Antique Airfield: Antiques, In The Air! (10 Pix)

(click any pic to enlarge)

Cabin Waco flying over Antique Airfield last Saturday evening August 31, 2013

 I've got a boatload of pix from my weekend trip to the Antique Airplane Association fly-in at Antique Airfield near Blakesburg Iowa, but with my day-job's hectic schedule right now, I don't have a lot of time for prepping and posting. So I'm not gonna say much here... but I figure getting these pix up where they can be enjoyed is what really matters. This is just a slice of what I have to share over the next few months. There aren't really any incredible images here, but they are decent captures of some truly beautiful airplanes. (I worked and hour and a half before work and another hour and a half during lunch to get these prepped up for you!)

 The atmosphere at Antique Airfield is something you just have to experience to understand. If you feel any love at all for old airplanes, then I suggest you consider joining the AAA before next year's event and then get yourself over there to see what it's all about! Better yet, ditch some your thoughts about modern airplanes and find a sweet old antique that needs your affection and find out what real flying is all about. Maybe you'll be one of the people I'm taking pix of next year (and hopefully I'll have flown in with an old airplane myself : )

 Open cockpit Waco making a fast pass down the Antique Airfield runway

1929 Eaglerock biplane ventures skyward into the wild blue yonder

A very red, and very beautiful sounding Stinson Reliant on takeoff

About 70 Luscombes attended this year... including this one with a smoke system : )

Click to read more ...

Video: The Slick View Of OSH13 - Must See!

 We didn't get a video from 'Slick' for OSH12 with his involvement in the U.S. Navy, but this year he was able to get behind the camera at OSH13 and capture more awesome avgeek beauty from the world's greatest aviation event!

Well done Slick, you've definitely still got it : )

Check out the OSH10 video and the OSH11 video from Slick

Screenshot from Slick's fabulous video of Oshkosh 2013

OSH13: A Trip To The Seaplane Base (Wednesday 7.31.13 - 6 Pix)

(click pic to enlarge)  Beautiful seaplanes at the beautiful seaplane base... ahhhh

 In addition to being all over Wittman Field on Wednesday, I also joined three other avgeeks staying at CampBacon for the short drive over to the seaplane base. Whether you spend just an hour or all day at the base, it's definitely a must-see experience while at Oshkosh. The beautiful setting and calming environment is the perfect way to re-charge your batteries. And if you take the free (donations requested) pontoon boat ride around the moored seaplanes you'll feel connected to the general awesomeness that is airplanes-on-water. I love the seaplane base!

(click pic to enlarge)  A beautiful amphibious Super Cub firing up to go flying

(click pic to enlarge)  A Lake Amphibian that has just arrived at the dock

(click pic to enlarge)  Yeah, that wonderful Cessna 195 on floats once again

(click pic to enlarge)  A pretty yellow Cub with polished aluminum floats

(click pic to enlarge)  The one boat ride everyone should take while at Oshkosh!
 

more pix coming soon!

Why Oshkosh Matters (With CoolPix Marathon - 19 Hi-Res Images)

(click pic for hi-res)  Ray Hegy's El Chuparosa at Oshkosh 1970 (see original post)

 Oshkosh 2013 is fast approaching (July 29 - Aug 4), and I'm as excited as ever to be planning to attend. I was there in 1970 (as a 9 year old) when the very first Oshkosh took place at Wittman Field in beautiful Wisconsin. The annual EAA fly-in and convention was held in Rockford Illinois prior to Oshkosh and I was even at the last one of those in 1969. I've missed a handful of the events over the years, but I've attended well over 30 of them since that picture above of Ray Hegy's El Chuparosa was taken.

 Oshkosh has changed a lot over the years, but in the ways that really matter, it hasn't really changed at all. It's still people (lots and lots of people) who are in love with aviation gathering together to share that love with each other. It's goodness, discipline, ingenuity, and achievement all rolled into a week of learning, sharing, and enjoying. There's just nothing else like it... no other tool we have that does so much good for the world of general and sport aviation. That's why I believe that Oshkosh truly matters.

 I'm well aware that many people have frustrations at times with the EAA and the way Oshkosh is run, and while I've had the same kinds of frustrations going back even into the 1970's, I'm as convinced as ever that the EAA ultimately does a huge amount of good for those of us who love to fly. I can't imagine any other organization (or new group of people) who could, or would do better (or even as well) at fostering a genuine love for flying. So I hope you'll join me in being a big supporter of what Oshkosh does for us all... come to Oshkosh this year and be amazed, entertained, educated, and impressed. But please don't come expecting Oshkosh to do all that TO you, instead, come to Oshkosh and BE PART OF that process. Give, and share, and receive too. It's the human interactions that truly make Oshkosh the beautiful thing that it is.

 To celebrate some of the great avgeekery of Oshkosh, here's an extensive collection of CoolPix images I've captured since 2009 to get you primed and ready for the world's greatest aviation event. I hope you enjoy! Oh, and you might notice that I never ever call the event A**V******, it's Oshkosh to me and always will be. I look forward to the day when that ad agency concocted word is dropped from the EAA vocabulary. And hey, maybe they should go back to a logo that looks more like tho old one too : )

(click pic for hi-res)  Pitcairn Autogiro at Oshkosh 2009  (see original post)

(click pic for hi-res)  Airbus A380 preparing to depart Oshkosh 2009  (see original post)

Click to read more ...

CoolPix Triple Play: The Golden Glow Of Cubs At OSH12

(click pic for hi-res)  Camping Cubs in the evening sun at Oshkosh 2012

 The gathering of Piper Cubs at Oshkosh 2012 (and at Hartford Wisconsin the weekend before OSH - see great pix here and here) was a major highlight of my summer last year. A sea of Cub yellow to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the J-3 was most satisfying. And now that February has somehow turned into May, I'm just getting a handle on the idea that OSH13 will be here before you know it! (July 29-Aug 4)

 There probably won't be as many Cubs there this year, but there's no question that Oshkosh will once again be the greatest aviation gathering in the world. I look forward to Oshkosh more than any other event, year after year. I hope you've got plans to make it this year... and if you do, you better plan to attend an official AirPigz Bacon Party too! Details will be posted in June with the times and days of the two opportunities to have some crunch pig while hangar flying at CampBacon. Airplanes and bacon are definitely a perfect combo : )

 Below are two more great CoolPix images of Cubs that I captured at Oshkosh last year. I hope they give you a warm, glowing feeling inside for airplanes that drag their tail and are covered in fabric. Btw, Hartford Wisconsin will be the initial gathering and staging point for the 'round-engine rodeo' planned for OSH13. I enjoyed my time at Hartford so much last year that there's no way I'd miss this weekend gathering right before Oshkosh starts. I hope to see you there!

(click pic for hi-res)  A glorious sea of Cub yellow on the flightline at OSH12

(click pic for hi-res)  A tighter view of yellow Piper perfection

Checking Out Interesting Avgeek Opinions In Recent AirPigz Polls

The 'voted very awesome' Piaggio P.180 Avanti!

 I really enjoy putting up polls for avgeeks to vote in, and I'll admit that it's partly to see what you think and mostly to try to make some sort of point. I've always considered myself a bit of an eccentric thinker... not a bizarre weirdo, but someone who makes a specific effort to look a little deeper and with a longer view in mind. So you can imagine that I'm both surprised and pleased to see that all of the recent polls I've put up have had the majority of votes swing in favor of my point of view. Either I'm getting less eccentric in my old age or there's a lot of really cool thinkers following my work here : )

 With all this in mind, I thought it would be good to point y'all to the AirPigz 'poll' category in case you've missed some of the more recent opportunities to sound off with your avgeek opinions. After you click the category link you can scroll down thru the last year-and-a-half of polls pretty quickly. If you go back too far you might catch some polls that were set up with a different website and they might not even function anymore. The current poll website I've been using has finally been a good and effective solution. 

 The 'Awesome or Ugly' polls have all swung in favor of the unique or odd aircraft that I have presented. I've intentionally picked aircraft that I ultimately felt were awesome in those polls, but I have been pleased to see that there is a lot of agreement there. I'm especially please that the Piaggio P.180 Avanti is running with an almost 85% 'Awesome' rating and only a little over 3% calling it ugly. That gives me a lot of hope for avgeeks everywhere!

The livery poll just barely agrees with my opinion of American's new paint: fail

 American Airlines has been dealing with a fair amount of displeasure over their recent paint change. I just have to say again: this is all you could come up with? I think this was a huge opportunity lost. When you make the commitment to repaint such a large stable of airplanes, and when image is more important than ever, you just can't miss the mark by this much. It's an even bigger deal with the recent American/US Airways merger intent.

 I found this design concept while doing some searching around, and I think it's fantastic, especially when compared to what the airline came up with. I can't seem to find the original source for that design, but I think it's just an unofficial effort by a real person... as opposed to a highly paid staff of advertising professionals who would be happy to tell you how amazing their work is, all while carrying a large check for their 'work' to the bank. Sometimes the world makes no sense at all.

My retro styled logo has been a huge success going up against the current EAA logo

 The EAA logo issue that I've been addressing for quite a long while now has sure been satisfying for me. The original poll (on a more frustrating poll website) was up over 70% approval for my retro styled EAA logo, and now, the new poll I put up back in October 2012 is running over 77% with nearly 400 votes in. That's pretty overwhelming in my opinion. I sure wish I had some power to back up my views.

 If you scroll thru those recent polls in the AirPigz poll category, you'll also see the question about whether a rebuilt 1940's era Piper Cub makes more sense as an LSA than the new Van's RV-12 SLSA. I'm also very pleased to see that the $50,000 Cub is way out in front against two modern factory built LSA's; the RV-12 SLSA and the Tenn-Air CH750 SLSA. I'm not against those other two airplanes in any way, but the rebuilt Cub just makes sooo much more sense for an ailing aviation.

 Anyway. I'm one opinioned dude, and I'm happy to be that way... and I'm sure you have opinions too. So take a few minutes and find the polls that you haven't voted in before and share those opinions!

CoolPix: Piper Cub Perfection At Oshkosh 2012 (With Desktop Sizes)

(click pic for hi-res)  A J-3P (Lenappe radial engine) and a J-3C at Oshkosh 2012

 I propose a challenge: take any two Cessna 150's and position them however you like and then take your best picture of the two of them together... then put a hi-res version on the internet for the world to see. Will heartbeats quicken? How many people will say 'wow' in their head. How many will say 'wow' out loud? I suspect not very many. I say this not because I dislike the Cessna 150, it's a wildly acceptable little airplane. I say this because airplanes from the past had a passion and a love for flight engineered into them, and it's rare to find that today.

 I think this CoolPix image of the somewhat rare Lenappe radial powered Cub painted black and yellow with the iconic all-yellow Continental A-65 powered Cub in the fuzzy background makes my point. That image borders on art. But it's not almost art because I captured a phenomenal image but because those airplanes are just beautiful to look at. As wildly acceptable as Cessna 150's are, they are not very often described as beautiful to look at.

 I figured a nice avgeek reminder of the warmth of summer, the awesomeness of Oshkosh, and the beauty of the Piper Cub might be a really nice little pick-me-up for anyone experiencing some winter-like weather right now. As we look ahead to 2013 and set our sights on Spring getting back here so we can have more chances to get in the air, I hope this picture will help some of you realize that old-school airplanes like the Cub do more for the heart and soul (and stick and rudder skills) than our modern airplanes do. To push that idea even harder, I've made this image available in four of the most common desktop sizes so you can put it on your computer to help you get thru the winter. Enjoy : )

Two Piper Cubs at Oshkosh 2012 desktop pix:

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1366x768
1280x800
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For more Cub love, check out airpigz.com/blog/category/cub

Video: Happiness Is A Piper Cub And A Roll Of Toilet Paper!

 It's true that dropping a roll of toilet paper and then making multiple passes to cut it with the prop is wildly fun from any old-school airplane, but the Piper Cub is especially well suited by being able to have the right side window and door wide open during this cheap thrill exercise. This video does a great job of showing the giggles that can be generated with just a Cub and a roll of toilet paper. This is best watched in 1080 HD and fullscreen : )

Video screenshot of the toilet paper being properly attacked : D

Poll: Which LSA Can Best Save General Aviation? (RV-12 SLSA, CH750 SLSA, Piper Cub)

Just announced: Vans RV-12 SLSA - factory built / ready to fly starting at $105,000

 Today it was announced that Van's Aircraft will be making their 2-seat RV-12 aircraft available as a factory-built and ready-to-fly SLSA with an introductory price of $105,000. The RV-12 has been available as a homebuilt kit aircraft since 2008 with about 200 completed and flying. The RV-12 has a side by side cockpit, all aluminum airframe, tricycle landing gear and is powered by the Rotax 912ULS engine that makes 100hp for takeoff. This smallest RV from the family of wildly popular RV airplanes has a useful load of about 570 pounds and cruises about 120mph. The RV-12 SLSA will be built in the USA by Synergy Air of Eugene, Oregon. Orders are expected to be first be accepted in November 2012 with initial deliveries beginning in early 2013. Get more info on the Van's Aircraft website.

Now available: Tenn-Air CH750 SLSA - factory built / ready to fly starting at $74,900

 Tenn-Air has recently licensed with Zenith Aircraft Company to make a factory-built version of the popular 2-seat Zenith CH750 STOL aircraft available as a ready-to-fly SLSA with an introductory price for $74,900. The CH750 has been available as a homebuilt kit since 2008 with over 50 completed and flying. Over 800 of the smaller but similar CH701 homebuilt have been completed since it was introduced in 1986. The CH750 has a side by side cockpit, all aluminum airframe, tricycle landing gear and is powered by the Jabiru 3300 engine that makes 120hp for takeoff... a combination good for a useful load of about 550 pounds and cruises about 100mph while also offering very strong short takeoff and landing (STOL) performance. The CH750 SLSA will be built from Zenair kits by Tenn-Air in Shelbyville Tennessee, and first deliveries are expected to be available in November or December 2012. Get more info on the Tenn-Air website.

75 years strong: Piper J-3 Cub - rebuilt / ready to fly ('0' time) for ~$50,000 or less

 Production of the 2-seat Piper J-3 Cub ran from 1938 until 1947 with almost 20,000 aircraft being built. Today, a completely restored '0' time J-3 Cub can be bought, ready to fly, for around $50,000, or even less. This iconic aircraft that taught thousands and thousands of people how to fly features tandem seating, steel tube and wood structure with fabric covering, taildragger landing gear and is typically powered by a Continental engine ranging from 65 to 90hp. The Cub has a useful load of about 520 pounds and cruises around 75 mph. Thousands of Cubs are still around today with hundreds of them ripe for being restored to like-new condition (ready to serve as trainers and recreational aircraft indefinitely) all for a $50,000 (or less) investment.

 So there you have it, three aircraft that are somewhat similar yet still very different. And I'm here once again to make the case for the idea that our best step forward to try to save General Aviation is a giant step backward! I believe that the J-3 Cub makes way more sense than an RV-12 or a CH750 as a way to draw more people into aviation. Don't misunderstand, I think those two modern flying machines are both great little airplanes that have a lot to offer. But when the Piper Cub is cheaper to acquire (by far)... as cheap or cheaper to operate... has a longer lifespan... creates better pilots (because it's a taildragger)... and it's about 243% more fun to fly, you have a clear winner here.

 Maybe I'm in the minority, but I also absolutely believe that the Cub has significantly more curb appeal. That curb appeal is really all about passion. Passion for its fabulous style, its perfect nostalgia, and its pure and honest flying pleasure. Spend and hour or two flying over God's green Earth with a good friend and the door open and you'll experience the kind of flying that you'll wish would never ever end.

 My vote in the poll below is going to the '0' time restored Piper Cub as the LSA that has the most to offer in trying to save General Aviation in America. Now if I can just get a group of people together to agree on this so we can start cranking out like-new Cubs from a dedicated restoration facility, we can get a whole new generation of pilots into the sky... affordably, with great stick and rudder skills, and in love with the world's greatest airplane! 

75 Piper Cubs At Hartford Wisconsin! CoolPix 2Fer

(click pic for hi-res)  75 Piper Cubs on 7-28-12 (for the 75th anniversary) all in one pic!

 I went for a ride in a Cub on Friday afternoon July 28 (2012) during the CUBS 2 OSH event going on at the Hartford Wisconsin airport and was able to capture this sweet image of the Cubs on-site at the time. When I was prepping the pic tonight I thought wouldn't it be cool if there were 75 Cubs in the pic to match the 75th anniversary... and when I counted them I couldn't believe it - exactly 75 Cubs! I even counted a second time to be sure : )

 There were actually more than 75 Cubs on the airport and even more still were on the way, but it's pretty amazing to see 75 Piper Cubs all in one picture in the year 2012! The mass arrival at Oshkosh the next morning then moved this amazing sea of yellow into the middle of the world's greatest aviation event to celebrate the 75th anniversary. I'm guessing as long as there are people on Earth, there will be Piper Cubs here too. At least I sure hope so.

 As an added way of showing the indelible nature of this iconic airplane, I'm posting this second CoolPix below. I also captured this pic at Hartford, and I thought it was really interesting how even tho Cub logo sticker was no longer on the fabric covering, you could still make out the details. How cool is that?!

Long live the Piper Cub... and the people who love to fly them!

 (click pic for hi-res) As long as people are on Earth, the Cub will NEVER fade away : )