Oshkosh then and now

[nddons]

I posted something about this on the blue board. I felt something was missing this year as well. It was great seeing friends, old and new. It was great volunteering at Flight Line Ops again. But I sensed that crowds were down, and the vendors were - unenthused perhaps? I enjoyed Friday's airshow, but I sense that modern military representation was less than in the past. I REALLY wish the airshow announcers would have reminded the crowd to stick around for the return of our heroes from the Honor Flight on Friday at 1830. There were hundreds to greet these great men, when there cound have been thousands.

I still love AirVenture, and will continue to attend. I hope others, pilots and non-pilots, will continue to do the same.

[mcdewey]

It was my fourth year and first year for volunteering at Flight Line Operations (FLO) parking aircraft in the North 40. It was the most fun I've had in a long time, except for flying. I got my sport pilot in June '11 and private in June '12.

I enjoyed this show even more than the previous ones. The new green tram was great. Losing the red lot made it a little harder to park but with all the food I ate, I needed the exercise. It got pretty hot in the vendor pavilions and I couldn't afford the things I wanted, but it was good to at least start looking around and seeing real stuff. The forums I made it to were informative and very useful to a newbie pilot. Wish I could have made more of them, but that's just par for the course in any convention. Would be good if there was a way to make the screen presentations brighter since some are washed out by the outside glare.

But the best part was that I got to meet some wonderful folks out with FLO and made some great memories. The guy who, after being parked, leaped out of his plane and proclaimed "Awesome!". The Operation Thirst folks with the drinks and cookies and sandwiches. Their polite laughter when I declined the vegetables and insisted that lemonade was a vegetable. The French Canadian family with several generations and their misadventures in trying to get their tent up, but still having fun. Being reminded forcefully that you don't turn an aircraft when there are tents behind it (oops). The gentle tutoring by the old-timers. Working with the youth aviation volunteers and having great conversations about aviation and technology careers. Standing in a field with the beautiful (and occasionally hot) Wisconsin sun, dark blue sky and white (and black) clouds stretching above me, while I got to be near all the beautiful aircraft. The lady who is picking back up on becoming a CFI after recovering from breast cancer. All the wonderful folks I got to just talk flying with.

I'm not sure what "then" was like, but "now" was awesome!

[Antique Tower]

You know how many old pilots it takes to screw in a lightbulb?

Four. One to screw it in, and three to talk about how good the old bulb was....

[Unwiredone]

You know how many old pilots it takes to screw in a lightbulb?

Four. One to screw it in, and three to talk about how good the old bulb was....

Now this was 'awesome'!

[Jim Heffelfinger]

EAA was founded a year after I was born…. I grew up, had a family that grew up and they had a family, and they grew up and now I am on the cusp of a great –grand child.
How could anything over that much time be the same…and would we really want it to?
In a number of ways the good ol’ days were better – we visited neighbors, knew when a friend was sick and brought over soup and company, we had picnics, we even might have shared stories of lost loves and wars. The good old days….the ones some lament….. don’t they happen every year in a magical place called Oshkosh?