July 26, 2021 - Flight to Oshkosh!

Big day today -- heading to the Show!  Yes, I'm heading to AirVenture 2021, the Disneyland of Aviation, the Aviation Mecca.  They had to cancel it last year.  It was missed.  You could sense the excitement for this year's event.

I had read about the horror stories of the 2018 and 2019 arrivals -- holding for hours, the Battle of Britain over Ripon -- so wanting to avoid the mass of planes arriving simultaneously on Saturday and Sunday, I left on Monday.  Sunday afternoon I watched the arrivals on adsbexchange.com.  It was fascinating.  There must have been 100-200 planes at any one time in a conga line stretching from Endeavor Bridge to Ripon to Fisk to Wittman Field.  At one point you could see all the planes orbiting counter-clockwise around the three lakes.  The line used to begin at Ripon, but the new Notam procedures extended the line 50 miles west to Endeavor Bridge.  The new procedures seemed to work well because I saw very few complaints about the arrival.

To make it into Wittman Field prior to the airshow starting at 2:30, I had to get an early start.  The plane was ready -- I had gassed up and loaded it on Saturday.  Monday morning I got up around 4:30 AM and was in the air by 6:15.   Usually going to Oshkosh I have had to fight the weather, but today the weather was almost perfect the entire way.  A little hazy and a headwind, but no clouds to worry about.

This was a "get high and go fast" transit flight, so I was up at 8,500 feet.  Here I'm looking down at Pittsburgh and its three rivers.
   
Looking down at the University of Pittsburgh, on the east side of town.   The iconic Cathedral of Learning is at center right.  I visited Pitt once for a Navy-Pitt football game and vividly remember the Cathedral of Learning.
   
Looking down at Pittsburgh International Airport.  I was high enough to fly right over their Class B airspace.
   
Passing by Akron-Fulton Airport which was once Naval Air Station Akron.  It has been a general aviation airport for many years.
 
To the left of the runway is the massive Goodyear Airdock (airship hangar), built in 1929, where the two airships USS Akron and its sister ship USS Maconto were constructed and launched, and now home to one of the three Goodyear Blimps.
   
Passing by Cedar Point Amusement Park.  Opened in 1870, Cedar Point is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the United States behind Lake Compounce in Connecticut.  Known as "America's Roller Coast", the park features a world-record 72 rides, including 17 roller coasters – the second-most in the world behind Six Flags Magic Mountain.   It is the only amusement park in the world with six roller coasters taller than 200 feet.   The park is the most visited seasonal amusement park in the United States with an estimated 3.6 million visitors in 2017.
   
On a left base for runway 18 at Erie-Ottawa Airport, also known as Port Clinton.
   
The FBO gave me a discount on fuel since I was traveling to Oshkosh.  Then I walked over to the Tin Goose Diner for a big breakfast.
   

In my past trips to AirVenture I have flown along the Lake Michigan southern shore past Chicago.  But I felt like trying something different so today I would cross Lake Michigan.   From Port Clinton, I angled northwest skirting south of Detroit and then across Michigan to the town of Ludington and Mason County Airport (KLDM).

Here I'm approaching Ludington with Lake Michigan very visible.
   
Looking down at Mason County Airport from 8,500 feet.
   

North of Ludington are the Nordhouse Dunes.

I set course due west to Manitowoc and went feet wet.   The horizon disappeared in the haze but the wing leveler autopilot kept my wings nice and level.

 
   
The flight over the Lake seemed to go by very quickly, no more than 20 minutes, and soon the Wisconsin shore came into view.
   

Things happened fast once I was in Wisconsin.  I tuned in the AirVenture ATIS frequency and was happy to hear that the conga line started in Ripon, not further west.  That meant airborne traffic wasn't heavy.  I headed for Ripon.  Other than a clueless Aircam pilot lollygagging around over Ripon, there was only one other plane who I got behind and followed him into Fisk.  At Fisk I was directed to follow the road east and monitor the runway 18 tower frequency.

Here I'm following the road east with Witmann Field coming into view to the northeast.
   

The tower cleared me to land on runway 36 left -- yellow dot.

Here I'm starting my base turn.   I never realized how many planes are parked this far south.
   

I made a decent landing on the yellow dot, turned off on to the grass, and followed the handlers.   Here, I'm taxiing on Mustang Avenue and looking at Quicksilver, the P-51 Mustang I patterned the paintjob on my own plane after!

I ended up parked in the same section of homebuilt camping -- almost the exact same spot -- I was parked the last time I was here four years ago.   The handler said homebuilt parking was almost completely filled up; there were only about 20 or so spots left
   
 
   
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