Oshkosh Airventure Fly-In 2010-4
More photos from Oshkosh 2010.
Sonex area parking filled in nicely, especially since most of them only had to taxi across the field.
More of the Sonex customer airplanes behind the factory's Xenos.
Little Auburn theme snuck in there.
More of the customer airplanes.
Trying to get a flavor for their display. I know this is their home field, but having the factory fleet there sure makes it easy to look over all of the possibilities. They also had their Sport Acro option at the IAC booth, and the Electric Waiex over at the electric airplanes pavillion. There was even a customer Sonex from Hawaii bringing in visitors to a metal supplier's display over by the vendor hangars. Really got you to see their airplanes coming and going. Of course Van's has a whole field of hundreds of customer airplanes beside the forum pavillions, if you wanted to look over all of their options.
The meat of one of the forum presentations I attended. His other main conclusion was make it look as much like a P-51 as possible, but I already had that feeling. Not sure what exactly makes the P-51 look so right, as that big scoop and lumpy fuselage isn't what I would envision when thinking about speed and handling, but it just works.
Forum interrupted by DC-3 mass arrival. There were over 20 in this formation, but I didn't get them all in the photo. That's a pretty big sound when that many rumble over.
From big and hefty to a part 103 legal ultralight - the Belite. That's a lightweight panel. Not sure about the utility of the big cup holder as the centerpiece of the panel.
As they say, if you think all airplanes look the same, you haven't been to Oshkosh. Something to be said for the 1 + 3 seating arrangement - the pilot is in command, and you screaming weenies in the back seat can just shut up and hold on.
Well, the Oshkosh truck factory is just across the field, so they brought over some of the goods. This here is one of those MRAP's that's been such a big deal lately.
Getting near the end of day one, so we headed back to Aeroshell Square.
Someone flying a large-scale RC model over the top of the DC-3. Even has a scale SUV load.
No, not really. EAA took their tie-ins with Ford to a whole new level by taking advantage of the thousands gathered for the opening day concert to introduce the new Explorer. Whatever. I like the big orange helicopter hauling a load.
Chicago, who filled all the time we were willing to stand around with songs I'd never heard. As we were halfway to the main gate, we finally picked up on something recognizable. Ok, big name band, did some great work back in the day, now known for a really cool portable stage structure.
Picking up on Tuesday, day two of the show, with yet another idea for an air and land vehicle. This one obviously motorcycle-based. It's a neat way to get out of the automotive regulations for crash protection and air bags and all that.
Multi-folds to the wings looks complicated, but that Terrafugia proof-of-concept made it work.
Obviously not quite done yet, but it looks like a lot of things have been worked through.
Here's a misleading one. Called the Sky-car, but no road-going capability. Did have a massive rear loading door that might make a good jump plane. From Italy. Given the trim level in the cockpit, the jumpers would be in designer suits, with designer chutes.
Cobalt. Ok, they had a cool looking ad in the program. In the hardware, the airplane is pretty weird looking. They have way, way too much canopy area for the size of the machine. Flip a chart up onto the glare shield, it's a major maintenance operation on the ground to get it back. That glare shield was six feet deep if it was an inch. Very high-end looking cockpit mockup inside, though.
