August, 2004
EAA's Oshkosh Airventure
EAA's AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin is a must-see for anyone who has never been there, and a much needed getaway for those who love flying. A few members of the club were able to go up on the last few days of the seven-day event, arriving at OSH on Sunday, August 1. They camped under the wing of N24939 for the night and enjoyed only a bit of all there was to see of the thousands of aircraft on display and hundreds of vendors there to display their latest goods. A level six (they do exist) storm chased them off before 1:00pm the following day. "I thought it was a rather good time to leave," said Jon Fussle. "I wish I'd brought better stakes for the tie-downs, although I could have just used the gust-lock."
Sunday night's arrival was perfect because there was absolutely no conflict with any traffic. "The standard arrival procedures were not necessary and we were given direct to the airport for our landing. We landed on runway 27 and pulled off into the camping parking area and set up camp. There was a bus that took us to the other side of the field, a lot closer to the restaurants, for our dinner. After that, we returned to camp for towels and headed off to the showers. The night was perfect--no rain, no mosquitoes. Just a gorgeous moonrise over a Piper Cub across the lane.
"In the morning, we got up and headed off to the EAA village. It was incredible, as always. The static displays were so cool and there was so much going on. Oshkosh is a must for any kind of pilot, all of us."
Pascal Nguyen Passes Checkride
On Thursday, August 19th, Pascal Nguyen passed his Private Pilot License. He is a sophomore at Purdue University, majoring in Aviation Management and Rocket Science. Passing his checkride got him finished with his flight training just in time to head off to school (just kidding about the rocket science earlier).
"My favorite memory of teaching Pascal was sending him on his solo cross-country from South Bend to Lafayette, Warsaw, then back to South Bend... in 5 miles visibility and 3,500' scattered!" says CFI Jon Fussle. "Good ol' Pascal, never complained or anything, just did it."
