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OSH24 – Mid-Week Report

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Conditions have been perfect for vapor! Photo by Logan Lynch

Confession time: I’ve been sleeping in my car. I folded the seats down, shoved my air mattress through the hatch and crawled in. On the down side it was a little cramped, but on the plus side I could not hear the guy behind me snoring all night. Another bonus is I didn’t have to worry about where to sleep when my tent broke during a brief bout of wind and rain on Tuesday.

Did I mention vapor? Photo by Logan Lynch

Monday started with a visit to the Textron media event. We found out that they have updated the panel in the Caravan, so Mike asked if he could take a look. In short order, Alex Hunt, Senior Technical Marketing Advisor introduced himself and walked us out to the airplane.

On the way he asked our names and where we are from. When I answed he said, Oh! I know you!” Apparently he’s seen some of my pics and he especially loves my 1954 MG. Needless to say I was quite surprised and very flattered. Aviation is a small world, my friends! The new panel on the Caravan is indeed quite lovely. The paint is nice too. So is the paint on the King Air that they brought with them.

Surprise visit from the Bone! Photo by Logan Lynch

The rest of Monday was spent watching the air show, spending time at the Lifetime Member Oasis, and checking out the planes on Boeing Plaza. The day wrapped up with the Props and Hops event hosted by Hartzell Propellor.

Love me some Corsair in the morning! And a movie star at that!

On Tuesday we began the day in the Warbid area where I found my friend Old Crow. The plane used to be based at the airport where I worked and it was always a highlight of my day to see it. I found out that it left the airport shortly before I did. It has been donated to an aviation museum in Florida.

Hawg vapor! Photo by Logan Lynch

We worked our way back to show center in time to see the Avro Lancasfer arrive. Belonging to the Canadian Heritage Museum, this is apparently the only flying Lancaster left in the world.

Photo by Logan Lynch

The absolute highlight of the day was watching the Italian Demo Team – the Frecce Tricolori – do a small demo for us before heading on to their next event. 11 jets flying together in formation with precision and grace. It was truly stunning. I am SO glad I got to see them. Truly an “Only at Osb” moment!

Photo by Logan Lynch

Wednesday kicked off with a Tram Tour of the Warbird area. I’ve always wanted to take the tour and let me tell you – it is worth the wait. Great way to see the amazing airplanes that have played such a pivital role in shaping our world today and learn a little bit about them.

Seen from the Warbird Tram

Tonight is the always-fabulous night air show. Details about that coming on the next post. Thanks again to Logan Lynch for all the amazing photos!

Seen from the campground last night – a preview of tonight’s show!

More Than Just Bombs

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A trip to Pensacola Florida usually means a visit to the National Naval Aviation Museum. Can you say F-14s? (Talk to me Goose!) Unfortunately, an incident that happened at NAS Pensacola in late 2019 forced the closure of the museum to the public – only Department of Defense ID holders can visit. I have a family member with that clearance who could escort me, but coordinating with them hasn’t been possible.

So I found myself searching for an alternative. A friend mentioned a museum near Destin. She couldn’t remember the name of it, but recalled that they had a lot of airplanes. That got my attention! I did some research and came up with the Air Force Armament Museum on Eglin AFB. A museum on an Air Force Base? Heck yeah!

Similar sign – different location.

On the way there we drove by Hurlburt Field, another military base. They had a number of signs posted to “Beware of Low Flying Aircraft. Any time you have to watch out for airplanes on the way to an Air Force Museum located on an Air Force Base it is pretty much guaranteed that you are going to have a good time.

The first thing I noticed upon arrival at the Armament Museum is that a lot of the airplanes and exhibits are outside. I started at the B-52 and made a sweep around the building to make sure I saw them all. I was pleased to see that the collection includes some of my all-time favorites, like the SR-71 Blackbird, the A-10 Warthog, the F-16 Falcon, the F-15 Eagle and the F-4 Phantom. Actually, there are two Phantoms. Because the more Phantoms the better.

They also have a number of historical airplanes on display including the C-47, the B-17 and the B-25. Most aviation and military history enthusiasts are well aware of the critical roles these planes played in WWII. In case you are wondering, yes – they have a P-51 Mustang as well (inside the museum).

I was about half-way through my tour of the outside exhibits when I heard the unmistakable sound of military jets taking off. Needless to say, this got my immediate attention. I stopped inspecting the airplanes on the ground and started scanning the skies instead. Sure enough, an F-35 came into view, quickly followed by another. Then two more.

They flew overhead and then out of sight. I could still hear them so I kept watching and after a minute or so they circled overhead again. And again. And again. If I had to take a guess I’d say they were practicing approaches and possibly touch and goes. Whatever they were up to, I now had an air show going on overhead to go along with all the cool airplanes on the ground. Excellent!

I finished the tour of the outside exhibits and somewhat reluctantly headed inside. (The F-35s were still ripping around – it was hard to stop watching!) I quickly discovered that while the building itself may be rather small, it sure packs a big punch. If you can drop it, shoot it or launch it from an airplane, they’ve got it. And then some!

When it comes to munitions I can’t really say I have a favorite. (For me it is really all about the airplanes.) That said, there were a few items in the museum that I recognized. For example, the AIM 9 Sidewinder. It entered service in 1956 and versions of it are still being used today. Airplanes that have employed the Sidewinder include the F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18, F-22 and F-35. Is that an all-star list, or what?

Another weapon that caught my eye was the Tomahawk cruise missle. It entered the US military arsenal in 1985. It is designed to fly subsonic at low altitudes and has a variety of uses. I typically think of them as Navy weapons, but maybe that’s because they play a prominent role in Top Gun Maverick. (Talk to me, Rooster!)

After a thorough exploration of the building, it was time to head back to the beach. If you find yourself anywhere near Destin, Florida, I highly recommend you spend an hour or two at the Air Force Armament Museum. There is no admission charge and it is open every day from 9:30am – 5pm including most Federal holidays. And who knows – there might be F-35s putting on a show when you visit. Be prepared to stay awhile, just in case.

Osh 22 Wrap-Up

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I looked at my Apple Watch fitness challenge for August and nearly fell over – I need to walk 171 miles this month to achieve the goal. What? Where in the heck did it come up with such a ridiculous goal? Then I realized that I walked 60 miles in 6 days during the last week of July, which apparently convinced my watch that I’m suddenly into massive amounts of walking. No, I’m not. It’s called Airventure. Even with riding trams and buses as much as possible, I still walk a lot. Everyone knows Osh is a marathon. Well, everyone except for my watch.

Osh is always an epic adventure and this year was no exception. The weather was perfect. The crowds were large. The aircraft were impressive. My feet are still tired. In a week that features one amazing event after the next, it is hard to single anything out as better than the rest, but here are a few of my favorites.

Hawkeyes!

I’ve never seen a Hawkeye in person before, so standing on the flight line as two of them flew in was definitely a special moment. I always love seeing something new! The also performed during one of the airshows.

F-18 Growlers

I can hear some of you now: “But Jenn – F-18s are nothing new. They’ve been doing airshow demonstrations for years. They aren’t special.” I know. I don’t care. I just like F-18s!

MiG-29

I nearly passed out when a MiG-29 showed up on Friday. Talk about something I never thought I’d see! It arrived with a team of L-159s and a business jet, all painted in variations of grey and white cammo. The planes belong to Draken International, founded by Jared Isaacman. The bizjet and L-159s landed fairly quickly but the MiG put on a bit of a show. First time I’ve witnessed a plane use a parachute upon landing.

Memorial Brick

Glen Towler knew pretty much everyone at Airventure, which was why he was known as the “Mayor of Oshkosh.” He traveled all the way from New Zealand to attend every year. Sadly, Glen passed away from cancer in May. Thanks to generous donations by friends, a memorial brick was unveiled by the Brown Arch. It is a fitting tribute to someone who loved the place so much.

Mid-day at the Oasis

Airventure unveiled a new perk for Lifetime Members this year – the Oasis. It’s a building just off the main walkway along the flightline where Lifetime Members and one guest each could go to relax, grab a snack and use the potty trailer. It was really, really nice. It quickly became our go-to meeting location and we often spent time there recharging batteries and resting our feet.

Night Air Show

The night air shows are always spectacular. Every time I see one I think they can’t possibly get any better. Airplanes with lights and sparklers at night? Amazing! Fireworks? Super! Airplanes with sparklers and fireworks at the same time? Jaw dropping!!

Maverick!

We wrapped up Osh 22 by attending a showing of Top Gun Maverick at the Fly-In Theater. Later estimates indicated an attendance of roughly 7,000 people. All I know is that the place was packed! The event kicked off with a fly-over and a presentation by Kevin LaRosa, the aerial coordinator for the movie. Kevin had never attended Osh before and admitted to being a bit blown away by the whole event. I had seen Top Gun Maverick twice in the theater, but seeing it again with a huge crowd of aviation enthusiasts was something special.

The end of Osh always makes me a little sad. It’s hard to say goodbye to my friends, most of whom I only see at Airventure. My feet are happy for the break, though. And, of course, it is never too early to start thinking ahead to Osh23. Hope to see you there!

Show before the Show – OSH19

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not Christmas. I’m talking about Airventure Oshkosh, of course! It’s my happy place. The place where everyone understands me. The place of 10,000 airplanes. It is so much better than Christmas!

I arrived early once again this year.  Unfortunately, so did the rain in the form of a series of intense thunderstorms. It halted all arrivals and turned the Airventure grounds into a marsh. Needless to say I spent quite a bit of time in my car, waiting out the deluge.

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Once the rain stopped I made the first of what are sure to be many trips deep into the heart of Camp Scholler. Why? I have friends who are staying there in a rented RV. More importantly, they have my beer  And my cookies. My observations of Camp Scholler thus far:

– It’s huge.

– The people are super-friendly and will give you rides on their golf carts.

– Like the rest of Airventure currently, a good portion of it is under water.

– Did I mention that it’s huge?

15D1999E-DED7-4757-B8CA-86BD39920EB3Sunday I started off visiting the actual airport terminal. After all, this blog is called Tales From the Terminal so it seemed like a good idea to stop by. It was quiet. And small. But there’s an airplane hanging inside which automatically makes it excellent. I ran into a group of Airventure newbies who needed some advice on how how to get their wristbands and I was happy to point them in the right direction.

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The rest of the day was spent wandering the Airventure grounds watching airplanes. The arrivals have been much quieter this year because of all the rain – the aircraft camping areas are under water so none of the GA aircraft were allowed in until very late in the day. Thankfully there were still lots of amazing airplanes to see.

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The day ended at the Redbird Preflight Reception which was held at their exhibit tent just off the main plaza.  I got a chance to take a peek inside some of sims, which are all very nice. I also got a chance to catch up with many old friends who were also at the event.

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On Monday Airventure officially begins. I am super excited to see the A-10 and F-35 demo teams. I’m also looking forward to seeing the new KC 46 Pegasus tanker which is scheduled to arrive in the evening. Of course some of the best moments at Oshkosh happen completely unexpectedly.  I don’t know what adventure will come my way, but I’m ready so bring it on!

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OSH17 Days 2 & 3: Poseidon, UPS and Blue Angels

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32054384_UnknownThe last two days have been a whirlwind of aviation awesomeness! As you can probably tell from the title of this post, Airventure covers so many facets of aviation from military to commercial, from ultralights to the family GA airplane. In the last two days I’ve been immersing myself in all of these and it has been, frankly, overwhelming.

Tuesday Highlights

Tuesday morning I was quite determined to go see the warbirds. However, as often happens at Osh, we were distracted by the fact that they were allowing people inside the P-8 Poseidon. Of course we had to go check it out! The cockpit is more or less the same as your typical 737… except for the special military add-ons like the refueling panel. The seats in the back of the plane were replaced with computer work stations and equipment for dropping sonar buoys.

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Stairs truck! Oh – and a Poseidon.

I did eventually make it to the warbirds area and was, as always, blown away by the sheer number of them. The rest of the day was spent setting up for and attending Oshbash (a gathering of social media avgeeks hosted by Airplanista.com)… and running outside every few moments to keep an eye on the afternoon air show.

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Wednesday Highlights

Wednesday at Oshkosh is always WomenVenture. This year UPS flew in a gorgeous 767 with an all-female flight and maintenance crew. I was priveledged to participate in an interview session with one of the AMTs as well as an FO with a truly amazing story. You MUST check out FlyingandLife.com episode 26.2! I guest host with Mike and Glen and I help with the interviews.

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In the afternoon I had the most incredible opportunity EVER! I got to visit the KOSH Airport terminal!!! Oh yeah – and there were F-18s parked all over the ramp.

I also got to interview one of the Blue Angels. Yes, you read that correctly.  Lt Lance Benson was gracious enough (brave enough?) to let me talk with him and ask a few questions. I inquired about women on the Blue Angels team and getting girls interested in aviation. He mentioned that more and more women are becoming involved with Naval aviation and he spoke about getting kids involved in aviation early and encouraging them to follow their passion.

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I also asked him about landing on an aircraft carrier. He gave us an idea what it is like to land at night by suggesting that we go inside our homes and turn out all the lights, light a single match and place it at the far end of a room. That little light in the distance is what a carrier looks like at night. Oh – and his favorite air show act?  The Jack Links “Screaming Sasquatch” jet-assisted bi-plane.

I also got to interview one of the enlisted men who is part of the Blue Angels team (more on that in another post). After the interviews as I was walking away, the A-10 demo started. And yes, I completely freaked out. In front of the Blue Angels. Hey – when you love an airplane, you love it all the time. I’m sure the Blue Angels understand.

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As always, there were tons and tons of amazing airplanes to see and fabulous air shows to watch. The night show was spectacular, as always – even in the pouring rain. (Thanks Doc for sheltering us from the storm!)

Stayed tuned for more from Osh! And if you aren’t following me on Twitter, check out my feed (@Jen_Niffer) for real-time tweets live from the show.

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Lies Plane Spotters Tell

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IMG_8816It’s a sad truth and it pains me to say this but… plane spotters tell lies.  Yes, we do.  Anyone who says they don’t is… well, probably lying. We don’t mean to lie, it’s just that when you are hanging around the airfield and watching planes come and go, it is so easy to get completely sucked in and say things that you don’t really mean.  For example:

I’m not going plane spotting today. 

IMG_9501Since I work for an airport, the temptation is always there to stop upstairs and do a little plane spotting before I head home. It seems that no matter how firm my resolve to go straight to my car after work, by the time I get to the escalators I feel that irresistible urge to head on up. At that point I move on to lie number two…

I’m only going to stay for ten minutes. 

Half an hour later and I’m still there. The problem is, there’s almost always something interesting to see. In the unlikely event that there’s nothing happening on the airfield, I listen to ATC communications on my scanner. I listen to some of the airline operations frequencies as well, which can often be quite entertaining.

It’s too wet/cold/snowy/stormy for plane spotting. 

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Photo by Andrew Stricker

To be fair, sometimes it really IS too miserable outside for plane spotting. But spotters learn quickly that airplanes can be very cool to watch in rainy/snowy/windy weather. Can you say crosswind landings? On a recent stormy Friday I was able to sneak outside for a few minutes between storms. Listening to the coordination between ATC and the pilots and watching flights navigate around the weather was quite fascinating.

I’ve already got several pictures of that airline/livery/aircraft type. I don’t need any more. 

Except they’re landing from the opposite direction today… and on the other runway… and the sky is amazing… and the light conditions are just right…

I’m only going to wait a few more minutes for that flight to push back and then I’m giving up.

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I have to thank my twitter friend Andrew for coming up with this one.  It’s so true! An hour later I’m still there, still waiting for that plane to depart. Of course when I do give up and leave that’s when the plane decides to taxi out. Doh! I swear it does this on purpose just to taunt me! (I’m talking to you, American Airlines Airbus with the America West retro livery!)

I don’t need a better camera/lens/scanner.

Actually, yes I do! I really do! And once I get that new piece of spotting equipment, then of course I have to test it out! But don’t worry – I’m only going to stay ten minutes.

So why do we end up staying even though we swear we’re going to leave? Why do we make liars out of ourselves? Well…

For Moments Like This:

IMG_8472Earlier this week I decided to do a little plane spotting on my lunch break. It was hot and muggy so I told myself I’d only stay a few minutes. I was just about to (for once) head inside early when I heard a military flight contact the tower. I didn’t recognize the call sign but assumed it was probably a KC-135 practicing approaches. They often fly over from the nearby Air National Guard base. I’ve seen them several times before, however I figured I might as well stick around and watch them fly by.

FullSizeRender (70)Then I heard ATC clear the flight for the break. At that point I realized that it couldn’t be a tanker – it had to be fighters. Before I could even begin to speculate on what kind of fighters they might be, a flight of four A-10 Warthogs appeared. I calmly and patiently watched as they circled to land… OK, I’m lying again.  The truth is, I completely lost my mind.  I let out a shriek and sprinted across the parking garage (in high heels no less) while simultaneously attempting to take as many pictures as possible. I was overwhelmed with excitement, laughing, crying, jumping up and down…

IMG_9481Then I noticed that the group of construction workers who had been working nearby were slowly backing away. I must have looked like a complete lunatic. And guess what? I. DON’T. CARE. If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time then you know the A-10 is one of my all-time favorite airplanes. I’ve only seen them fly once before at AirVenture Oshkosh last summer. To see them at my airport was absolutely the most unexpected, amazing thing EVER.

So why do plane spotters tell themselves these terrible lies? Because magic moments happen without notice when you least expect them. We just don’t want to miss out. And that’s the truth.

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Author’s note: In April I attended an event at the USAF Museum commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid.  If you want to hear about it and see some pictures I took of the B-25s that participated in the flyover, please check out Episode 24 of the Flying and Life podcast.