Airshow porn
May 13, 2010 12:51 PM Subscribe
Airventure 2009. A highlights clip from last year's AirVenture air show, also known as Oshkosh.
For one week every year the air traffic control tower at the small Oshkosh airport in Wisconsin turns into the world's busiest. Some more clips from this and previous AirVenture shows, one of the largest in the world:
U-2 Spy Plane
Airbus 380 demo
Pitcairn PA-18 Autogyro
Virgin Galactic
For one week every year the air traffic control tower at the small Oshkosh airport in Wisconsin turns into the world's busiest. Some more clips from this and previous AirVenture shows, one of the largest in the world:
U-2 Spy Plane
Airbus 380 demo
Pitcairn PA-18 Autogyro
Virgin Galactic
Oh man, we used to go to Oshkosh for the convention every year when I was a kid. In fact, my dad was fond of saying that I had been there [my age +1] times, because my mom was pregnant with me the first time I went.
For anyone who likes airplanes, it's got to be like heaven. In a half hour of walking down the flight line, you could see WW2-era warbirds, home-built planes that people had put together in their garages and flown in, aerobatics planes, a stealth fighter, a concorde, a harrier (vertical take-off and landing!!!), a super-guppy (giant cargo plane), biplanes, ultra-light planes that look like winged lawnmowers, and on and on and on.
But it was more than just airplanes. The marketplace made of tents ("The Fly Market") had all kinds of goofy gadgets you could buy, there were activity tents where you could do arts and crafts or attend lectures on a huge variety of topics, the NASA building had all kinds of cool exhibits about being an astronaut, and the concession stands... I still dream of those hamburgers. Yum. The Theater in the Woods was a huge, wooden, outdoor stage that would host entertainment each night, from a ventriloquist to The Kids From Wisconsin (a group of SUPER. ENTHUSIASTIC. singing, dancing college-aged kids).
Surrounding the airfield, a huge tent- and RV-city would grow, and we never knew who our neighbors would be, but people were always friendly. We'd have contests for who could count license plates from the most states on our way from the camper to the flightline each morning, or to find the most obscenely huge RV (I think the one that had the hot-tub that folded out from the side probably won). People would decorate their "lawns" with flamingos and windsocks and turkey-fryers, and invite complete strangers over to share dinner at a plastic picnic table. We'd buy real Wisconsin cheese curds at the big red barn that they turned into a general store for the week in the middle of the campground. Showers were in big communal buildings, and the bathrooms were rows of porta-potties at the end of the major rows in the campground. I heard they put in flush toilets recently, and I gotta say that takes away a huge part of the experience, for better or for worse!
As a teenager I made friends with other people in the campground over the years, and we would always meet at the "teen dance" tent on the first night of the convention, and hang out together for the rest of the week. Flirting with the air force guys in uniform next to their fighter jets was always a highlight. So was mud football in the ruts through the campground rows after a huge rainstorm.
In the end, I think Oshkosh is sort of like Burning Man meets summer camp, for people who liked airplanes and their families who just liked the experience. It's not cheap, but I would absolutely recommend it to anyone. I guess I should probably find a way to get myself back there one of these summers too.
posted by vytae at 1:36 PM on May 13, 2010 [4 favorites]
For anyone who likes airplanes, it's got to be like heaven. In a half hour of walking down the flight line, you could see WW2-era warbirds, home-built planes that people had put together in their garages and flown in, aerobatics planes, a stealth fighter, a concorde, a harrier (vertical take-off and landing!!!), a super-guppy (giant cargo plane), biplanes, ultra-light planes that look like winged lawnmowers, and on and on and on.
But it was more than just airplanes. The marketplace made of tents ("The Fly Market") had all kinds of goofy gadgets you could buy, there were activity tents where you could do arts and crafts or attend lectures on a huge variety of topics, the NASA building had all kinds of cool exhibits about being an astronaut, and the concession stands... I still dream of those hamburgers. Yum. The Theater in the Woods was a huge, wooden, outdoor stage that would host entertainment each night, from a ventriloquist to The Kids From Wisconsin (a group of SUPER. ENTHUSIASTIC. singing, dancing college-aged kids).
Surrounding the airfield, a huge tent- and RV-city would grow, and we never knew who our neighbors would be, but people were always friendly. We'd have contests for who could count license plates from the most states on our way from the camper to the flightline each morning, or to find the most obscenely huge RV (I think the one that had the hot-tub that folded out from the side probably won). People would decorate their "lawns" with flamingos and windsocks and turkey-fryers, and invite complete strangers over to share dinner at a plastic picnic table. We'd buy real Wisconsin cheese curds at the big red barn that they turned into a general store for the week in the middle of the campground. Showers were in big communal buildings, and the bathrooms were rows of porta-potties at the end of the major rows in the campground. I heard they put in flush toilets recently, and I gotta say that takes away a huge part of the experience, for better or for worse!
As a teenager I made friends with other people in the campground over the years, and we would always meet at the "teen dance" tent on the first night of the convention, and hang out together for the rest of the week. Flirting with the air force guys in uniform next to their fighter jets was always a highlight. So was mud football in the ruts through the campground rows after a huge rainstorm.
In the end, I think Oshkosh is sort of like Burning Man meets summer camp, for people who liked airplanes and their families who just liked the experience. It's not cheap, but I would absolutely recommend it to anyone. I guess I should probably find a way to get myself back there one of these summers too.
posted by vytae at 1:36 PM on May 13, 2010 [4 favorites]
Check out the de Havilland DH.88 Comet at 3:00. Pretty!
posted by The Tensor at 1:53 PM on May 13, 2010
posted by The Tensor at 1:53 PM on May 13, 2010
As a kid, my dad always took us to the Dayton air show every summer, and then we'd tour Wright Patterson AFB Museum all the time. After a few years, he made sure to finally pack some earplugs for us, as they started showing off more and more jets. I was really thankful for that the first year they showed off the Harrier Jump Jet.
My knowledge of airplanes is odd. In my everyday nerd life, it never comes up, and yet, there it is.
posted by thanotopsis at 1:53 PM on May 13, 2010
My knowledge of airplanes is odd. In my everyday nerd life, it never comes up, and yet, there it is.
posted by thanotopsis at 1:53 PM on May 13, 2010
Oh... okay. Airshows. Just, like, regular airshows. So... there's no porn here, then?
posted by ankurd at 2:26 PM on May 13, 2010
posted by ankurd at 2:26 PM on May 13, 2010
Fun fact: their runways get so busy with small planes that they land two on the same runway at once. One lands on the numbers (at the end) and another lands on the "white dot", 1828 feet away.
posted by smackfu at 2:27 PM on May 13, 2010
posted by smackfu at 2:27 PM on May 13, 2010
Tensor, thanks I was wondering what that red airplane was, never seen one before.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 2:41 PM on May 13, 2010
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 2:41 PM on May 13, 2010
Love me some airplanes, and especially that shiny Sabre. Thanks for posting!
Also, a helicopter pilot piped up in the recent U-2 thread; how tough is a loop-the-loop in a helicopter? It looks ... too easy.
posted by chavenet at 3:17 PM on May 13, 2010
Also, a helicopter pilot piped up in the recent U-2 thread; how tough is a loop-the-loop in a helicopter? It looks ... too easy.
posted by chavenet at 3:17 PM on May 13, 2010
You need a fully articulated rotor head or a rigid rotor head to do a loop. Since most helicopters aren't designed to pull Gs, the aircraft is usually ruined after a loop.
posted by squorch at 4:09 PM on May 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by squorch at 4:09 PM on May 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
Haven't been in several years; it's gotten bigger and my mobility isn't real good these days- don't own my Cessna 140 anymore, either.
Best visit- in 1988, I joined a bunch of folks up in Monticello, Iowa- the Cessna 140 Association- who were putting a "mass arrival" together. They wanted to get as many as 88 C-140's to fly to OSH in formation. "88 in 88!"
Well, a total of one hundred and sixty-three Cessna 120s and 140s took off on that Friday morning- took only about 25 minutes to get all of 'em off the ground, and I was probably 2/3 of the way toward the back; groups of five in trail formation. They closed the field for us when we got there- the line of airyplanes was about 23 miles long on the radar, the controllers said later. Everyone made it OK, nobody had to drop out, no incidents, landing four at a time- one long and one short on the runway, one long and one short on the taxiway.
In some ways, that flight was kinda like a long crack-the-whip. One minute I'd have the throttle firewalled trying to catch up with my place in the group, and the next minute I'd be slow-flying just above stall speed to keep from overrunning 'em. Damndest experience I've ever had. Challenging? yeah, and I don't think I'd want to repeat it. But man, what a smile I get remembering it!
Oshkosh is an amazing place. Worth a visit.
posted by drhydro at 8:18 PM on May 13, 2010 [3 favorites]
Best visit- in 1988, I joined a bunch of folks up in Monticello, Iowa- the Cessna 140 Association- who were putting a "mass arrival" together. They wanted to get as many as 88 C-140's to fly to OSH in formation. "88 in 88!"
Well, a total of one hundred and sixty-three Cessna 120s and 140s took off on that Friday morning- took only about 25 minutes to get all of 'em off the ground, and I was probably 2/3 of the way toward the back; groups of five in trail formation. They closed the field for us when we got there- the line of airyplanes was about 23 miles long on the radar, the controllers said later. Everyone made it OK, nobody had to drop out, no incidents, landing four at a time- one long and one short on the runway, one long and one short on the taxiway.
In some ways, that flight was kinda like a long crack-the-whip. One minute I'd have the throttle firewalled trying to catch up with my place in the group, and the next minute I'd be slow-flying just above stall speed to keep from overrunning 'em. Damndest experience I've ever had. Challenging? yeah, and I don't think I'd want to repeat it. But man, what a smile I get remembering it!
Oshkosh is an amazing place. Worth a visit.
posted by drhydro at 8:18 PM on May 13, 2010 [3 favorites]
Man, I love airplanes, have been to the EAA museum, and have driven by during the airshow, but I still haven't managed to actually attend. Someday... Someday...
posted by drezdn at 5:42 PM on May 14, 2010
posted by drezdn at 5:42 PM on May 14, 2010
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posted by kmz at 1:01 PM on May 13, 2010