Airventure Highlights

Everything.  From start to finish. 

Living in Audrey's Park this year, meeting old friends, watching new ones arrive. 

Planes, planes & more planes.

The night airshow - WOW!

The Falcon with the spiroid wingtips.

The Seafire - which is still here

And Jack Kearbey's SE5A - beautiful workmanship.

And this http://www.eaavideo.org/video.aspx?bcpid=102109882001&bctid=407548959001

All of the above (can't comment on camping-we drove back and forth and didn't go Saturday, so no nighttime airshow for me).

For me, the moment I don't think I'll ever forget was turning and looking over my shoulder and without any notice (at least I never heard it was back on) witnessing the mass fly over of DC-3's/C-47's/DC-2 led by the B-25 and with the Bonanza spotters.

Of course the night air show; and the stock steaman guy who pretended to get shot down during the warbird show, entering a spin way below what he should have, and recovering just in time - that was skill!

Seeing things I helped organize to fruition:

1. Cessna 170 camping - 40 of these vintage planes made it despite weather and mud. A grand site visited twice by Cessna CEO Jack Pelton with wife Rose.

2. Jonathan Trappe, member of my chapter, ascended in his cluster balloon to a new record flight.

3. Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg of SolarImpulse were the stars of the Friday electric symposium.

4. My chapter member David Williams was named Young Eagle Coordinator of the Year Wednesday evening.

5. Annual donut breakfast on Wednesday AM, we brought 40 members to AirVenture this year.

Can't wait for 2011.   Hate to gloat, but EAA1114 is about as good as it gets.

Kent Misegades, President, EAA1114, Apex, NC  www.eaa1114.org

Eight wonderful, fun, interesting, exciting, exhausting days.  All my life have I have left to go home after a vacation thinking that my vacation went by way too fast.  Not this time!  I was emotionally, intellectually and spiritually STUFFED.  And all the walking resulted in me getting on my scale when I got home and weighing exactly what I did when I left!?!?!?  Airventure for me turns out to be the perfect vacation.  There were so many wonderful times I couldn't pick one.  Instead I shot 18 hours of video with two Flip Ultra HD video cameras and took over 500 hi res pictures.  When my memory fades, I'll be like Howard Hughes and watch the videos over and over.  As a first time attendee to Airventure I have to say that the EAA (of which I am a very proud member) is without a doubt the most amazing organization and Airventure was simply astounding.  One darn fine group of wonderful people.

One really special highlight... meeting Ace Abbott, buying an autographed copy of The Rogue Aviator and reading it.  Great book.  Another was seeing our member Capt. Lee Whitehead's T-6 parked with the Warbirds.  My daughter had the pleasure of getting a hug from Burt Rutan and I got to take a picture. A real keeper.  But spending over an hour, totally uninterrupted (and with the plane) with a former Grand Champion Homebuilder was simply beyond my wildest dreams.  I learned more in an hour than in five forums.  (We're building an RV-4)   And yeah, the night show was simply nuts.  Even the mosquitos are bigger badder and meaner at Oshkosh.  I think they try to compete with all the heavy hardware.   I look forward to next year's.

EAA1418 Lost Coast Aviators, Fortuna and surrounds, California

Rows and rows of new flush toilets at hangar C!

Helen

The heratige flights

Seeing the warbird fly

watching the honor flight return and seeing the veterans return

night airshow

hearing hal weekley  /b-17 pilot at theater in the woods (wednesday night)

salute to veterans at theater in the woods (wednesday night)

getting MVP passes

talking to pilots of warbirds

going to the 1:15 airshow briefings

driving the gator in the tiki toarch parade on friday

seaplane base visit and seeing icons anphib plane

taking sunrise pictures at 530 am

getting tons of great photos

1030pm tour of a dc-3

gosh i could just keep going!!!!

Mine was stick-time in the Ford Tri-Motor.