July 22-29, 2023 - AirVenture 2023
General
Monday morning.  AirVenture 2023 officially opens! Heading into the show.  Heading into the show fast!
   
Looking back towards the main entrance.
   
The Wittman Field tower is the world's busiest during the week of AirVenture.  Everyone knows this
   
We were all having dinner at The Hangar Bar & Grill on the north side of Wittman Field.  A nice lady gave us a ride in a golf cart over there.  Along the way I took these pics of the North 40, which was absolutely packed.
   
Wall to wall planes in the North 40 which is General Aviation camping.
   
Straight ahead is runway 9/27.
   
Now on the north side of the runway looking southwest.  There's a lot of planes even over here on the north side of runway 9/27.
   
Even the kiddies can have fun at AirVenture.
   
This guy gets the "Best Dressed Walmart Award" for AirVenture 23.  Plaid shirt, green long sleeves, blue shorts (although could be a bathing suit), black and gray socks, gray sneakers.  Not pictured, florescent orange ballcap.
   
I remember a Deltahawk rep briefing my EAA Chapter during my build.  That was roughly 17 years ago.
 
Kitplanes Magazine says it far better than I ever could:  "The Racine, Wisconsin based company has been promising their all-new engine for many years and faith that anything would come from all the press releases and thinly-staffed trade show booths had worn their story to the bone.  But things are different this year. Deltahawk has arrived at AirVenture with a nice new booth, display engines, engineers on hand, two aircraft with Deltahawk V-4’s installed and most importantly, FAA certification. That last part is so easy to say but so difficult to achieve, yet despite we naysayers Deltahawk has met that difficult goal. It’s a rare achievement and gives them instant entree to the important certified airplane world. ... The initial offering is the DHK180, displacing 202 cubic inches (3.3 liters) and rated at 180 hp. ... the big advantage surrounding the Deltahawk: it burns widely available and affordable Jet-A. "
 
Someone with deep pockets must be funding these guys, for sure.
   
I've never paid these massage chair vendors much attention in past AirVentures.  But this year I decided to try one out.  I was amazed.  The thing really works you over!  I actually felt much better after 15 minutes in the chair.  I even considered buying one -- just for a brief moment.  But they are so expensive, and so heavy, and the things have so many moving parts.  I have higher priority items on my list:  a new airplane engine, for example.
   
Most of the major airlines had buildings or tents -- Delta, American and Southwest -- but Delta won the bigness award with this fancy two-story job.
   
Enjoy the airshow from the EAA Aviators Club!  This was the only VIP area on the flight line I believe.  Unlike Sun 'N Fun, where more than half the flightline was taken up by VIP areas.
   
A plane at 80 degree bank is just a normal occurence at AirVenture.
   
I discovered that the Vintage Aircraft Association has a little used bookstore in their area.  Very nice.  All aviation-themed books.
   
I walked by the Ford Tri-Motor shack and thought it might be nice to do that again.  I did it back in 2009.  I think it was $45 back then.
   
But alas, not going to happen.  Even if I wanted to pay almost double the price, all the rides are sold out.
   
A conga line of planes in line to take off.
   
Another conga line of planes trying to get out before the airshow starts.
   
I took the shuttle school bus to go to the Seaplane Base and got a good look at the South 40.  I have never been down here before, didn't realize how far south it goes, and how many planes are down here.  It's also General Aviation camping and parking.
 
From a volunteer who has worked the South 40 the last three years:  "The S40 first opened in 2019 with the goal of "no plane turned away", since previously some people would have to get sent to Fond du Lac or Appleton because the grounds were just full. I haven't heard any final numbers, but I'd guess we parked 500+ aircraft just in our area. When I was was parking earlier in the week I asked several pilots how the taxi was and was told in the 10-20 min range. We know that people have just gone through some long flights, a little chaos at Fisk, long taxis, hot weather, storms, planes landing on the wrong runway, even a little mud...different issues every year but all the things that make Oshkosh "Oshkosh". But we're always glad to see everyone arrive safely and hope despite any issues everyone has a great time at our little fly-in and airshow."
   
South 40 is full of planes.
   
A taxiway to the South 40.  This is the southern end of the South 40 looking north.
   
Paul Poberzny's old ride:  "Red One".
   
You never know what you're going to find in the vendor booths.
   
Another eyebrow-raising vendor booth.
   
I only spent a little time at the SOS Brother's tent this year, enough to pound a couple of cold brews.
   
I only went to one forum the entire week: Jim Parker's "Flying the Bahamas".  It was very good and got my all pyched for flying back to the Bahamas again.  Jim Parker is a funny guy.
   
Remember the TV show "Airplane Repo" on the Discovery Channel? I liked the show.  Well at this AirVenture 23, I saw two of the three Airplane Repo guys:  Kevin Lacey and Mike Kennedy.  I just saw them in the crowd but didn't talk to them.  I knew Kevin Lacey was here selling his new book.  I bought it and read it after I got back home.  I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to any airplane enthusiast.  I'm looking forward to his follow-on books.  He has lots of stories to tell!
 
Flashback!  In July 2019 I met Kevin Lacey when I flew my RV-7 into Aero Country Airport (T31) in McKinney, Texas.
 
"I would be staying with my friend Ken who lived in McKinney.  He had come over to this airport a few days earlier and talked to "some guy" who said it was OK to tie down here.

I landed, parked, and saw a guy was sitting on the ramp in front of the fuel pump.  I recognized him immediately as Kevin Lacey, one of the stars of "Airplane Repo", a TV reality show I enjoyed watching for the two years it was on.  I said "You're not going to repo my plane are you".  He laughed.  Then I said "I'm too tired to resist, go ahead and take it."  He laughed again.  We got to talking and he told me about a bunch of young adults who had restored a Cessna 150 under his supervision.  Another guy approached.  Kevin asked "You know who that is?"  "Nope."  "That's Gene Soucy".      I turned to Ken and asked him if that was the guy he had talked to early, and he said yeah.  I told Ken "that's Gene Soucy!  He's one of the giants in aviation world!"  So we talked to them for awhile which was very cool.  Both Kevin and Gene were interested in my RV and my long cross-country."

Anyways, I recommend the book highly.  I don't always do that.  I bought another book in the EAA Store last year -- I won't say the title or author -- and it was terrible.
   
I bought new landing and taxi lights from FlyLEDs, an Australian company, and insalled them in my RV.  I'm very happy with them.  They had a little booth going here so I stopped in and said hi.
   
Cool AirVenture picture.
   
 
   
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