The International Cessna^® 170 Association

I'll post here and see if I can get some more info on Airventure. I have posted in the "Flyin/Event" category but not getting much response. I am planning on taking my family to Airventure this year in the 170B. May camp...may not. I have a 3 year old that may be a problem in that type of environment. What plans does the Association have for parking and how do I reserve a spot. Any other tips from those who have flown in and either camped or gotten a motel room would be welcome by this Airventure "newbie".

Wish I still lived in the Memphis area so I could take advantage of all the neat stuff over in Arkansas. Lucky Dogs!

John, Camping at OSH is definately a neat experience for a young family but- - - - - be prepared to stand in very long lines for almost all facilities. I am going on our experiences from many years back and maybe they have added enough infra-structure to accomodate more people. We stopped going when the arrivals overwhelmed the facilities and the long lines became really irritating.

The "Type" parking is neat but you have to decide between camping types or those who stay in hotel/motel. I would advise you to arrive early and just get as close to the "park" by the camp grounds as possible.

Call or e-mail Jay Baeten (WI Area Rep) for current information. Offer to help in the "170 tent" and I'll bet you get drafted! OLE GAR

OK now I'm thinking that the motel might be better. I HATE waiting in lines...that's why I don't bother with the airlines anymore! I don't want to make my 3 year old wait in a line for the bathroom when she has to go or for food when she is hungry. This being the first Oshkosh experience for all of us, if it is a bad one I'll not likely get the family to go back again and I'd hate to go alone. Yes, I plan to go early and just see if I can find some other 170s to park with if the Association is not going to have a group parking spot this year. Thanks for the tips...now onto the web to find a motel room...

John, here's another suggestion. Last year I drove up in "Harvey the RV", there was too many of us to fly up, so we stopped in on the way to the Rockies. We stayed at the Fond Du Lac KOA, they had some cabins you could rent. There was no big crowds, very clean facilities, showers, laundry, a pond (fishing), petting zoo, swings and slides, pool, etc. I have camped at OSH and as many others have told you, unless you go at 2 am, wait for showers, wait for this and wait for that... This place is 20 minutes away and you could also land at Fond du Lac and rent a car from there. I know, the thrill to say you landed at OSH and all that, but when you have little ones on board, that is what comes first. You still get to go to the big show and by the way, in the morning, just before you leave, you hear round engine noises, look up; you are camped under the staging area for the warbirds... Very Kool! I thought the kids would be bored (ages 7 to 13) but they loved it and asked to go back and this time stay longer. The only complaint I got was from the youngest who complained to Sue: Sue, please tell Dad to slow down, my side aches from running everywhere... Like a kid in a candy store!!! JD

Thanks JD...with the advice I've gotten from folks like yourself I have changed my plans from camp to no camp! It was mentioned that the university opens it's dorms for the event and I am going to try to get a dorm room and a rental car. Yes, my 11 year old daughter is not very interested in going but I hope she likes it once we get there. She is not into machines very much...but my little 2.5 year old daughter would live eat and sleep airplanes if she could! Now about the Association parking at OSH...guess I'll have to directly e-mail the Association on that one. I get the idea that the folks that run the Association don't ever visit our forum here? Perhaps they are too busy!

I've seen a few of the officers and board members post on the forums,Dale and jay in particular.
Maybe posts about Association parking at Sun-n-Fun &/or at Oshkosh
should be in the "member issues" forum?

Eric

There are lots of Assoc. (TIC170A) officers, etc. that participate in this forum, including several directors. But the Assoc. is really made up of members, and if any of you members want to sponsor or host an event at OSH or anywhere else for that matter....just speak up and do it! TIC170A directors and officers are volunteers, not paid service providers. Only a very few of them live near, or are able to participate in OSH. Many more of the regular members are in better position to organize an event at OSH. A way to start would be to contact your Area Representatives. (Jay Baeten is Wisconsin area rep.)

Finally made it to Gaston's this morning. (Oct 18th). Nice Place, Huge Grass Airstrip! Take's 50 mins, in my 100 mph performance plane, to get there from our house. Lot of planes were coming in for lunch. Beautiful Clear River (White River), full of Big Trout.
Last night we landed on the Valley Runway (our first fly-in ever) 4 miles from Gastons. You people love fly-ins, we're invited to 2 or 3 fly-in's every weekend. Well it was almost my wifes first and last fly-in. Our GPS took us straight to the airstrip, a 3000' x 25' paved runway I might add. A routine night (15mins after sunset) landing, full flaps, steeper descent 1/3 of the way down the runway, 500 ft total rollout, taxi'd toward the barbeque. Freaked some of those boys out. One inparticular (drinking) cussing loud mouth threatened to shoot us out of the sky if we ever tried to come in the dark again. He did say that they could tell we knew what we were doing by the way we landed, but %$*#@ . We put the tent up with my wife crying and were getting into the tent without ever leaving the plane. When this very nice gentleman (halo over his head) walks up and introduced himself as Bernie Helgesen. He really tried to make my wife feel better and explained that while it was a routine landing for us, most of those pilots don't even fly in the dark at all. Anyway, we were in the sleeping bags by 8:00 with intentions of being gone by sun-up. We had the tent up and turned the plane towards the sun by 07:00, when a crop duster pilot show's up, followed by others, and wanted to know who made THE LANDING last night. Crop Dusters are intelligent people. Anyway, they & fog stalled us untill Bernie came and made us push our plane back from Valley International Runway 28. He and his wife (Pat) took us to Breakfast in downtown Cotter and became our friends for life. Thanks to the Helgesens (my Ark 170 rep) my wife really enjoyed the trip! Whew!
PS - No lectures from City Pilots, please!

AR Dave,
I can relate to your story. I've done some things in my airplane that have caused me to recieve some grief from some other pilots ... but, as Jimmy Doolittle said, "what is safe for one pilot may not be safe for another pilot." He said that in reference to someone overflying him when he landed to wait out some bad weather (1920's or 30's). He commented in his book that "I've never been flown over before, but that guy that flew over me was an airmail pilot who probably knew this route like the back of his hand and I didn't know the area very well. It would have been stupid for me to continue flying but it was probably perfectly safe for the airmail pilot to do so." That's more of a paraphrase, but you get the point.

Fly safe and let the drunks and bombasters remain ingnorant in their foolishness. I'd rather have a guy like you in the sky with me than any of those rude, loudmouthed, scared of the dark drunks!

Oh, and by the way, great landing!

ARDave, I'm sure most of us on this forum agree with Mike- keep up the good flying !
Rudy

All the regs say is the pilot must be able to determine the limits of the takeoff and landing area. If you can see it, then it's legal to use it.
But I know I'd never try such a stunt.

Thanks Mike & Rudy, for the reassurance. It still bugs me getting chewed on like I did something wrong. Today, at the Anchorage Airport I ran into one of my Flight Instructors whom I respect very much. She fly's a 52 170B out of Palmer. SHE laughed, and said well that's why we turn on our Landing Lights.
George - Stunt = A feat of unusual strength, skill, or daring. Something of an unusual nature done for publicity. I didn't land for daring or publicity, so thanks for the compliment. Really it was just a routine night landing, no exceptional skill. My first instructor taught me how to land in the dark, didn't everyone's?
We do practice night landings, right? Maybe we should start another Subject titled, Night Flying. Do you practice night landings? Are you staying current?

George was being facetious David! He often drops in at night ( i.e. Reklaw 2001 ), remember his arrival time is later than most because of his slow groundspeed. Next time someone starts yelling at you, as fast as you can think to do it, start calling the Hawgs really loud and intense. It would help if the whole family would do it! Put a lot of body language in to it. One of two things will happen! Everyone will either run away, or, they will join in and get so carried away you can start setting camp up while they are howling.

Dave, I think George is jerking your chain. I remember reading about a night landing at Recklaw, wasn't it George??
Isn't it 30 minutes after sunset that makes it a night flight? Some people get more nervous because they are used to having VASI's and big lighted strips and never practice landing without lights or with just markers or torches at night on a frozen lake on skis... Did you never have an electrical malfunction including a burnt landing lite, or get to where you are going during a power outage? All of those happened to me and once in pairs; the biggest problem was trying to taxi a Cherokee after landing with no landing light, just as the power went out on short final at Gimli, MB; I can still see myself with the flashlight sticking out of the little side vent window of the Cherokee to try and light my way to the apron...
Some of the don't try this at home if its your first time operations are routine for the pilot who practices those "stunts" on a regular basis or fly out of little private strips night and day and all seasons. We all practice off airport emergencies and procedures and other life saving techniques, right??
My better half is not comfortable with landing at night at our little grass strip (she didn't mind when we flew out of a VASI equiped, fully lighted, hard top airport). Especially when we get back from a scenic tour over Montreal's beautiful night lites; fly West for 1/2 hour into total darkness except for a dam 10 miles East and the small bridge 2 miles West of the strip. Add a bit of ground fog or do this in the winter or add anything more than just landing in a dark hole and she puckers. But I find that when we go up more often at night, like when we go see the fireworks in July and the hot air baloons in August, it becomes routine to her too.
So, Dave, stay safe, stay current and beware of wild life on the runway; and let the drunks have thier say and be thankful they are not driving or flying...
JD

One thing that bothers me about night landings is the fact that deer seem to LOVE hanging out on or adjacent to the runway,at least here in the pacific northwest. A "deer strike" could ruin your whole day. They're not smart enough to yield the right of way,either. Dusk seems to be the worst time,at least that's when I most often see them. Of course,after full dark,I can't see well enough to see them........So if you see what look like pairs of little runway lights out on the runway,go around! A low pass sometimes runs them off,but by the time you go around & line up on final again they're quite often right back out there.

Eric