Saturday, August 1, 2009

Twin Comanche To Oshkosh 2009





THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE COMMANCHE FLYER OCTOBER 2009

As pilots we wait in anticipation for it all year long. No, not the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition...AirVenture! This marks the 57th year for EAA AirVenture. Tom Proberezny said it was "a convention that will go down in the record books as one of the best ever". With over 500,000 attendees from 65 nations, Oshkosh seemed to be having a banner year. As I took a taxi to my hotel the North 40 was filled with planes, as Oshkosh welcomed over 10,000 airplanes that week. But part of the joy of this experience is not only being in Oshkosh, but getting there.

My journey began with a few friends out of New Jersey, with the goal of meeting up with JJ Miller and the other Comanches in Watertown. As usual, we pick a new place to land overnight between N.J. and Oshkosh. This year it was Beaver Island. We were joined by Don and Shirley Nelson of the International Comanche Society. Beaver Island is in Lake Michigan and host two airports. The island is very tranquil and laid back. If you are looking for something off the beaten track, and a bit of solitude, this place is it! We stayed at the Beaver Island Lodge, which had nice accommodations at a reasonable price, and a great restaurant called "Nina's".

On Saturday afternoon we headed to Watertown and we were greeted by many Comanche's parked on the ramp. Like last year we had a nice BBQ in the big hangar and exchanged flying stories with other Comanche flyers. I had the privilege of chatting with Al Powers and John Rathburn. Bot are from Washington state, and Al has owned his Twin Comanche since 1966, which is the year in which I was born. You wouldn't know it from speaking with him, but Al is 80 years old. My group of friends enjoyed listening to him talking about his flying experiences with his Twin Comanche. If you ever have the opportunity to meet Al Powers at Oshkosh or elsewhere, introduce yourself to him, you won't regret it.

On Sunday morning everyone was briefed for the Comanche arrival. Unfortunately, 30-minutes prior to the mass arrival a Pietenpol ground-looped and the runway was closed. That means all the Comanche's had to land on the taxiway, east of runway 36. All 30 Comanche's arrived safely nevertheless. A big "thank you" to JJ Miller and all the work he did for putting this together.

I thought I would share one final story. While I walked around the campground taking pictures I met someone that flew his Twin Comanche all the way across the Atlantic from Germany to be in Oshkosh. He told me his airplane has been all over the world including places like China, India and Iran. He told me that people in the U.S. don't realize how good they have it with respects to flying. He said, "you guys just get in your airplane and go. You have no bureaucracy, and plenty of freedom to move about. That is not the case in many other regions of the world".

I have to say, every year when I make the journey to Oshkosh, I remind myself how lucky I am to be a pilot and own an airplane. I get to see places that I would NEVER see, and meet people that share the same love of aviation that I have. AirVenture 2010 can not get here soon enough!!