AirVenture 2011 - Transit Home
The mini-tower at the south of Wittman field. The controllers are in pink shirts. I'm guessing they were handling the takeoffs from runway 36.
I copied the following from a tread on the EAA forums: "We had one spell where we couldn't get the airplanes to the runway fast enough when a veteran OSH/AV controller had the departures running FULL THROTTLE! Two at a time on the runway, when one launched the next was already being put in position behind it. It would have made an ATL or ORD controller blush!"
He must have been referring to this period when I left because that is exactly what happened. The controller would have two planes in line abreast on runway 36L which is pretty wide. He'd launch the one on the right, immediately have the next plane move into the now open position on the right, then launch the left plane, move another plane into position, and so on. When my turn came, I was told to get into position on the left side of the runway. The plane on the right was launched. Then it was my turn. It was exhilarating! The controllers did a great job.
We climbed high and enjoyed a nice tailwind and a groundspeed of abougt 230mph most of the way home.
Approaching Baltimore we flew over the Baltimore Ravens practice facility and for once, they were actually out practicing!
