It's Tuesday, day 2 of Airventure 2010 in Oshkosh. We depart tomorrow and now I'm getting excited. I'm getting so excited I just watched the same 3 videos about 5 times. I will post them here just in case someone else is interested.  The first one is a trailer for some of the more exciting... Read more »

It's that time of year.  Next week is the aviation event that we all look forward to -- Airventure in Oshkosh.  I'm trying to get  my own little pilgrimage together for the last half of the week.  I will be closely following the event all week though.  As a matter of public service, I would... Read more »

If you are interested in learning to fly but don't know where to start, you are in luck. Last year at Oshkosh, The third Saturday in May was established as International Learn to Fly Day. Since then, the US House of Representatives have also recognized International Learn to Fly Day in HR1284. This year International Learn to Fly Day is May 15th. The idea behind it is for everybody to "evangelize" for aviation and get people interested in learning to fly. Unfortunately, it only works if people get involved. So, in an effort to help get the word out, here are a number of sources to check for information on events.... Read more »

I had booked the plane for most of the day, so I was reasonably certain we had plenty of time. Unfortunately, when we arrived the weekend dispatcher was gone to lunch. We had to wait for him to get back, but after that everything was good to go. I did my (increasingly) typical orientation, safety briefing and preflight. Everything checked out. This was great. We loaded up and I started the plane, radioed for taxi, did a run-up and taxied into position at Alpha 8 for takeoff. After glossing over the before and after takeoff checklists, I handed the book to my brother and asked if he could hold it for me. I explained that I might need it once we were off the ground so he just needed to keep it handy. I waited for the landing traffic to touchdown and roll out a bit before calling ready for takeoff. After they were clear, we were cleared for takeoff. As we rolled onto the runway, I looked over and asked one last time, "are you ready?" After an affirmative response, I applied full throttle and we were off. As we reached the end of the runway a large bird flew around the front of the plane and behind us. I immediately alerted the tower of this since it could be an issue and we proceeded to fly as filed. Our course was basically runway heading, so there wasn't much maneuvering to be done. Just a nice climb.... Read more »

While on our way back to TYS, we heard some T-6A TexanIIs coming in from the local training area. I was thinking how cool it would be a to see one, but focused more on the tasks at hand. Well, once in the traffic pattern, a lone T-6A overflew us on our base leg. It was pretty awesome to look up and out the canopy to see the underside of the T-6A. Once we were on the ground he landed and joined up with his compatriots. Also, while we were taxiing back in to secure the plane, I noticed that Remote Area Medical was loading their DC-3 to take some relief supplies to Haiti. It was pretty neat to see the DC-3 again.... Read more »