probably a bit long as there many gaps in the program.  I got chatting with an St Louis couple beside me - he is an engineer with Boeing working on the F-15 aircraft.  He is also a keen flyer and had been 'dispatched' to Oshkosh to acquire some specific avionics gear for his flying club.

And this was the year that the military decided not to come to Oshkosh - apparently because of financial cutbacks, but actually to put pressure on Congress to pass the various pending financial bills.

Phillips 66 Plaza . . .

The main 'centre' ring of Oshkosh is the Phillips 66 Plaza - which is not much more than a reasonably large parking area for reasonably large plans with a huge stage at one end.  The organisers put some very special planes here for the entire show and rotated others through the area - and it is was of course where the bands played.  Today's Plaza looked something like this . . .

Chicago . . .

The evening performance was a real highlight for me . . . the band Chicago played for two hours.  They of course did all the old favourites, but they didn't have two hours worth!  The band was very, very tight and it was a well rehearsed and slick act, but frankly the musicianship wasn't all that I thought it might be - except for the create lyricist trombone player.  It wasn't as if the horns or the rhythm section was going to explode.


So I headed back to the university at around 9:30pm and settled in for the evening - and tried unsuccessfully to call home on Skype.