So I am back from Airventure 2022. It was an absolutely amazing trip and I got to see so much of it. My best friend Anthony came out with me and we utilized both of our networking abilities to maximize the trip. It was my first Airventure and I honestly felt like a kid in a candy shop through a lot of it. The constant buzzing of aircraft overhead, whirling of helicopters, and smell of low lead was just amazing all week.
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| Had to take the EAA Arch pic. |
We went out on monday morning, flying commercial to Appleton. I have to admit that Appleton is a great little airport. It actually is smaller than Islip here on Long Island and had a true small town feel to it. It has a single TSA lane, single restaurant in the terminal, and only a few gates which makes for easy travel. The moment we landed, we sensed the difference in ambiance then the stuffy New York attitude. Everyone we ran into was friendly, talkative, and genuinely just good people. It was a serious refreshment for me.
After we grabbed the rental car we headed into town, but our room wasn't ready so we couldn't check in. We opted to head to the airport and meet up with our friend Dave who was going to be our "VIP tour guide" all week. Dave is a former Osh Kosh Tower Controller for many years who recently retired. Dave's wife Cathy is also a current controller and worked the show this year. Dave was there to hang out with friends and support his wife and her team all week. The camaraderie between the controller force there was really awesome to witness first hand, everyone is very supportive in that group. Dave was able to arrange us a tower tour, visit Fisk Arrival, the north air boss tower (The "Tiki" Tower), and showed us all over the grounds. The air traffic controller in me was so jealous I'd never be able to work this event, since I work in a center. It was truly an honor to witness and understand how these guys and gals work all this traffic in such a coordinated manner. The procedures in place are truly exceptional and they do a great job.
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| OSH Tower - Home of the "Pink Shirts" |
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| OSH Tower Position (Works Rwy 18/36) - Notice the squares and dots on the glass. These are to help them visualize where the actual dot/square on the runway is, it can be tough to visualize at this angle/distance. |
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| Fisk Approach - These guys were a hoot to hang out and chat with. |
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North Air Boss Tower (The "Tiki Tower)
L to R - Dave, Bob, Me, Anthony, and Cathy |
I of course also had to stop by at the NATCA tent. Since I am a controller for a living, it was a required stop on the itinerary, beside my friend and coworker Karoline was working in the tent this year. If you haven't been, NATCA runs some great seminars every year about working with ATC and how to utilize ATC in emergencies and other situations. They also run a few great scenario based seminars where they discuss things form the pilot and ATC perspective. The best part, is many of these are eligible for WINGS credit if you participate. Definitely check out their tent next year if you have a moment. And for those with families, they have a section in the Kidventure activity area too.
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| Karoline and Me making friends with the Texans (Kevin from ZFW and a IAH controller) |
Vendors, Parts, Exhibits, Etc.
So now that the Air Traffic portion is done, I spent a lot of time roaming the convention grounds checking out exhibits. I honestly was overwhelmed by all of the exhibits there, but I tried to plan ahead before I left. The EAA events app had a listing of all exhibits which allowed me to sort through them in advance. I primarily focused on the ones that I had either seen other builders use, wanted to use myself, or sold RV-10 items and wanted to see (My Maybe group). I pretty much hit all of the booths except two as the week went on.
So here is a recap of some of the vendors I visited:
- Avionics Manufacturers - Advanced Flight Systems, Dynon, Aspen, Avidyne, and Garmin
- Avionics Panel Companies - Aerotronics and Stein Air
- Engine Companies - Lycoming and Aerosport Power
- Propellers - Hartzell
- Paint Schemes - Scheme Designers and Evoke Aviation
- Tool Companies - Cleaveland Tool
- Build Assist - Synergy
- Miscellaneous Parts - FlyLED's, TS Flightlines, Mountain High, Aithre, E-Mags, Vertical Power, TCW Tech, and Behringer
- Van's Aircraft - Had to check out the 10 and new 15 :)
I have to say the vendors all do a great job of showcasing their products and answering questions. No one made anyone feel uncomfortable about the stupid or rookie questions I had, and many laughed because they had been there themselves. A large number of these vendors are airplane builders themselves or have been involved in many so they totally understand. It is truly overwhelming the amount of products and information out there to sift through. It was totally worth the visits because many of these vendors had information to help me plan as I move along in the build. The one thing I noticed, everyone was talking about cost increases and longer production times, so I have to plan ahead for a lot of this.
Luckily for me, I really have reinforced many of the decisions I had made in my head so far for planning. I thought the Dynon and AFS product was nice, but I honestly just love the Garmin stuff. They have a much easier user interface that is much more comfortable to use in my brain. Much of this is probably biased since I have flown with Garmin tech for years, and I understand its thought process. Unless something earth shattering and new comes out, I think I am going to go with the G3X as my base platform. But I have a lot of time for that.
Other things I am definitely moving forward with are FlyLED's lighting. I met Paul who came up from Australia for this show. First he was a true gentlemen to chat with, is really proud of his product, and really showed how simple the process it. I still plan to let him do the soldering, but I am looking forward to it. As well, Tom from TS Flightlines was there. I saw his mock up with his fuel and brake line installed. The line he produces are night and day versus the rigid plastic and aluminum that Van's includes. I am 100% going to use his lines when I get to the fuselage. I truly don't think brake and fuel lines are something to "cheap out" on.
There are plenty of things I checked out and am still on the fence about. There really is so many things to consider and think about as the build will move forward. I will keep the list updated of options as I go. The other thing I noticed, many vendors run promotions or deals during the show, so I might try to time purchases to the show when possible to take advantage.
Final Thoughts
So my final recap of Osh Kosh, I can't wait to go back. I didn't spend a lot of time roaming the parking areas this trip, I stuck to the main grounds. But I want to go again and spend a lot more time roaming the homebuilt areas checking out other builds. I attended the Van's banquet and got to meet a bunch of other builders, the biggest things is how proud all of them are of the build they have. These people love to show off and talk about the planes they have built. I honestly think this would be one of the most beneficial ways to learn about products they have tried or used and even find out what things to avoid. The Vans Air Force and RV-10 Facebook group does a lot of this discussion, but seeing things in person would be beneficial. Next trip will certainly by more RV stuff and roaming the parking a bit.
I also want to just put a little thank you to Christine (The "Plane Lady"), Tye, and Jason Ellis for their hospitality afterwards discussing their builds a bit. It was nice to finally meet them all after chatting and watching their videos online for so long. I hope Jason made it back to his car afterwards, we kind of parted ways in the dark walking back after the banquet after a long day.
Now for a dump of airshow and plane pictures, I know this is what everyone really wants.
(I've been trying to upload an album widget but nothing works, if you know the trick comment and let me know).
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