The Month of July--Two Important Aviation Events

Because of various conflicts and scheduling difficulties, it turned out that my lesson on June 15th ended up being my last for over a month and a half. Needless to say, I was disappointed at this long unintended break but between working a lot of hours, a trip out to Utah for a week, both instructors at the flight school being gone for a week, and no instructing being done for the last two weeks of July for reasons you'll see below, there was just no opening in their schedule or mine to get in a lesson. Since it's peak flying season what little time was available was quickly filled. During this break however, I attended two very important aviation events. 


The first was Cubs2Osh, essentially a two day fly-in dedicated to celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Piper Cub beginning on Friday, July 20. I was able to serve as a volunteer registering pilots, collecting dinner tickets, and parking planes. It was a very neat opportunity. There were over 80 Cubs that flew in from as far away as California as well as an assortment of other types of planes. Early Sunday morning, July 22, the field of yellow migrated to Oshkosh in a mass flight of 75 Cubs. I was there to watch them as they flew in one by one in a line that stretched as far as the eye could see. It was a sight not to be missed! Below are links to an article about the fly-in, a couple videos (they could've chosen better music to accompany them but it's really great footage!), and my own album of pictures. Take time to check these out. I think you'll really enjoy them!

http://www.aopa.org/oshkosh/2012/news/120723flight-of-75-cubs-mark-75th.html?WT.mc_id=120720epspec&WT.mc_sect=osh

http://www.eaavideo.org/video.aspx?v=1749857306001

http://www.eaavideo.org/video.aspx?v=1750354188001

https://picasaweb.google.com/116569221621503000402/Cubs2Osh


The second event immediately following this was of course AirVenture Oshkosh 2012--the World's Greatest Aviation Celebration and the one week in the year when Oshkosh is the busiest airport in the world! Attendance was 508,000 people, well over 2,000 international visitors from 71 countries, and more than 10,000 aircraft at Wittman Regional Airport and other airports in east-central Wisconsin! It was a busy but wonderful week--my second year to work during AirVenture as an employee of EAA and I must say it's sort of fun to experience it as an "insider." Even though EAA employees are not allowed to take time off during that week, I was not scheduled to work Saturday so I got to spend one entire day and parts of a couple other days out on the grounds and it was great! Go to www.airventure.org for lots of great pictures, articles and videos. Below is a link to "a few" of the pictures I took during the week. =) Check these out and let me know what you think!

https://picasaweb.google.com/116569221621503000402/AirVenture2012