How did you get started?

[WLIU]

Once upon a time, back in about 1981, when I was working over in Minneapolis, a co-worker said, "Hey, I am going to visit my parents over in Fond du Lac WI this weekend. There is an aviation event in the next town up if you are interested. My dad might be able to get a ticket." I had given up being a low paid professional pilot and put my engineering education to work (much to the relief of my parents I think), and I had never heard of EAA. Low paid pilots spend their time looking for paying rides, not fun flying.

I hear that the folks who work the gate at the show recognize the look when folks like myself walk up the the gate. Its like being from Sierra Leone and being dropped at the gate of Epcot Center Disney. Your mind can't process all that you see.

And so I became an EAA member. I've lost track of how many times I have been back to Oshkosh. I have been there in an antique airplane no-radio, via the regular arrival, landed in close formation on runway 36, etc. Folks who have never been have no idea what they are missing. One year I happened to wear my Norseman pilot T-shirt when I stopped over at the EAA Museum and to my surprise, found myself standing in front of a painting of a Norseman. And someone came up and asked "Do you fly a Norseman?" The answer was "yes" and for 20 minutes I answered questions about the airplane. And I can say that I walked behind the IAC pavilion in 2001 and there was my Pitts. Passed papers and flew it home a little over a month later. Good times.

Best of luck,

Wes
N78PS