What a busy month! Starting with the puppy rescue I detailed last month; the following week saw the beginning of a two-week road trip to Nova Scotia and back with a four day stop in Oshkosh.

After a 5100 km drive to Halifax and another 3000 km back to Wisconsin, Dad and I finally arrived in Oshkosh on Sunday, July 28th. For me, this was a very different experience as I have always flown to Oshkosh and have enjoyed a uniquely prestigious status while visiting there. Even in 2011, when the exhaust broke on Chrissy and I ended up staying at Appleton, the whole experience was very enjoyable.

This year, we were camping in Camp Schroller. Although the campgrounds are nicely appointed, you really need to get there early to get a nice spot. When I say early, we’re talking a week or two in advance! This left out in left field… literally! The only shelter visible for hundreds of feet was a pair of PortaPotties and a garbage bin! We parked ourselves at the formation of a new row of campers and set up our tent in balmy 15° afternoon rain showers. Not an auspicious start to the adventure.

Our neighbours turned out to be quite friendly and we would spend a couple of nice evenings chatting around the campfire with them. The surprise came when my father introduced himself to the neighbours to the south. The gentleman immediately recognized the name, looked at me and shouted “Ken!” It was Dave Forester, originally from Calgary and now calling Texas his home. I met him when we originally moved here in 1995 when he was an active member of the RAAC chapter.

Another neighbour was a 67-year-old woman, camping on her own beside us. It turns out that she achieved her pilot’s license on the day before her 65th birthday despite being the only person in her family interested in flying. She purchased a Piper PA-38 Tomahawk and had been quite active in rescuing animals in her home state where she has transported 16 dogs in the past year… one at a time!

An interesting thing about our campsite became obvious on our second evening there. At 6 PM, we noticed an ultralight over our site at only 200’. This was followed by another and another. It turned out that we were on the approach to the ultralight field.

One nice thing about Camp Schroller, and Oshkosh in general, is the availability of ground transportation. Unfortunately, the first buses start at 8 AM and we were usually ready to go by 7 AM. It took 45 minutes to walk to the Tall Pines Café for breakfast, which we were quite ready for after the trek.

As in previous years, we worked our way through the four main hangers and the hundreds of vender sites outside. Of particular interest was a company selling parts for my orphaned Franklin PZL engines. They are now selling something like a factory rebuild of the 4A-235, 120 HP engine. However, the new price is not much cheaper than a Rotax 912S or Lycoming O233/235, both of which have much better support.

One of the features of Airventure 2013 was the Disney movie “Planes”. In addition to a week early showing of the movie, the star of the movie, Dusty, was also on site in two forms. The one most folks saw was the AT-301 Air Tractor. However, Team Aircraft also had a Mini Max version of Dusty, depicted on this month’s cover.

Another attraction was a freshly recovered Grumman Wildcat from the bottom of Lake Michigan. It was interesting that this aircraft received far more attention than the beautifully restored Wildcat sitting beside it. It’s curious how we are attracted to the potential of a project than to the finished project.

I noticed an interesting aircraft tug being used at Oshkosh. It’s made by Trace Towbots and is RADIO CONTROLLED! Essentially, the tug is driven up under the third wheel (tailwheel or nosewheel) and captures it. The airplane can be maneuvered by a radio controller much like you’d see on an R/C car. The real advantage is that you can maneuver the airplane with one person and no need for wing walkers. Obviously, it’s powerful as it easily pulled around this Corsair!

There was no lack of CRUFC club members in attendance this year. Troy Branch and his family were camping on the field in his RV-10. In addition, Stu Simpson, Carl Foreman, Bob Kirkby, Guy Christie and Wade Miller also flew down. We also met up with an old friend, Gil Tessier. Dad and I travelled to Oshkosh in 2006 with Gil and Steve Whitenect. Gil has since finished his Murphy Rebel Elite and was camping right in front of Troy. On Tuesday evening, Dad and I were invited to the Murphy Builders BBQ at the site of a Murphy Moose in the homebuilt camping area. Having built his own Murphy Rebel, Dad had a great time networking with other builders.

As for new products this year, there weren’t a lot. However, one product that caught my attention was from AvMap. They haven’t done a whole lot in recent years, but this year they introduced a new GPS tablet product, a remote ADAHRS box and a stand-alone panel-mounted EFIS system. The new 7” portable EKP V GPS replaces the aging EKP IV. It has an available panel mount dock and can be expanded to connect to XM receivers, ADS-B receivers, autopilots, ADAHRS and even video for night flying. Their new A2 ADAHRS turns the EKP V into a full EFIS system. Some of the products are not yet available, but it looks like a good, cost effective alternative.

The new AvMap Ultra EFIS is a stand-alone EFIS instrument that fits in a 3-1/8” instrument hole and connects to your static and pitot system. It provides attitude, airspeed, altitude, vertical speed, HSI, magnetic heading, slip and wind indication. Although it hasn’t been released yet, it sounds like it will be around $1000 USD. It would be a great standby instrument for IFR applications as well as a unit to meet night VFR and VFR over the top requirements.

Another new product was the Bearhawk LSA. They’ve taken their tandem seat Patrol aircraft, removed the flaps, lightened it up and installed a Continental C-85 to make a competitive entry to the LSA market. It’s continued with the all metal wing, rag and tube fuselage and sharp looks of their other two offerings and should be a success if the crowds in the booth were any indication.

I’ve been a big fan of the Bearhawk ever since the original four-seater came on the market years ago. I have plans for both the original and Patrol aircraft. Bearhawk Aircraft has two versions of the kit available, the Standard QB kit that requires some welding by the builder for $30,000 and the Deluxe QB kit with all the welding complete for $36,000. The airframe is very flexible with engine options from 65 HP to 120 HP and cruise speeds of 115-125 mph. For those not interested in LSA criteria, the airframe can support up to 1500 lbs. with and empty around 750. Basically, it’ll eat a Christavia MK1 for lunch!

Rans Aircraft also had their new S-20 Raven on hand. This tough looking side-by-side bush plane is quite attractive and borrows much of its styling from their popular, tandem seat S-7 Courier. It has a generous cargo area, and the cabin was comfortable. With a 600 lbs. useful and 110 mph cruise, the firewall back price tag of $24,500 should make it an attractive offering.

One aircraft that took me by surprise was Robert Baslee’s ¾ scale Spirit of St. Louis powered by a Rotech 7-cylinder radial engine. The aircraft was built by Airdrome Aircraft for a commercial being shot in St. Louis but has become rather popular and will now be kitted by the company. The single seat plane is true to form having a fixed tail skid and no forward windshield. The plan is to fly the plane as is for the experience before installing some sort of camera or periscope system to provide the needed visibility. I love it!

Of course, the new product of particular interest to club member, Troy Branch is the new Just Aircraft Super STOL! Troy recently took delivery of this extreme aircraft just before Oshkosh and already had it sitting on its (very large) landing gear. In the ultralight area, the company demonstrator was constantly showing off its abilities to the thrill of the onlookers. The side-by-side kitplane is available for $36,500 less engine.

Over the past couple of years, Dad has been giving a presentation around the Halifax area dealing with his aviation history and, in particular, his recovery of a Hawker Hurricane in the early 70’s. Since he had a couple of days here in Calgary after Oshkosh we decided to do the presentation here on Tuesday, August 6th at Chestermere/Kirkby with help from Bob Kirkby and using the club’s audio-visual equipment. About 20 club members were able to attend.

See you all in September!