Listen in on any of the tower frequencies at KOSH and it doesn’t take long to figure out that the controllers are not only working high volume of traffic but also a high diversity of traffic. With steady number GA aircraft arriving all morning one easily falls into the pattern of the controllers “… red & white high wing start your base, blue low wing on final cleared to land 36 R Green Square, flight of 3 warbirds need you to hold at Rush Lake until I can free up some space, blue low wing add some power I need you on the Green Square…” And so it goes on. Countless aircraft on the move and it appears that all headed to Oshkosh 2017. Certainly fun to listen and watch the arrivals fall into a flow. But the real entertainment comes when the military arrives. No self-respecting jet jock would ever just fall into the traffic pattern. In fact, I think it is taught in military flight training that when approaching an airshow runway that a landing will never be made on the first pass and not until after you’ve “buzzed” the flight line low, fast and loud. A pair of F35’s arrived today in real style.

Another military airshow flight pattern requirement is to make all turns at at least a 90 degree bank.  How do you think this pilot did?

Before you say that only the pilots of fast high performance small aircraft get to have the fun, the crowds were treated to a high speed, low altitude pass by the B1B Bomber.  This pilot also found the “afterburner” switch as soon as he began his downwind leg.

Scaled Composites earned it name and reputation by building innovative yet functional aircraft.  From the Voyager to SpaceShip One, Scaled Composites was originally founded and grown through the efforts of Burt Rhutan.  Any one spending time here at the AirVenture Museum will quickly learn that he has been on the cutting edge of design and performance since.  The Proteus was originally designed to fly at over 60,000 feet for as long as 18 hours.  The original aircraft was designed to test a series of high altitudes relays for the telecommunications industry.

Crowds were good and the weather was great.  Looking forward to tomorrow.  Until then, fly safe.

Ken

https://www.eaa.org/en/airventure/eaa-airventure-news-and-multimedia/airventure-social

Sales Manager
Daher Sales