“Hey, what are those guys doing?”

Russ and I saw the three aircraft come in from the right at about the same time.

“I don’t know” was his reply.

We both watched in disbelief as they tried to join the ‘conga line’ of aircraft over the railway tracks between Ripon and Fiske. It looked like two pulled in front of Mike Larson as he suddenly pushed the nose of his airplane down. The third one turned behind Mike and headed directly towards us, passing just over our heads as I pushed the nose down. That was close! And it happened so fast it really didn’t sink in as to what actually happened.

Mike decided to abort this approach and do a circuit around the lake to settle down and try again.

Our second attempt to land at EAA Airventure 2016 was much smoother and less nervewracking! I followed Mike in, and we landed on 18R and turned off right into Interstate 195 – Row 85. Much better than last year landing on 36R and taxiing all the way back watching the oil temps and cylinder head temps red line!

We were here.

This was Russ’s first time to Oshkosh, and he had no idea what to expect. He certainly got his thrills during our arrival!

We set up camp and then got down to the serious business of greeting old friends and watching all the arrivals. It was going to be a great week.

I couldn’t wait for the Martin Mars and the Snowbirds. Of course, there were a couple of other acts that I wanted to see but the Mars was #1 on my list.

Monday morning dawned bright and early with several aircraft taking off at 06:00 and the 07:00 wake-up announcements – some things you can do without. I had a Type Club Coalition meeting first thing so I couldn’t dawdle. The meeting was very informative and had attendees from the NTSB, FAA, EAA and numerous Type Clubs. Several clubs presented discussion papers on accident research and statistics pertaining to their aircraft and owners and the efforts they are doing to mitigate and reduce accidents.

The Cessna 195 club has a training syllabus which is available to all members to use for transition training along with a list of qualified instructors for our aircraft.

After the meeting I wandered down to the South Forty which apparently has a Fond du Lac zip code. I was very tired and thirsty by the time I made it back to the airplane!

On Tuesday evening after the airshow the second annual Flight Line BBQ was held and was very well attended.

The rest of the week I wandered up and down the flight-line, checked out all the vendors in the Exhibit Hangars, Fly Market and Boeing Centennial Plaza. You need to be like the Energizer Bunny as you keep going and going! Each afternoon it was time to settle down and relax sitting around the airplanes watching the airshow.

The Martin Mars made several flights and showed how effective it can be dropping a 7,000-gallon load of water on a forest fire. What an impressive sight.

The Snowbirds returned to Oshkosh after a 30-year absence. What a graceful, awe-inspiring performance. Flying aircraft that are older than most of the pilots the skill level they demonstrate is amazing. The transition from formation to formation looks effortless. They are truly one of the best demonstration teams in the world!

This year we had five rows in Interstate 195 which were filled by Monday afternoon. A couple of others were parked a few rows away. A total of forty 195’s showed up along with a few new owners. It was great to see them welcomed to the group.

After a week we were ready to head home. Wheels up at 09:30 Saturday morning got us into Devils Lake 4.5 hours later for fuel and Custom’s notification. On our way by Fargo, we were asked to check on an aircraft squawking an emergency near Detroit Lakes. We tried to contact him but no response. We then flew over Detroit Lakes Airport and saw him landing safely. We never did find out what happened. After clearing Customs in Regina and checking the weather we saw a huge line of thunderstorms stretching over 350 miles directly across our route. They were also reporting hail up to baseball size! After a very brief discussion we decided to accept the Regina Flying Club’s offer to hangar MLB and stay the night. After a few cold beers, great steak and a soft comfortable bed we made it home Sunday afternoon. After 2275 nm, 280 USG of 100LL and 19 hours airtime, my second Oshkosh Airventure was over. What a week, what a great time! I can’t wait for next year!

Canadian Ultralinght plane purchased and now manufactured by Zenair. Do you know what it’s called.

A row of 9 Spartan Excutives 7W Probably all the flying examples left. A total of 34 were built.