Our
1997 Oshkosh Adventure
OSHKOSH DRAWS NEAR
It was late July of 1997. I had finally flown off the mandatory test
period for my COZY. I was now literally free as a bird. My
thoughts now turned to that once a year event that get's the
juices of all homebuilders flowing. "OSHKOSH" While I had
been to Oshkosh several times, both by commercial airline and
by car, I had never flown there in a private airplane. Furthermore,
while I had about 200 hours in my logbook, I had never ventured
on such a long trip. The decision was made, We're Going! We
were about a week away from leaving. I changed the oil, put in
some multi weight stuff, changed the oil filter, and did some
maintenance checks. Afterwards, I went for a short flight, just for
fun.
PROBLEMS: TO GO OR NOT TO GO!
After landing and taxiing back to my tie down, I opened the
canopy and looked around. Uh Oh! I noticed wisps of smoke
rising from the cowling vents. I quickly went to see what was
causing this abnormal occurrence. It smelled like hot oil. I got
my tools out and pulled the cowlings off. Sure enough, the
bottom cowling was full of oil. I had a major oil leak! But from
where? I started the engine and watched. It looked like it was
coming from the fittings on my remote oil filter. I decided that I
would first order some new Teflon gaskets and new O rings for
the fittings. It was now the weekend before OSHKOSH. It was
hot and humid. I received the parts and proceeded to do the
work. Now you need to understand, on a COZY with an O-320
there is next to no room between the accessory housing and the
firewall. Getting that remote oil filter adapter off is the pits. On
my airplane it means pulling one mag and the vacuum pump. I
trudged through that part and carefully put the fitting back
together with the new parts. I Put it all back together again and
tested it. It looked good at first but after a few minutes of
running, drip, drip, drip. !!##@&::@#!! I went through it again.
This time I used some high temp silicone rubber gasket in the
fittings. Tested again. Drip Drip Drip. I was getting very
frustrated. I spent the whole weekend trying different things with
no real improvement. I decided to take Monday off to work some
more. We were planning to leave for Oshkosh on Tuesday
morning. This was getting pretty tense. On Monday, the
weather was very sultry with that really thick summertime haze
that is so common in this part of the country. I dove into it again.
I decided that the problem I was now having probably was not the
fittings for the remote oil filter. During the maintenance checks
I had taken out both the oil temp sender and the vernatherm
valve. I decided to change the gaskets on both. Again, this is
not a simple task in those close quarters. I finished the job about
one o'clock. I did the engine run thing while watching for leaks.
Voila, nothing leaking below, but I noticed that one of the oil filter
fittings was weeping ever so slightly. Not good enough! The
only thing I could think of was to put straight weight 50 oil in. So
I did. It was now about six o'clock. Time for the acid test. I put
the cowlings back on and went for a flight. I took off into the
haze. Better weather was forecast for tomorrow. I climbed
through 2000 feet. The haze layer was below me and I could see
the clear, cool, dry fresh air flowing in from the northwest. I
made a few circuits around the airport, landed and taxied back.
I crossed my fingers and pulled the cowlings. Lo and behold no
drips! Hooray, we leave in the morning.
THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
Tuesday morning dawned spectacularly clear and cool. We
were up early. gathered all the paraphernalia and my wife Mary
and I were off to the airport. I loaded the plane with our baggage
and equipment and did the preflight. We hopped in, started her
up and taxied toward runway 33. We were both a little nervous,
what with never having done this before and the oil leaks of last
week. I did my runup and pulled onto the active. It was about
8:00 AM. The throttle went to full and away we went. We
climbed into the clear blue sky headed west. I climbed in the
smooth air to about 4500 feet. Everything was fine. The
countryside slipped slowly by. We were making about 150 mph
with the headwind. As we approached the Hudson River, we
could see the Adirondack mountains looming in front of us. The
popcorn cumulus was also starting to form. I expected bumps
ahead. I told Mary we'd climb to 8500 feet to get over the clouds
and to keep as much air between us and the foreboding
mountains. I turned on the cabin heat to keep us comfy . We
crossed New York State and the mountains gave way to rolling
hills. The finger lakes slipped beneath our wings. I had not seen
another airplane since we left! We were now coming up on Lake
Erie. We passed a Cessna below us also heading west. The
Cozy really had to do it's thing now. We now had been aloft
over three hours.
PORT HURON MICHIGAN
Time to get ready to descend. We would be landing in Michigan
to refuel. As we descended, the ride got bumpier. It was now
about 11:30 AM and the summer sun was doing it's best to stir
up the unstable polar air mass. I tuned the radio to the common
traffic frequency. It was pretty busy. A steady stream of
Oshkosh bound travelers were stopping there for food and fuel.
The landing was uneventful. I taxied to a parking space under
the direction of a pretty young line attendant. I first wanted to put
some fuel in. I guess I got a little over exuberant and ended up
putting full fuel in both tanks. I really didn't want to do that. We
were only about two hours from Oshkosh. I didn't need 300+
pounds of weight. We would be over gross at takeoff. We
stretched our legs and chatted with some of the fellow transients.
The local EAA Chapter put on a nice feed for all the visitors. We
ate our lunch and relaxed for a bit. We were anxious to get going
again so we loaded ourselves back into N342RM and taxied out.
It was now past noon and the sky was pretty full of nice puffy
cumulus clouds. We would climb up on top again. I taxied out
to the end of the runway. We watched a Velocity take off. Now
it was our turn. Off we went. As the gear came up I trimmed for
100 knots. Here we were loaded to the gunnels with full fuel and
we still had 1200-1500 fpm of climb. All Right! We maneuvered
around the clouds as we climbed. I kept a close eye on the CHT
to make sure we didn't push it too much. What a beautiful scene
as we clambered up above the white puffies. We were soon
cruising west again at 8500 feet headed for Lake Michigan.
Now we hadn't seen many aircraft while we cruised along.
Somewhere between Flint and Grand Rapids I spotted a dot up
ahead. It was another airplane and it was slowly getting bigger.
"Keep an eye on it" I said to Mary. I couldn't tell what it was and
whether it was coming toward us or going away. As the minutes
ticked away I began to discern what it was. It turned out to be a
V-tail Bonanza heading west at 10,500 feet. We were overtaking
it! I chuckled as we glided past them. Our next big challenge lay
dead ahead. Lake Michigan, sixty miles of water. Baby don't fail
me now. We went feet wet just south of Muskegon. You could
just make out the far shore. Our plan was to go feet dry just
south of Sheboygan and approach Fond Du Lac from the
southeast. Wisconsin here we come! I was navigating using my
little Magellan 3000 handheld GPS. Most of the way I was just
taking the heading from the GPS and steering it. I now decided
to use the CDI display to try to stay on course. I kept having
trouble steering the right way to stay on course. I kept getting it
backwards. We were making these long long s turns. I was
getting all balled up. There were no clouds over Lake Michigan.
We descended below the approaching clouds that sat over the
Wisconsin shore. As we went feet dry, It got bumpy again. We
were both eagerly awaiting our arrival at Oshkosh. I was getting
edgy as the intimidation of arriving at Oshkosh grew in my mind.
It seemed to take forever to get to Fond Du Lac. I was expecting
to see gobs of traffic much like bees returning to the hive. We
saw very little traffic however. We finally arrived south of Fond
Du Lac and headed inbound for Ripon. I had already decided to
stay on the high road to avoid traffic. I could stay at 135 knots or
so all the way in. It turned out to be the right choice. I spotted
the granary and the strobes, got my instructions from the ground
controllers and wagged my wings as acknowledgment. Expect
runway 9! No sweat!
HERE WE GO!
We approached Oshkosh in a long base leg to Runway 9.
We were just about abeam the end of the runway, thinking that
the tower didn't see us when they called "VariEZE, follow the
Mooney ahead of you, cleared to land runway 9. The Mooney
will land long, put it on the numbers". Where's the Mooney,
there it is. Turn final dammit, where are you going? Okay he's
turning now. Slow to 100 knots, gear down, landing brake out.
Check the mixture. Here we go! I didn't flare enough and hit
harder than I'd like, but it was right on the numbers. "Varieze,
expedite your departure from the runway, to the left please. A
flight of warbirds is on final right behind you". We were now off
the runway, in the grass. Follow the flag persons. We stopped
and asked one if we would be able to cross over runway 9 to get
over to where the show planes park. They said the FAA wasn't
allowing anyone to cross the runway. We would have to taxi in
the grass all the way around the end of 9 and back up the other
side. Oh my aching nose gear! Curses! It seemed like 5 miles
in the ruts and bumps. Finally back on the hard surface. The
flag person directed us into the area where the longezes were
parked. "I want to park with the Cozys" I said. Because of all the
RVs here this year there won't be a separate Cozy area. All the
canard pushers would be in this area. Okay, we have arrived. I
had finally achieved a goal I had set many, years ago. I flew my
Cozy to Oshkosh! What a thrill.
OUR VISIT
Once I got the plane secured and the adrenalin returned to
more normal levels, I walked over to the homebuilders building
and found out where to register. I filled out the registration and
got my chit for a mug and a patch. The mug is a glass stein with
this really neat metal EAA Oshkosh 97 emblem. The patch says
" I flew my homebuilt to Oshkosh 97". I also took the
opportunity to get my Perseverance Award. That's a nice yellow
ribbon for completing a homebuilt airplane. We then lugged our
baggage up to the bus stop and headed into town to check in to
the university. We later realized that we could have gotten a lift
to the bus stop from the EAA Welcome Wagon. We settled into
our room at the university, went out for pizza and then crashed
for the evening. The next morning I was raring to go. We
grabbed a quick breakfast at the Reeve Student Center and then
grabbed a bus to the airport. The weather was great and there
is always a lot to see at Oshkosh. Parking on the flightline is
neat. You can sit by your plane and watch all the comings and
goings. One of the best parts is talking to all the folks who are
interested in you and your airplane. My wife Mary browsed
around the canard area and found some people with a LongEze
who were from Stuart FL and knew her brother. Small world!
We attended the COZY Forum and Nat asked me to say a few
words as a first time flyer to Oshkosh. We also attended the
COZY Dinner. That's always a nice affair where all the builders
get a boost from those who've completed their projects. We also
had a couple of chances to visit our favorite Oshkosh restaurant.
It's a great Mexican restaurant called LARA's. It's a pleasant
walk of about a mile from the university. They have great
enchiladas! During the rest of the stay, I managed to visit all the
booths that I wanted to, ask all the questions I wanted to, made
all the purchases I wanted to and went to all the forums I wanted to.
We really enjoy our Oshkosh visits . The people you meet
are really friendly. The town is really laid back and homey. We
just like it!
THE RETURN HOME
All too soon, Saturday rolled around and due to weather and
schedule considerations we had to leave OSH and head for
home. Saturday morning seemed quite nice as we left the
university. However, when we arrived at the airport we found that
it was IFR. This was due to some ground fog. I went to the
Flight Service Station and got my weather briefing. OSH was
expected to be vfr in an hour or so and the forecast for the rest
of the trip was pretty good. We lugged our stuff down to the
plane and got it all packed up and ready to depart. The EAA
volunteer who was handling the departure assistance in our area
asked us if we were leaving. I said "Yes, as soon as they open
the airport for vfr departures". He said, "let me know when you're
ready to start up and we'll push you out to the taxiway". We
waited about a half hour then the field was vfr and thinks really
started to come alive. We hopped in the COZY and got
everything ready for departure. Maps set, radios set, gps set,
route programmed. We signaled the volunteers that we were
ready. They came over and helped me pushed N342RM out to
the taxiway. Once on the taxiway, another volunteer came up
and said "go ahead and start up. When your ready, let me
know and we'll put you first in line." Wow, that's service. There
were about eight or so spam cans in line waiting to depart. Sure
enough, when we started up, the flagmen signaled us to go right
to the head of the line. We got our departure briefing which
consists of a bright pink card with the instructions on it. We
were then ushered onto runway 18R and given clearance to take
off. All the early arrivals at the show were lined up along the
runway watching us take off! The departure instructions tell you
to stay below 500' AGL until well clear of the Oshkosh traffic
area. This is not something I'm used to. I've always tried to
climb out at best rate of climb. This hugging the ground for five
miles was certainly different. Now we were off, gear up, pay
attention, fly the airplane! We soon cleared the Oshkosh area
and began our turn east and climb for 9,500 feet. I like those
altitudes. Especially when you are going to traverse the 50 nm.
of Lake Michigan. We were on our way home. We climbed to
altitude and began to relax. The bird was performing as
expected. We had a bit of a tailwind. The flight plan called for
about 5 hours to home. Lake Michigan by below in about 25
minutes. Our route would take us over Muskegon, Flint and
Port Huron. We were traveling in sunny skies with good visibility
and cool smooth air. The ability to quickly climb to these cruising
altitude is what separates the COZY from your Cessnas and
Pipers. Of course the cruise speeds approaching 200 mph are
nice. We were now over Canada and heading for London
Ontario. We plan to stop in Dunkirk New York, right on the
shores of Lake Erie. This would put us about 420 nm form
Oshkosh. It should take us about 3 hours. We should have
about two hours of fuel left when we land there. That makes for
some pretty comfortable margins. As we traversed Ontario, we
could see a cloud layer ahead.
WATCH THE WEATHER!
It was still quite a distance away but it was definitely lower than
our altitude. I would have to duck below it to insure a vfr
approach to Dunkirk. I picked up the Buffalo ATIS on the radio.
They were reporting broken clouds and 7 mile visibility in haze.
Oh boy, looks like our great weather is on the wane! As we
headed out over Lake Erie near the St. Thomas VOR I decided
to begin a slow descent from our lofty perch. That way, we'd be
able to duck under the cloud layer. As we descended, the
visibility deteriorated. As we drew nearer the eastern shore, we
were at 3000 feet and the visibility was murky. I turned on the
landing light to make us more visible to any traffic in the area. I'm
not real comfortable with 6-7 mile vis in a fast airplane! I followed
the course headings given to me by my simple gps receiver. We
were both looking hard for Chautauqua Cty airport (DKK). We
crossed the shoreline. I don't see it! We headed north along the
shore. It's got to be here somewhere! Oh boy, the cloud layer
is at our altitude and it looks like solid clouds dead ahead. We'll
be going ifr here if I don't do something. Do as you were taught,
go to the instruments and do a 180. Okay, we're out of immediate
danger! Hell, let's get out of here!
DIVERSIONS
I poured on the throttle and climbed for clearer air. Okay, were
up in a little better situation. What do we do now? My gps is set
for our destination, Dunkirk. Fly the plane! We decided to head
for Penn Yan airport near Lake Seneca. That seemed like a
good bet. It has a 4500 foot runway. Mary got the AOPA
directory out and found the lat and long for Penn Yan. I flew the
airplane and programmed the coordinates into the gps. We
picked up the bearing and headed east. We found the airport.
As we descended I circled the area. There was no activity in the
area. The radio was quiet. I thought to myself " I'd better try to
raise someone on the radio. What if we land and no one is
home. No fuel". I made several calls on 123.0 as we circled the
field. No response. Crap! Okay, where to we go now. I studied
the map. Here's a place. Sidney. 4200 foot runway. Let's go.
We plug in the coordinates and pick up the heading. We're not
really sure where we are. Sure hope were not busting any
airspace. The wind is really picking up. It's fairly strong and a
bit gusty. It's not really too comfortable bouncing around up here
as the wind plays games in the hills and valleys. Okay, there's
Sidney. A call on 122.8 confirms that someone's home and
there's fuel. I make the approach, we bounce around in the wind.
Luckily, it's pretty much down the runway. I land a bit hot but
we're on the ground and safe again. As it turns out, there's a
radio controlled airplane meet on the field. A few of the folks
come over to have a look at this strange airplane. "You build
that?" "Yup". We walked over to the other end of the field where
the RC meet was. Those fellows had some nice scale models.
We grabbed a soda and a hot dog.
ON OUR WAY AGAIN
Okay, time to leave. Everyone was watching the show as we
departed. Up up and away. The rest of the trip was pretty
uneventful albeit a bit bumpy. Thankfully, the weather improved
as we headed east. It sure was a welcome site to see SFZ our
home drome as they say. I landed and taxied to my tie down.
Yes! We had done it. SFZ to OSH and return. I had just
completed the longest cross country of my flying career.
Learned a few things along the way. First, it's difficult to stay
ahead of a fast airplane, especially if things don't go exactly as
planned. Second, the non database gps's work fine but when
your plans change and you need to deviate, either be very
proficient at dead reckoning or get yourself a database gps.
Soon after our adventure ended I placed an order for a Lowrance
Airmap gps. It sure takes a lot of load off the pilot when he's
trying to navigate under less than optimum conditions. I love it.
Well, that brings our first Oshkosh adventure to an end.
Hopefully, we'll get to do it again sometime.
I hope you enjoyed reading this memoir.
Let me know how you liked it by dropping me an email.
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