Osh Kosh 2001

Oshkosh was a blast and the people that run the area we were in were super.

Donna followed us up from Mentone and actually got to stay a few days at this event which was way nice.

 
They were a bit over board with safety and rules but I'm sure it was for very good reason.
I couldn't hover my ship there by myself because they have a No Student Pilots Rule
but thanks to John Spurling and Craig Hook we got her off the ground anyway lol.

The pilot briefings were 2nd to none I've witnessed, like I've been party to many lol.  They were handled by Rob MacInnis and Geoff Downey with the aid of a few others. These guys were serious business just like the people at Sun 'N Fun and nothing on the airfield moved without them seeing it.

You guys with golf carts and scooters be aware you can't use them at Oshkosh either.

The only people there allowed to have them are the Officials that run the thing, the Judges and a very few of the volunteers. Thank goodness we got to hitch a ride now and then because that place is huge and waiting on the tractor trams takes alot of your day up. We did however see lots of kids driving the Official carts lol. It's one of them its ok for some but not for others kinda things I guess.

Brandy got a super ride courtesy of Doug Bush in his ship, he took her for her longest flight she'd been on yet and just like she did with John Spurling, had a blast and was grinning from ear to ear when they got back.

The flying time for rotorcraft was extremely limited.

You had to be up and at it at 10am sharp and back where you wanted to be for the night no later then 2pm sharp, no ifs, ands or buts about it. That made it a pain in the ass for us to display our helicopter in the display area because it was on the other side or the airfield. If we did we had to fly it back to the trailer before the 2pm shut down time or we would have to leave it over there for the night, rain or shine. The side of the airfield we were on was way on the other side of the airfield from the display spectator area and only aircraft owners were allowed to circumnavigate the field. Most of our ships didn't get displayed to the crowd.

Donna got to do a video session for the folks from the Discovery Channel in the UK.

They had her sit in our helicopter and asked her some questions while videoing her for about 20 minutes.  They sent us a tape of the episode her interview was shown in and it turned out pretty good.  The whole thing was only seconds long after they edited it but it was still pretty cool to make worldwide tv lol.  They also showed Brandy cleaning our helicopter.  The series aired on Discovery Wings here in the states in the fall of 2002.  Our little part is on episode 10 of the 15 episodes.

The airshow itself was Awesome.

Seeing all those old military airplanes flying was a sight to behold. You could look up into the sky and see what our parents and there parents saw way back when. We also got to see a bit of a phenomenon, When the monster size now day bombers would do a fly by across the deck and then jet upwards toward the sky. Just as they were about to punch a hole into the clouds a halo would form around the aircraft, that in itself was really something to witness.

 
The gang from Jag helicopters got thrown out of the show
and off the property for being obnoxious with someone. It must have been a good one because rumor is that they are banned from all future EAA events. I missed it but from the sounds of it, it would have been fun to see. They did something similar at Sun 'N Fun in 2001 and I missed out on that one to lol.

 
Our only complaint that was tough to live with was we had to hide our dog Karo.

He really didn't know how to handle being locked up in the bus not allowed to play with all the people there lol. Oshkosh has something against animals what it is I don't know but if Sun 'N Fun 2002 was anything of a clue they do now. The point in mentioning this is be sure to call ahead and ask about the pet thing because rumor is the folks that run Oshkosh are supposed to be trying to take over Sun 'N Fun in 2003 so just to be safe, call and ask, and even take one more step and be sure to get a name just in case they give you trouble when you get there. They really don't care how far you came and what you went through to get there, every rule they make at Oshkosh is to be followed to the letter with no exceptions period.  Anyhow shortly after we arrived we were told that if the management saw the dog they would demand we turn around and drive back to Knoxville, Tennessee.  Donna left on Tuesday and took Karo home with her so he wouldn't have to be in prison any longer lol.

All that aside we had a blast the people, the aircraft and the total atmosphere totally rocked.

The Safari helicopter folks adopted us and let us be part of their camp. Brandy and I didn't want for anything because the Safari gang took wonderful care if us the whole time we were there. Everything from water to feeding us, there wasn't anything they didn't share with us so a special thanx to a Super bunch of people!

These pics are of John Spurling and I
getting our pictures taken after the awards ceremony

Special thanx to the John Spurling, Doug Bush, Rob, Geoff, the Hook's and everyone else that made this trip a wonderful time in our lifes.

This is our rig hooked up
and ready to head back to Knoxville

After spending over a month on the road we were sure glad to see this sign lol

This is our Daughter Brandy,
guess you can tell she's not a morning person lol. She wouldn't come out of the bus until her hair was picture perfect.