Skylark Flyers Blog

Here’s some photos showing the work going on with updates to the convention site.

Steve’s AirVenture Site Updates.

Here are some points made during the last webinar about the EAA Convention updates.

Advance ticket sales are up 25% from last year.

Site construction will have new showers in the North camping area, chip seal roads in the area south of the main entrance, expansion to hangar C, and new concrete pad in warbirds area. 44 wi-fi hotspots will be added.

2 more web cams. One on the Vintage tower toward AeroShell Square. The other in the north area on the E-W runway.

Homebuilder’s Hangar will have speakers from the development of kit planes, demonstrations of items originally presented in the Hints for Homebuilders video series.

Some new planes that will be at the event:
Cobalt CA-50 prototype
V-22 Ospry
2 F-4 Phantoms
Sikorsky S-38
PBY4-2 Firebomber
Seafire
Falcon 50 with new spiroidal wingtips (wingtip loops around back to the wing.

F-22 will not be there. They were needed for operations.

Adam hinted someone who hasn’t emphasized airplanes in a while will unveil a new plane at the Homebuilder’s area,.

The Homebuilt parking and camping area is expanded by taking away from the Red parking area.

The Federal Aviation Administration said this week that data from the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, which flies unmanned systems on border patrols shows a total of 5,688 flight hours from Fiscal Year 2006 to July 13, 2010. The CBP accident rate is 52.7 accidents per 100,000 flight hours. This accident rate is more than seven times the general aviation accident rate (7.11 accidents/100,000 flight hours) and 353 times the commercial aviation accident rate (0.149 accidents/100,000 flight hours).

Safety a big target in letting unmanned aircraft in national airspace | NetworkWorld.com Community.

Plane & Pilot Magazine Subscription $3.99 per year at tanga.com Use coupon code 26c3.

In early March I got a call from a gentleman named Thom Mitchell. He’s from Vermont and is researching a restoration done by Mitch Spencer of Rutland. Thom was trying to find a Stearman that was originally issued to the Tuskeegee Airmen, and was reported to be displayed in a 1998 exhibit at the Smithsonian.

Thom found our phone number through a web search, and was originally looking for EAA Headquarters. It appears that our chapter site gets pretty high rankings in some searches. I told him I would give it a try to find the plane. I felt like the people on the PBS program History Detectives.

I learned that the plane is at the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, CT. I did a bit more looking around, and see that it is actually owned by the Smithsonian, and on loan to the NEAM.
http://www.neam.org/inventory/airprofile.asp?ID=127

From what I read, Mitch intended to have the plane at the Smithsonian for a Black Aviators exhibit in 1998, but it looks like his car accident, which killed him, happened while he was still obtaining parts for the restoration. I couldn’t find information on the details of that particular exhibit, but it looks like the plane may not have been ready in time.

Here’s an article about an earlier incident when his car was stolen while it was full of parts and records on the plane.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1988&dat=19960909&id=DHsiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bK0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4068,821254

There is a plaque for Mitch on the EAA Memorial Wall in Oshkosh.
http://www.eaa.org/apps/obituaries/ObitDetails.aspx?ObitID=1962

It looks like there are only two other planes still in existence that are know to have been assigned to a Tuskegee group.

Plans are firming up for this year’s convention. An online meeting was held tonight, and here are some of the items discussed.

Chip sealing roads and pathways throughout main exhibit area including the Fly-Market.
Addition to Bldg C –more exhibit space for larger displays. Also 26 M+26 F toilets.
Paving down Whitman Rd down to near ultralight. The road will be moved next year for safety improvements at the ultralight runway.
New bike path from North 40 to the main entrance. It will continue around main entrance to vintage area. Continuing by Foundation Rd. to Waukau to Forest Home to Schaick Ave to Knapp St. to the Ultralight/ Red Barn entrance.

New North 40 Shower House 60 stalls. (40 with private enterances.) Flush toilets will be in shower building.

252 Electrical / Water hookups. 1st come, 1st served. No refund if leaving early.

New Trams that can hold 40 passengers. Lighting on trams for night operations.

More shade trees, as long as it doesn’t affect regular airport operations.

IAC building will have a new porch added which will be used for seminars. To be dedicated to Vicki Cruse.

New enhancements in the Warbirds area. Details to be announced soon.

50 DC-3’s have expressed interest in coming to Oshkosh
In the past, 8 at most have been there. Biggest challenge is parking them.
Formation will be lead by the DC-2. 40 DC-3’s in formation arrival

July 28th is the date of the 75th anniversary of the 1st B-17 flight. 5 will be in formation flights

Warbirds air show every day. Emphasis on Vietnam era.
Friday Jet warbird show.

Music – Chicago on Monday. EAA Concert Band on Wednesday, Lt. Dan Band on Friday.
Electric Airplanes – An exhibit building will be dedicated to electrics.

A special air show performer will be announced soon. (I’ll look for clues.)
Saturday night airshow July 31st including a wall of fire
Balloon launch and cluster balloon Saturday and Sunday morning between 6 and 7 AM.
Air Crane coming back.
Ultralight helicopter powered by hydrogen peroxide.

WWI replicas 5 from a museum in Colorado. Plus an SE5a replica.
A grass strip will be available again.

Bruce Crandall, Medal of Honor recipient will speak during the evening program.
100th anniversary of the seaplane.
50th anniversary of the Piper Cherokee

Burt Rutan, never one to hold back his words, was quoted in a Wall Street Journal editorial this week. Here he clarifies his comment.

Burt Rutan sets the record straight – Hyperbola.

The original letter that started this is here

That Burt Rutan memo to Congressman Wolf in full – Hyperbola.

The chapter is planning on chartering a bus to go to the Red Bull Air Races in Jersey City on June 20. With the grandstand ticket on race day, it looks like the cost of the trip will be about $100/person. It would be less to get general admission to the park, but I think you end up watching most of it on TV screens then.

The $100 is just an estimate until I hear back if a group ticket rate is available.

I know it’s not even Sun N’ Fun time yet, but for some of us, it’s already time to start planning for the EAA Convention at Oshkosh already.

Commercial airfares have started down for that time period, and it may be best to grab one if you’re going out by airline.

For the past few years, several members have rented a house about 2 miles from the airport. This works out to cost less than a hotel, but we need 5 to 7 people to make the cost reasonable to stay there. They’ve charged $300/night for up to 4 people. $350/night for up to 8 people. The Oshkosh Convention & Visitor’s Bureau maintains on online listing of private residences that are available to rent for that week. If we’re not going to stay at this house, we need to let the owners know as soon as possible so they can offer it to other people.

Things got confusing last year with different people staying on different days, so this year I’m only going to get involved if there’s a consensus on which days everyone will be staying there. This house rental requires a minimum 4 night commitment. There are other homes, or rooms within houses, that are available in the area for fewer nights. In the past we’ve stayed there Monday through Friday nights.

I know it may be tough to make a commitment this early, but I’d like to grab one of those $200 airfares if they pop up.
Please contact a chapter officer if you want to be in on this.