Bonanza's to Oshkosh 2012

OMG!  So excited!

The day was finally here.  I had a GoPro installed, camera in hand and perma-grin on my face.  Good to go in right seat, co-pilot position.

Bonanzas on the ramp at Rockford Airport

There was a breakfast, then a briefing.  I could barely concentrate, so don't expect words of wisdom in this post.  Besides, you got all that with the Pagosa Springs posts.

B2OSH knowledge quiz

Gathering for the pre-flight briefing at Rockford

  

Mark at B2OSH briefing

Going over the "Landing Phase" of the formation flight

With about an hour to go before start up, I shuffled around the ramp in the scorching heat, drinking in the view. 

Pre-flighting and element briefing

Capturing the event

  

Clean windows = better pictures!

Bonanzas and orange-shirts as far as the eye could see.  This was a family friendly event and as pilots made last minute pre-flight checks and had element briefings, their families, friends and passengers amused themselves with photo opportunities and relaxing under low wings... the only shade available! 

Keeping the kids entertained and cool in the shadow of the airplane

V-Tail beauties

Reflection of aircraft in the spinner 

I did the photo thing too, as you knew I would.  Then I touched up a couple of toe nails and admired the view from under the wing.  Every degree counted.

Chilling under the wing

Pre-flighting the co-pilot

Almost ready to start up

The view from under the wing of my favorite Bonanza

Then it was time to go!

Watching 116 bonanzas taxi out in order and line up wing to wing, nose to tail, 3 abreast on the runway, was awe inspiring and I have to say, a little emotional.  Listening to the radio, hearing "Element 1 is rolling", then 15 seconds later, "Element 2 is rolling" was super exciting.  We were Element (row) 19, so we still had a few minutes.

Lined up on the runway

Three abreast

I was not the only one out on the wing for pictures

Keeping cool 

The front elements take off, 15 seconds apart

I took those few minutes and stepped out onto the wing to try and take photos. Holy prop-blast!  I couldn't physically stand up and was thankful that the organizers had advised against wearing anything that could dislodge and be flung backwards!  It was all I could do to hang on to the camera.

Our take off roll

Element 19's lead airplane, piloted by Jerry

Beautiful formation flying by Jerry, Mark and Fritz

After takeoff, there were times I could see up to 15 aircraft in front of us and 3 following.  I can only imagine what it looked like on the ground, seeing a flight of 116 go by.

The flight took about 1 hour.  The first part was uneventful and smooth.  The second half saw some excessive radio chatter about other traffic in the vicinity of our formation.  We lost a bit of the ideal spacing that was initially established and despite the "snaking" that was implemented to adjust it, there were still some slight spacing issues as we got closer to Oshkosh Airport.

Making a right turn

  

Jerry flies by Rockford Airport as he turns north toward Oshkosh

  

Fritz flies by Rockford Airport

  

Element 19

Jerry's daughter and I take each others photo

Fritz and friends

Element 19 overflew every fix during the flight!

 But my favorite 'issue' remains the addition of a wingman during the flight!  Aircraft #117, it seemed.
One of the elements further back reported that they had 'picked up' another aircraft along the way.  Since we were on a discrete frequency and this other guy had not been briefed, there was no way to let him know what he had just joined.

I had to giggle when the leader of the element radio'd "What do we do with our extra guy when landing?"
Actually I have no idea what they did with him, but the landings were well coordinated and safe.  No worries!

"Element 19, gear down, lights on"

Inbound for landing at Oshkosh

High speed taxi onto grass

Each element leader and his left wingman touched down together on Runway 35.  The right wingman landed parallel on Runway 35R... On any other day, this was be called the taxiway!  We did a high speed taxi to the end and were immediately directed onto a grass taxi way and marshaled down to parking/camping.

Marshaled into tie  down/camping area

  

Push back and tie down

A flurry of activity

 Nothing would have prepared me for observing a sea of airplanes taxing into a field, shutting down, pushing each other back into tight lines, then pitching tents right along side!

Campers and aircraft as far as the eye can see

Bonanzas at Oshkosh!

There were smiles all around.  Kids were playing, drinks being drunk, the sun shone hot and bright in the midday sky.

We had arrived.  Welcome to Air Venture 2012!

My first Oshkosh experience had just begun.

The Oshkosh Adventure Begins...

July 20th 2012, dark-o'clock... I'm woken from a light sleep as the alarm goes off. Time to get up. The Bonanza is already packed, all that is required is coffee, a snack and the presence of mind to pre-flight and take off.

Well, that is the first step anyway. I'm taking it one step at a time!

You need to read my post on Preparing for Oshkosh to really understand why this morning seems so easy and organized. (Actually, that post is yet to be published.)
It has been a journey, even to this point. And a steep (but healthy) learning curve for me.

Our flight today is 2 legs. Longmont (KLMO) to Tekamah (KTQE) NE for a fuel stop, then on to Rockford (KRFD) IL for the night.

As I was saying... Coffee drunk, snacks and drinks packed into cooler, last chance to pee... Then we were on our way.

Wheels were up about 6:20am. I was PIC but being that this was an IFR flight plan and I still had much to learn, Mark was responsible for most of the communications after take off.

LMO to TQE was smooth at 9,000 feet and we had a slight tail wind. Ground speed? Oh, about 180mph., Our flight plan was cleared as requested and we seemed to be alone up there for the most part.

Did I mention we had our friends GoPro and Spot, along for the ride too?

It was easy flying and the weather was cooperative - if not darn hot. We dined on candied apricot scones and Vitamin Water, then found ourselves landing uneventfully at Tekamah, approximately 3 hours later.

It was a short stop. Just enough time for closing a flight plan, getting a weather briefing for the next flight, to Rockford and refueling. Then we were off again.

Heading to Rockford, we flew at 7,000 feet. The airspace was a tad busier and we overhead several interesting communications. This is my favorite:

Controller to another airplane in the area: "NXXX, you have VFR traffic at 5 miles, 1 o'clock, heading your way, altitude unknown."
Pilot: "Roger, will keep an eye out for the traffic"
A minute or two later...
Controller to Pilot: "NXXX, that traffic is no longer observable"
Pilot: "Roger. Traffic no factor."

My thought? Yikes!!! Not observable is NOT the same is no factor!

Not far from Rockford we were cleared to descend from 7,000 to 2,700 feet. We were now apparently following another Bonanza in for landing on Runway 7. I couldn't see the other airplane. The scattered clouds, more pronounced here than along the rest of the route, caused some mild turbulence and the humidity of the area reduced the visibility. We were definitely not in Colorado anymore!

It was easy to see we had come to the the right place. Taxiing to the ramp for tie down, we found ourselves parked among a swarm of V-tail Bonanzas. In fact, parking was a well orchestrated event, whereby the ramp staff identified our tail number and put us exactly where we needed to be for our 3-element departure and formation flight to Oshkosh, tomorrow. Nice!

After tie down, getting our overnight bags out and covering up N303B, we headed to Emery Air for registration and "meet and greet". It was nice to see familiar Pagosa Springs formation flying clinic, faces again. :-)

Yes, I was exhausted. I had flown 5.5 hours today. The journey from Colorado, via Nebraska and Iowa, into Illinois took just under 6.5 hours total. I had just enough energy left in me, to gobble down the tasty feast that Bonanzas to Oshkoh (B2OSH.org) provided for dinner, and check into the hotel, before I crashed.

I'm not entirely sure when the last time I had 9 hours unbroken sleep was. Or when last I was asleep by 8:30pm. It felt good though!