AirVenture 2019

[DWood]

Sorry I missed several of you up there. I did see Kyle & Becky and Gary Friesen. I wasn't able to catch Jim at the table in the Vintage Hangar. I am surprised I didn't run into Dave or Steve.
It was a busy week judging airplanes and attending VAA meetings. I did speak with Jim Dyer at Univair. He is very aware of the tail spring issues with warping due to heat treating process and also the thickness issue.
Hopefully the weather will be better next year so we can get more airplanes in.

[cessna170bdriver]

...
Spoke to Univair about tailsprings (leaf, not steering). Someone at the booth, whose name I didn’t get, said they’re working with Bruce to figure out the thickness and bend specs. Bruce, I hope that’s true!

So maybe there is hope. I just sent a set of tail leaf springs back to Univair about a month ago that were 0.100 too thick to fit my 55 B. When I called them about it, all they would say was that the springs met the specifications they had. No mention that they were going to make any effort to make a set to any other spec.

[dstates]

I just ordered a set from Univair and they are shipping today. I'll let you know how mine come out.

Doug

[JSwift]

Posting after the show ... Fellow flyers,

Wow! We planned our trip to Oshkosh 2019 in our ‘52 170B months in advance, stayed there for a week and I’m just now getting back to the forum. Needless to say time seemed to fill in with a million non-aviation details in the weeks before we took off and then once on the grounds there we kept plenty busy soaking it all in.

Here are a few nuggets for what they are worth.

Arriving Friday evening at 7:00PM was not early enough to secure premium Vintage camping but we were very comfortable in the expanded vintage camping at the north end of the old South 40 (row 139). Before about Monday they were saving many slots north of us for type groups etc. Really Big thunder storms Friday evening and Saturday afternoon over saturated the already wet parking areas. It was not until Monday evening that arrivals got back to normal.

The good news is that our location was excellent for a ritual of fresh coffee and donuts on the porch at big red one market south, as we watched the morning birds both arrive and depart. Gotta like an 06:30 departure of six to eight mustangs while sipping your joe. In addition, afternoons spent in the shade of a Cessna while sipping a cold one and watching F-35s, warbirds and our GA friends sharing the same airspace made for endless entertainment. All our cameras got a good workout. The shuttle/bus arrangement was useful when tired but just inefficient enough that we skipped it when we felt like walking.

We were joined by at least five other 170’s in our area and counted more than 15 others throughout the rest of vintage. We camped right next to Nate K. In his 170 and became fast friends. I also met up with Stanley K. who had also flown out from CT in his 170 … he tracked me down from the login book at the C170 Association table. Small world isn’t it.

Oshkosh is Oshkosh, there is just so much to like about it, but flying in for the first time with my son in a sweet bird like 94D made it really special.

Hope to meet many of you next year in New York. Until then fly safe and enjoy the ride.

Jack.

[DaveF]

You're right, Jack. Despite the travel up to show center, there's a lot to like about camping in the south 40. Being right under the warbirds turning base to final for 36 is amazing.

[c170b53]

This was my third year in a row, I’m glad I went but not sure about next year. It was good to see fellow members and to get reacquainted with our club info guru, Gary Friesen. Wish I had seen more members, did see Bob Coats, a fine individual and the McGreevy’s.
The show; has it become too big ? Transportation is a problem on the grounds. I went to the STOL show at night hoping to see Jughead in action (unfortunately I missed him). Show ended around 9 PM but the shuttle trams I think stop at 8 PM. There were buses taking their place but they were easily swamped and really just a token gesture. Took about an hour to walk back to my camp, row 531 in the north 40. I know I wasn’t the only North forty type with foot blisters. The good, North 40, nice showers, good restaurant and store. The bad ; you’re sleeping beside a large freeway. The noise starts at 4AM by 5:30 it sounds like a Lockheed 104 continuously doing its pre-take off acceleration check and of course you’re in nowhere land.
Obviously the show operates because of volunteers and asking them to work late doesn’t work, so solving the transport thing won’t be easy. Some what the same problem with the association, volunteers can only do so much. The 170 board has got it tough, it’s not an easy time. I manned the table a few days but I think the club had better come up with a better plan than relying on Jay Beaten, he’s done way more than his fair share. The 170 Forum also needs a shot in the arm, Joe needs a break too. Dale Menendorp has been taking care of the web for us, now the club needs to find someone to take over and gosh, he will be missed.
Lately I’ve been made aware that many Canadian members are not happy having to pay more for their membership due to mailing costs. Some have left the association for this reason and I understand their position. Having said that I have too much paper lying around my house but that’s my situation. So are we really solving the money issue when the net result is less members ?
Sorry for the ramble, missed the 170 convention and miss meeting many good old friends.

[DWood]

Jim:
Sorry I missed you at OSH and sorry you had to park in the N40. The extremely rainy weather before the event and also on Friday and Saturday prevented the vintage area from officially opening until Tuesday (parking spots were limited). GA (N40) opened earlier and that is probably why you ended up there. If it happens again, you can ask to be moved to vintage when it opens.
Hope to see you next year.
Dan

[epeter786]

Thanks to all for the responses from the original post. We took the advice and got there early (Friday before the show) to try to beat the rush. We also ended up in the end of vintage/south 40. (Jack - right in front of you. Row 138. Yellow 170B on ABW with yellow tent). I actually thought that was a really good spot. The market and showers were right next to us, and it was like a little retreat from the craziness of show center. My wife called it the "settlement down south". I've got to figure out how to get back to that area next time.

On another note we camped Friday to Friday so my daughter could attend the girlventure camp that goes on during part of the week. I highly recommend it if anyone has young girls interested in aviation. She has also previously attended the air academy camp EAA puts on - another great option. The girlventure camp was only $100, and they had a weekly pass for them, meals, tours, and a C-47 ride (unfortunately cancelled due to the weather, but they did have it planned).

One of the many highlights for her was meeting Buffalo Joe McBryan. (For those that watched Ice Pilots and the recent Plane Savers). We got a tout and he brought her right up in the C-47 they restored and flew down. He started shouting at some of the people with him "get these old retired guys out of the way - we need more of these young girls in here." Naturally her favorite quote of the week given the general demographic we all see around GA these days!

Thanks again for the advice to get there early!

[c170b53]

Sorry I missed you too Dan and thanks for getting the group together two years ago in vintage. Obviously everyone wants vintage. I’d take south 40 over north 40 but a dry tent is more important than anything