En Route to Oshkosh Airventure 2006
I went to Oshkosh Airventure show for the 1st time and I (well, not really me as I am not PIC) flew there in a Bonanza. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the experience.
We left on July 19th in the afternoon from Reidhill View Airport in San Jose, CA, flew 3 hours and 45 min and arrived in Ogden, UT with 4 planes formation en route and landing. All 4 planes took off at different airports in California and when we started, ours was 50 miles behind. It took us 3 hours and 2 states to catch up with others. The flight from Reidhill View to Ogden was interesting to say the least. We had lighting on our right wing for 2 hours and one time, I even asked a stupid question that if we were hit by lighting, would we be OK? LOL. The route we took from RHV to Ogden were to fly 1st direct to SWR (Squaw Valley VOR), then KLOL (Lovelock Derby airport), then KENV (Wendover airport), then Ogden. We were supposed to bend the flight path a little bit to skirt MOAs and Restricted areas in NV, but in order to catch up with other planes in front of us, we asked the controller to let us pass some MOAs which we were partly given access. Hear this, we landed at Ogden airport with 28 knots and 37 gust!! We used full flaps on landing mostly for fun, and it felt that we were landing a helicopter... After landing, we went for dinner and had a good night sleep at a nice hotel in downtown. The only thing worth mention is that it took 45 min for 2 taxis to arrive to airport to pick us up!!
The next morning (July 20th), we were supposed to arrive at the Ogden airport at 7:30am to get started earlier to cross the Rockies. Well, most of the people were late other than 2 of us who spent more than a hour just wondaring around the airport doing nothing but watching 3 helicopters starting off and taking off. It was nice though as we can see mountains surronding the airport with the sun just rising and most importantly it was not too hot yet. Anyway, we took off around 9:30am, and flew to Ainsworth, Nebraska and landed after about another 3 hours and 30 min. It was relatively uneventful from Ogden to Ainsworth other than the final leg which was very bumpy. We had 7 planes together, so we did some formation with 4 and 3. Oh, I forgot to mention this, when we took off at Ogden, we saw at least 5-6 F16s flying around like mad and tower repeatly remind us to stay away:-).
We had some minor problems at Ainsworth. The car we got from airport quit us and we had to wait for another car to come to get us from the lunch place. Talking about lunch place, it was the only place to eat in a town with population 53. The girl who was taking our orders got confused with her own handwriting and we had to help her out. It was very funny. I had a Philly steak sandwish and it was one of the best lunch I ever had! What a great experience. I even met someone (she is the wife of Ainsworth airport manager) from the town that works with the comany I work for now. Interesting, you never know who you will meet even it was in middle nowhere.
After stopping at Ainsworth for almost 3 hours, we took off again and headed to Rockford, IL for another 3 hours. One plane had engine problem after 2 hours, so he and the other 2 planes who have tools landed at another airport in IL. On route to Rockford, we had one of the most closest formation I have seen while I was in a plane myself. It was beautiful. We landed in Rockford past 9:15pm as single ship due to darkness.
I will write more about next day's formation practice in the rain with 14 ships (8 pilots from Texas and 6 from California who call themselves "Beech Boys" and 100 Bonanzas to Oshkosh on Sat July 22 in my next post, as well as show case formation flying on Monday July 24, "encounter" with "Beach Boys" band that evening. But here are some pictures http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/janezhang/album?.dir=/d0f0scd of formation flight en route from RHV, CA to Ogden, UT to Ainsworth, NE to Rockford, IL as well as the practice in the rain I am going to write about next.
This trip made me understand more that "Flying is more than a sport and more than a job; flying is pure passion and desire, which fill a lifetime."-General Adolf Galland, Luftwaffe, 'The First and the Last,' 1954.
We left on July 19th in the afternoon from Reidhill View Airport in San Jose, CA, flew 3 hours and 45 min and arrived in Ogden, UT with 4 planes formation en route and landing. All 4 planes took off at different airports in California and when we started, ours was 50 miles behind. It took us 3 hours and 2 states to catch up with others. The flight from Reidhill View to Ogden was interesting to say the least. We had lighting on our right wing for 2 hours and one time, I even asked a stupid question that if we were hit by lighting, would we be OK? LOL. The route we took from RHV to Ogden were to fly 1st direct to SWR (Squaw Valley VOR), then KLOL (Lovelock Derby airport), then KENV (Wendover airport), then Ogden. We were supposed to bend the flight path a little bit to skirt MOAs and Restricted areas in NV, but in order to catch up with other planes in front of us, we asked the controller to let us pass some MOAs which we were partly given access. Hear this, we landed at Ogden airport with 28 knots and 37 gust!! We used full flaps on landing mostly for fun, and it felt that we were landing a helicopter... After landing, we went for dinner and had a good night sleep at a nice hotel in downtown. The only thing worth mention is that it took 45 min for 2 taxis to arrive to airport to pick us up!!
The next morning (July 20th), we were supposed to arrive at the Ogden airport at 7:30am to get started earlier to cross the Rockies. Well, most of the people were late other than 2 of us who spent more than a hour just wondaring around the airport doing nothing but watching 3 helicopters starting off and taking off. It was nice though as we can see mountains surronding the airport with the sun just rising and most importantly it was not too hot yet. Anyway, we took off around 9:30am, and flew to Ainsworth, Nebraska and landed after about another 3 hours and 30 min. It was relatively uneventful from Ogden to Ainsworth other than the final leg which was very bumpy. We had 7 planes together, so we did some formation with 4 and 3. Oh, I forgot to mention this, when we took off at Ogden, we saw at least 5-6 F16s flying around like mad and tower repeatly remind us to stay away:-).
We had some minor problems at Ainsworth. The car we got from airport quit us and we had to wait for another car to come to get us from the lunch place. Talking about lunch place, it was the only place to eat in a town with population 53. The girl who was taking our orders got confused with her own handwriting and we had to help her out. It was very funny. I had a Philly steak sandwish and it was one of the best lunch I ever had! What a great experience. I even met someone (she is the wife of Ainsworth airport manager) from the town that works with the comany I work for now. Interesting, you never know who you will meet even it was in middle nowhere.
After stopping at Ainsworth for almost 3 hours, we took off again and headed to Rockford, IL for another 3 hours. One plane had engine problem after 2 hours, so he and the other 2 planes who have tools landed at another airport in IL. On route to Rockford, we had one of the most closest formation I have seen while I was in a plane myself. It was beautiful. We landed in Rockford past 9:15pm as single ship due to darkness.
I will write more about next day's formation practice in the rain with 14 ships (8 pilots from Texas and 6 from California who call themselves "Beech Boys" and 100 Bonanzas to Oshkosh on Sat July 22 in my next post, as well as show case formation flying on Monday July 24, "encounter" with "Beach Boys" band that evening. But here are some pictures http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/janezhang/album?.dir=/d0f0scd of formation flight en route from RHV, CA to Ogden, UT to Ainsworth, NE to Rockford, IL as well as the practice in the rain I am going to write about next.
This trip made me understand more that "Flying is more than a sport and more than a job; flying is pure passion and desire, which fill a lifetime."-General Adolf Galland, Luftwaffe, 'The First and the Last,' 1954.
posted by Jane @ 11:22 AM
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