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Aloft living
On any given Saturday Jerry VanGrunsven gets up at 7:30 a.m., walks 40 feet from his kitchen to his airplane and, once airborne, makes a call. A handful of his friends are also aloft by then, flying their private planes.
“The first one to call says where we should eat breakfast, and off we go,” he says. It could be the diner next to the runway at Pacific City on the coast, or it could be any airport cafe, such as those at Aurora, Scappoose or Salem.
The History of Airventure Oshkosh
The Experimental Aircraft Association's Fly-In Convention, now known as EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, has been in existence nearly as long as the association itself. The first gathering was in September 1953 as a small part of the Milwaukee (Wis.) Air Pageant. That original EAA fly-in at Wright-Curtiss (now Timmerman) Field was attended by a handful of airplanes, mostly homebuilt and modified aircraft. Fewer than 100 people registered as visitors. The larger Milwaukee Air Pageant has faded away but the EAA gathering has become one of the world's largest aviation events and the world's largest annual convention of any kind.
Related Link(s):
Wikipedia entry for AirVenture
Pilot finds freedom in plane he built
After flying for 11 years, Doug Solinger still gets a high from every flight he takes. While talking about his trips to Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas, New Orleans and Montana this year alone, the pilot of an experimental aircraft prepared for a flight on a recent windy afternoon.
With the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis., slated to begin on July 23, we thought it would be good to talk with Solinger, an EAA enthusiast, about the draw to these types of aircraft.
[postbulletin.com] (More)DIY pilots love to go RV-ing
“Experimental” is a Federal Aviation Administration licensing category commonly used to mean home-built. And Oregon has one of the nation’s leading designers of kit planes in Van’s Aircraft, which was founded in 1973 by Richard VanGrunsven, brother of air park resident Jerry VanGrunsven and known everywhere in the EA (experimental aircraft) world as just “Van.” [portlandtribune.com] (More)Building an airplane -- in ten months
John Maus’ desire to return to aviation led him to build his own airplane. Not only did he complete the task, but he finished the work in ten months. “I made it my job. My wife, she called it my mistress,” Maus said. “I worked at it every day, including Christmas.” [thevillagenews.com] (More)
I sometimes worry about general aviation. There always seems to be something threatening it's very existence. Fuel prices, user fees, negative press coverage and airport closings are constantly applying pressure on the industry. At my home airport, KBTV, the environment is rather toxic toward GA. I managed the flight school at the airfield for a few years and was able to observe first hand what low regard the general aviation sector was given by the various entities at the airport.
A small [Zodiac] homebuilt plane clipped the house roof and crashed while trying to land in Rosamond Skypark Saturday morning.
