Wisconsin Tacomas and bad financial advice

On and off throughout the work day I get 5G.
I must say. It sucks.
My phone lags like a mofo.
Just turn it off and give me my 4G.

 

If you count enroute and departing travel, and how much of it there is, someone’s bound to bend some sheet metal to one degree or another. And there will always be pilots that find that they don’t actually have the skills they thought they did before taking the flight to Oshkosh.

I’ve already seen some planes in loose formation heading up there. I love seeing that stuff. Yesterday, I was out in the yard and heard the sound of an old lumpy high-displacement engine…the classic sound of Oshkosh inbound traffic. The sky had a low overcast. I looked up didn’t see anything, and then an old Stinson pops out of the bottom of the clouds in a descending turn. He straightened up, and continued along the same southerly direction he departed the cloud from, just kissing the bottoms of the clouds as he went. I’m pretty sure he just wanted to change his shorts at that point, and was looking for the closest airfield with bathroom facilities.

I’ve always loved airplanes…such cool machines. It’s awesome so many private pilots fly themselves into to oshkosh every year, and that it’s been happening for so many years. It’s cool that people have so much freedom to do this stuff, especially in the age of where there’s a push to keep people from making decisions for themselves “for their own safety”.

But it is a risk no doubt…most people flying in to Oshkosh aren’t career commercial pilots that are constantly flying and at the top of their game. They fly to Oshkosh in machines that need to avoid weather, and those long trips can quickly become a game of 3d chess as you pick your way around weather. Things can get out of hand very quickly if you overestimate your skills, or you just make the wrong decision at the wrong time.

 

By transitive property @pearing should be an ace at sky off-roading.

 

Another forum I'm on, there's a former commercial pilot who now works for a custom builder that brings a plane for display every year. About 5 years ago now, he was asked to fly the display unit into Oshkosh. He said afterwards he doesn't want to have to fly into there again. He said it was the most stressful landing he's ever had.

 

Relevant to the aviation pics: got to park next to the other blue aircraft a few weeks ago.

 

Psht. Those don't even have four wheel drive.

 

There’s a whole notam procedure that you need to be intimately familiar with when flying to oshkosh. Not just the normal process to get in an communicate with ATC, but also all the procedures for non-normal things like what to do when weather is a factor, when you have to go around, or when ATC doesn’t let you go in. And in the final phases of the approach you’re not even allowed to transmit to acknowledge instructions. You have to rock your wings so that lookouts can see you. It’s pretty mentally intense!

 

Doing spark plugs this afternoon. Passenger side took less than 45 minutes. Then I had to take down about half of the top end to get to the driver's side. I'm almost done putting it all back together.

They needed changing. Funny, the middle plugs' threads were rusted and both rears were loose...not much but I could give the ratchet about an eighth of a turn to snug them.

Only called it a corksoaker once!

 

I have my private pilot license. Haven't flown in years. Dangerous.