NetHeads, I'm back from OSH also...back since Tuesday afternoon. I had a 30-35 mph headwind going up, so it took 5.5 hours of flying time. My return trip was a lot more exciting, taking 7 hours of flying time (plus another headwind), and lot of time picking my way through the thunderstorms and clouds. Joe's got me beat on that one! I had the pleasure of landing at the same airport twice during a 20 minute time span, and the second time I gave up and drove to the local Chinese buffet for lunch. Things were good enough to fly through afterwards though (at least I could fly mostly southward), so I eventually made it home, and like Joe, a little better educated about flying through bad weather. There's nothing like hearing the AWOS forty miles ahead to the south reporting ceilings of 0-400 feet, and lightning northwest and northeast!
Unfortunately, my OSH was so quick that the only view of WW's tent was propping the canopy up after a strong wind had knocked out a few uprights. So not much Corvair activity for me, other than flying in and out behind one, and showing it off to the KR builders who dropped by after the KR Forum Monday afternoon. It was great to spend time with Joe, Mark, Larry Howell, Ron Willett, Pete Klapp, Willie from South Africa, and a lot of other KR and Corvair guys we met up with over the couple of days we were there. I'm not famous for being a social butterfly, but I did spend a lot more time visiting with KR pilots and builders than I did looking at other more typical OSH stuff. I have to admit that the landing of White Knight Two only garnered 30 seconds of my time, as I took a picture of it landing from where I stood next to my KR. The biggest news from me on OSH this year is that both Joe Horton and I bought oxygen cylinders. Now nobody can look at me askance for flying too high. High altitudes don't bother me as much as most people (probably due to liviing a "clean life", and all that cycling I squeeze in, but maybe I can still see in color at 17,500' from here on out. I was the first guy off the ground Tuesday morning (at roughly 6:05AM), and make no apologies for heading out early. I had every intention of making a major meeting that I eventually missed due to the weather, but I did make day two of the meeting. I may not have much of a life, but I do have a job. When I left OSH, I took a rare sunRISE photo to the east. See the photo at the top of http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford/sunsets/ for an early morning view of Lake Michigan south of OSH. I like the way the cloud banks are arranged in rows, as if planted that way. I'm back on Delta flight 812 on Sunday, but will be back in time for the KR Gathering. I do make my own schedules... Mark Langford N56ML "at" hiwaay.net website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
