2015: Good and Bad

[Byron J. Covey]

I believe the Cherokee was in the AirVenture Cup Race parking corral, not Homebuilt parking.

Correct, it was with the AirVenture Cup racers. That explaines it, but, IMO, does not justify it.

Call me old fashioned, but I like to see homebuilts front and center at the annual convention of the Experimental Aircraft Association at Oshkosh.


BJC

[TedK]

Ted, that's so cool and fascinating. If your dad is still with us, he should do an Osh forum on the experience.

What's a 52E and SH3D aircraft?

I wish that he were. He was part of that Greatest Generation that have gone on to Fiddler's Green.

The S-2E is the S-2 Tracker, a carrier based two engine sub hunter made by Grumman. It's original designation was S2F (second Sub hunter type made by Grumman) so it was known as the Stoof. An SH-3 is the Seaking Helo made by Sikorsky. It had a dipping sonar. You still see the Seaking flying the President as Marine One.

The 40 or so naval aviators that had been hired by 20th Century Fox had gone up to El Toro to form into a unit and get used to flying them again, they then flew down to San Diego where the broke with the plan and "spontaneously" decided to attack San Diego harbor. That set off quite a pandemonium. My dad had arranged for me to have the day off from school so I figured this was going to be interesting. I called the local news station to give them a tip but got the "yeah, sure, right, kid".

When they landed at North Island, they had to taxi to the carrier pier to be hoisted onto the Yorktown. The Navy wouldn't allow then to "trap" on the carrier, except for one Zero, so they had to be lifted aboard. My Dad arranged for one of his junior officers to take me in the duty truck to the runway. As they landed and taxi'd by, my Dad slowed down and this JO ran me out to his Kate and helped me climb into the back seat. I got to ride the mile or so to the carrier quay.

i think my Dad was one of the few stationed in San Diego at the time and we lived right by the NAS, so they had a hellacious debriefing at our house and then set out to close down the Mexican Village, a spot loving known to naval aviators till the early 90s as MexPac. When they were thrown out of MexPac, they returned to our place like a herd of drunken locust. I awoke the next morning to discover a dozen or so Captains, Commanders and LCDRs littered around our downstairs. These were Naval Aviators minted during WWII still on active duty during the Viet Nam era...it was a different planet then.

[dclaxon]

Eh? You have a rather bizarre idea of how the industry works. The OTA signals are paid for. The station pays for them and then they recover that through selling advertising. In fact, it is this local marketing revenue that is specifically thwarted by DBS and other people who remote distant OTA content. One could argue your DBS is MORE ABUSIVE to the content providers than OTA reception.

The OTA signals are put there specifically with the hope and intent that you WILL receive them. It's not like the old C-band TVRO days when people were sniffing on feeds that were designed only to be shipped around within the broadcast industry.

The biggest issue with these OTA sellers is that unless you're in a metro area, the content offered is pretty minimal. Even here 40 or so miles outside of DC, the DTV signals are pretty limited to a few specialty stations (most of which are not in English).

Ron, I don't think you saw the device the original poster was referring to, or don't understand how it works. I stopped and talked to them because I am looking for something to replace my satellite dish, (since most of the small handful of channels I actually watch are only available in their largest package, and the monthly bill is now in 3 digits, and I spend most of my TV time scrolling through the program guide looking for something to watch.) When I asked the guy if it would get the channels I wanted he told me that every show that has ever been broadcast has been recorded and now resides on servers in Russia, and his $250 device connects to those servers. I believe in this case the "TV theft box" was pretty accurate.

Dave

[Mayhemxpc]

I have had a week to decompress and look at what others have said, and I contribute the following:


Good.
Weather. Definitely try to make that happen again next year.

Waking up to the sound of Merlin engines in the morning.

New shower trailers and bathroom facilities on the showgrounds. Unfortunately there are none in Warbirds show area (or of more personal concern) Warbirds camping.

Active duty military displays. This may not be what AirVenture is about, but it definitely attracts interest of the general public. I liked this year betther than having the Thunderbirds last year.

Golf carts. Despite my initial fear over proliferation of carts, things seemed to be much more under control this year than last year (at least in on the airport. I understand that in the campgrounds things may have been different.)

Burt Rutan and Apollo 13 presentations. David Hartmann showed that he is still on top of his game interviewing the Apollo 13 team.

Root beer. You can ask for it outright, rather than asking for a float and hold the ice cream. (Although they ran out some days.)

Airbus. I am one of the “If it ain’t Boeing I ain’t going” crowd, but it sure was nice to see it fly like that.

Warbirds in review. Better every year. I could mention some of the better presentations, but it would take too long. From a very personal perspective, I liked Monday morning’s “entry level warbirds” presentation, where we got to show that you don’t need to have corporate sponsorship or a 7 figure income to own, fly, and restore a warbird. There was a LOT of public interest when these smaller warbirds were on display center stage

Similar to above, Cavanaugh Museum of Flight for showcasing some of these entry level warbirds throughout the week, restored or maintained by individuals, not museums or corporations.

Livestreaming and archive recordings of airshows and other events.

Airship 1: In addition to being neat in and of itself, it was very approachable on the ground.

Gary Sinese

Bratwurst

Sacred Heart food stand

Wisconsin and Oshkosh people

Not so good
Repetitious flip flop acts (already mentioned)

Airshow announcers – all as previously mentioned by others (although he said nice things about my plane.)

Wifi (see separate string)

AirVenture App – although I need to give some more thought about how exactly I was disappointed by it. I will also admit that there were some very good features, too.

Helicopter rides. In addition to being loud and annoying, they flew quite close to the Forum areas, completely drowning out the speakers.

Some forums, such as Gene Krantz’s presentation, were exceptionally popular and overcrowded. Overflow could not see anything nor hear anything thanks to the Bell 47 overflights. Forum planning could have anticipated this and provided a different venue.

On review, the good definitely outweigh the not so good. Continual improvement is the key to long term success.

[tmcquinn]

The Good:

Man, there was too much I liked to even begin to list. I'll be back.

The Bad:

Being locked out for a couple of days while they were full, then getting in and seeing tools with entitlement issues taking up more than one camping space.

I don't blame anyone for not believing the following. I went into the new shower building. Now I don't wear my glasses in the shower so I have some vision issues. Totally by coincidence, for the second time in my life I wore flip flops to the shower. As I stepped in I thought it smelled horrible, much worse than the old shower trailers. I looked down and there was sh** on the floor. I don't care what kind of medical issues you might have, you go on the floor, you f'n clean it up. I washed it away and relocated. Flip flops are no longer optional for me.

Could not find the Target bus schedule anywhere. I tried the app and the web site and spent far too much time trying. And I saw no signs at the shopping center this year. I don't know, maybe I just had a case of the dumbass. Luckily, at 58 I can still do it on foot. Someday it may not be so easy!

[TedK]

Not so good

Some forums, such as Gene Krantz’s presentation, were exceptionally popular and overcrowded. Overflow could not see anything nor hear anything thanks to the Bell 47 overflights. Forum planning could have anticipated this and provided a different venue.

On review, the good definitely outweigh the not so good. Continual improvement is the key to long term success.

Why don't more members attend the Annual Meeting?

And, Why isn't the Theater in the Woods used for oversubscribed forums such as Meet the Administrator?

[steve]

Speaking of Theater in the Woods, when and why were the big comfy chairs removed? Prior to this year, the last time I was there was the first year Lt Dan played.

[Floatsflyer]

I wish that he were. He was part of that Greatest Generation that have gone on to Fiddler's Green.

The S-2E is the S-2 Tracker, a carrier based two engine sub hunter made by Grumman. It's original designation was S2F (second Sub hunter type made by Grumman) so it was known as the Stoof.

Thanks for all the information and pics, really interesting. My dad too was part of the so-called greatest generation. He was in the RCAF during WW2 but wanted nothing to do with airplanes after it ended.

I grew up in Toronto and in the 50's there was an airforce base about 2 miles north of my house. It was called Downsview AFB and included the DeHavilland factories. Then it was surrounded by nothing but farmland. Today the airport is civilian but is now situated right in the middle of the city. When I was a kid the base was home to T-33's and those Trackers your dad flew. The airspace over my house was final for the North/south runway and I saw those Trackers numerous times a day. Sadly, one of them fatally crashed into the backyard of a house just a few blocks north of me around 1962. Today, Downsview is home to Bombardier where they make Challenger jets and the Q400 turbo-prop commuter used by many airlines.

[TedK]

Yeah Floats, too many times I went to Memorial Services as a kid to sing Eternal Father, Strong to Save for the Dad's of my classmates. My career in the Navy seemed much safer
though it gives me pause as my son enters what seems to be the family business.

That said, I do remember the Canadian Stoof drivers that would occasionally descend on our house bearing live lobsters to be cooked in trade for alcohol. I developed a strong bond for you high latitude types and enjoy working with the RCAF in my present line of work. Though, you guys should never have given up you carrier.

[Floatsflyer]

I developed a strong bond for you high latitude types and enjoy working with the RCAF in my present line of work. Though, you guys should never have given up you carrier.

I'm impressed you knew we even had a carrier. It was the Cold War, all the high foreheads thought the next war would only be nuclear with missiles flying back and forth. No need for carriers, too expensive to keep afloat. Had a good name though-The Bonaventure.

Good luck to your son.