CoolPix: Beautiful Berkut At OSH13... (Remember What Summer Is Like?)

(click pic for hi-res)  Summer, a beautiful Berkut, and Oshkosh 2013. Perfection!

 For those of us who live where winter is wintery, it's been a very wintery winter! In northern Indiana where I live, we've had bitter cold and loads of snow for weeks on end, and it's snowing again this evening. However, the forecast is for above freezing temps for the next several days as winter finally gives us a bit of a break. That gets me thinking about summer, and when I think of summer, I think of OSHKOSH!

 I captured this image of James Redmon's gorgeous Berkut late in the week on Friday when the flightline was showing signs of clearing out, but the extra wide angle lens shows an Oshkosh that's full of life, beautiful clouds and lots of sunshine.

 Ultimately this is another one of my attempts to get you to make plans to be at Oshkosh this summer to experience the world's most amazing collection of aircraft... antiques, classics, ultralights, warbirds, extreme aerobatic, and everything in between. And then there's special attention on the airplanes that have been built by individuals who have the drive and dedication to build an airplane with their own hands. Mix it all up with well over 100,000 of the nicest people on earth and you have the best week of the year, year after year!

Oshkosh 2014: July 28 - August 3

I'm A Fan Of Amelia Rose Earhart! (Watch Her TEDx Speech To Learn Why)

 I hope the people who found it necessary to beat up on Amelia Rose Earhart back in August, when it surfaced that she's not actually related to the Emelia Earhart aviator of the 1930's, know enough today to feel bad for the things they said... if they don't (maybe you're one of them?) then this video, recorded back in October at a Denver TEDx event, should do the trick. She's done an excellent job here explaining the past, the present, and the future.

USA TODAY story on Amelia and her name revelation

 I've been following the modern Amelia on facebook for a couple years now, and it's pretty easy to see that she's smart, kind, funny, respectful, adventurous and very capable. I also watched her press conference with the Pilatus people at Oshkosh this year, which was the first time I'd seen her in person, and it was clear then as well that she's a great person. I say that not because her name is Amelia Earhart, but because she's a great person!

 High-fives and Godspeed Amelia Rose Earhart.

The Amelia Project at flywithamelia.org

Amelia Earhart at Oshkosh 2013 announcing her round-the-world trip for 2014

AirPigz #CampBacon Gets Some Love From AOPA And Av8rdan : )

Me with fresh bacon at an OSH13 bacon party at #CampBacon!  (photo: Ron Klutts)

 Avgeeks and social media seem to go together very well... kinda like how bacon and mmmm go together! In the five years since I started AirPigz I've found that connecting with people who love aviation is pretty easy and has led to lots of great friendships. That same kind of friendly spirit spills over into those of us who make up some of the new media that use the internet to educate and entertain about the wide world of flying. A good example of that is how @Av8rdan (Dan Pimentel) has just posted a story about AirPigz #CampBacon (at Oshkosh) on the AOPA Opinion Leaders blog page.

 Since I've not done a very good job of showing what the bacon parties look like at #CampBacon during OSH, it's great to see Dan doing that for me. Special thanks to fellow #CampBaconer Ron Klutts (@Captain_Ron) for sharing a few of his pix from one one of the bacon parties this year... I've included one of them here showing me with a fresh pan of crunch pig. And a big thanx goes out to my friend @larryoverstreet for helping me plan and pull #CampBacon together these last several years... I'm looking forward to many more : )

 So please go checkout the #CampBacon post on the AOPA blog, and then make some plans right now to stop by at one of the AirPigz bacon parties (most likely Tuesday and Saturday evening at OSH14) to chew the fat avgeek style!

(check out future Opinion Leader posts by going to aopa.org and then hover over the "News & Video" tab at the far left of the nav bar... Opinion Leaders is then found under the "Videos & Blogs" heading)

Video: Sean D. Tucker - The Man, Living With Passion

 I've watched Sean Tucker fly airshows since the early 80's but it's only been recently that I've really been paying attention. I got a little disinterested back in old days when it seemed that he was on a path that wouldn't be ending well... and I learned in a presentation he did at Oshkosh on Sunday evening before the big week started that Bob Hoover felt much the same way back in those days. But Bob was a friend of Sean's and he made his feelings known, and it seemed to be a wake-up call to Sean to integrate a realistic level of margin into his routines.

 Sean has proven in these last 15 years that you can have the safety margins needed and still put on a world-class extreme airshow that'll leave the audience just as impressed as they were in the old days. I like that, I like that a lot. I also learned in that presentation that there's a lot of depth, passion, discipline and all around kindness in Sean Tucker. And I think this recently uploaded video does a great job of sharing all that.

 At 61 years of age, Sean D. Tucker appears to be at the top of his game.

Sean D. Tucker Named Young Eagles Honorary Chairman

 (click pic to enlarge)  Video screenshot of Sean D. Tucker 'Living With Passion'

Video Proof Of Why Oshkosh Is The World's Greatest Aviation Event!

 This 4 minute 11 second video gives you just a small slice of what took place at Oshkosh 2013, and yet the avgeekery seen in this just-released FlyWithEAA video is crazy huge. Try to imagine the other 95% that you aren't seeing here. Oshkosh is simply incredible.

 If you've been making excuses of why you shouldn't or can't be there, stop it. Stop it now. It's time to get serious about OSH14. You've got 10 months to get your plans in place, which translates to: there are no excuses. Rich or poor, near or far, there's always a way to make this trip work out if the desire is truly there. If you need help or have questions, send me an email. I'm here to help any way I can.

See you in Oshkosh... the World's Greatest Aviation Event!

(check out AirPigz OSH13 posts) 

 Video screenshot: one of about a million awesome Oshkosh 2013 moments!

OSH13: Rutan Catbird... Wide Angle In The Evening Sun (4 Pix)

(click pic to enlarge)  From the late 80's, Burt Rutan's Model 81 Catbird at OSH13

 Two years ago at OSH11 we saw the return of both the Catbird and the Boomerang, two of Burt Rutan's designs from back in the day that had their sights set on possibly re-inventing general aviation. Both airplanes were restored to flying status by people who work at Scaled Composites, giving these fabulous airplanes the chance to fly again and the world the chance to see more of Burt's unique work up close once again. You can check out my post from OSH11 that includes some Catbird pix and a link to more info on this 3-surface flying machine. But this post is really all about experiencing the unique shape of the one-of-a-kind Catbird with a wide-angle lens and a gorgeous evening sun.

 Being out on the flightline at Oshkosh in the evening is one of my favorite things to do. It's time that more effectively puts the focus on the airplanes. It's quiet with not a lot of people (or in the late evening maybe no one else at all) and the airplanes somehow speak more clearly to me. When I saw the Catbird parked near the brown arch with the low evening sun I knew some great pix were to soon follow. Be sure to click these pix to enlarge them, and enjoy one of the world's most unique airplanes in a way you've probably never seen it before.

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

Check Out Me(!) On the Airplane Geeks Podcast (Episode 260 - OSH13 Debrief)

Click the pic to go to AirplaneGeeks.com and listen to Episode 260, with me a a guest!

 Max Flight from the Airplane Geeks Podcast invited me to be a guest on a show that was recorded on Monday evening, just 24 hours after I returned from Oshkosh 2013. The shows was then posted for listening earlier today. It was my first podcast experience in a really long time, and it was great fun! Maybe I'll get back to doing my own podcasts again one of these days. (maybe the Cubs will win the World Series?)

 Anyway, it was Max (@MaxFlight / Thirty Thousand Feet), and co-hosts Rob Mark (@jetwhine / Jetwhine.com) and David Vanderhoof (@DMVanderhoof / WhatJustFlewBy) along with Martin Rottler (@martinrottler) as a guest... and me! We talked about some aviation news stories and then did a bit of an OSH13 debrief. It was great avgeek chat followed by more show segments with additional interviews and much more. It's a big show with a lot of talk and I highly recommend you go check it out right now. They even reposted two of my better OSH13 pix right there at the top of their post!

 A big thanx goes out to the Airplane Geeks crew for letting me chew the fat with them, I really did enjoy it : )

Jetman In The Sky OSH13 - But You Gotta look Close! (With Video)

Jetman high (very high) over the Oshkosh sky... pic taken with a long telephoto lens!

 We were tempted to call him Speckman rather than Jetman after Yves Rossy flew on Tuesday (July 30, 2013) at Oshkosh... apparently the FAA wouldn't let him fly any lower than 2,500' during the demonstration. The pic above was taken with a pretty long telephoto lens and he still looks really small! We all pretty much agreed that what he does is very cool and awesome, but it's not the world's best spectator sport. However, the live-feed that that LiveAirShowTV had up on the two big LED screens during the airshow did help a lot. 

 Fortunately the video below gives you a much better view of what Jetman looks like in flight from up close. And wow, formation flying with a B-17, that's pretty hard to beat!

 I hope he eventually convinces the FAA that a pass at 500 feet is safe... you now, so we can actually see him in flight : )

Video Screenshot of Jetman flying formation with a B-17!

OSH13: CoolPix - James Redmon And His Fabulous Berkut (Friday 8.2.13)

(click pic for hi-res)  James Redmon under the wing of his gorgeous Berkut homebuilt

 There's been some great press on James Redmon and his Berkut recently, including the July Sport Aviation magazine and this article in the July issue of EAA's Experimenter. I spent some time talking to James and looking over the Berkut on Friday, and I got several pix including this unique view of the airplane and its builder. Wow, this is one sweet homebuilt!

 This Berkut is also known as race #13 and competes in events run by the Sport Air Racing League (SARL) - this design has been tweaked to be able to compete at over 250 mph... and to look really good while doing it! I'm planning a more in-depth post in the future with lots of up-close detail pix, but for now I hope you enjoy this wide-angle CoolPix from under the Berkut that shows James enjoying OSH13 : )