Episode 2

#2 - Recombobulation Area - Oshkosh Recap

In Episode 2, Tiffany and Bill quickly recap their respective OSH24 Airventure experiences and preview a few things to come on the podcast.

Episode Links:

Link to Episode on Website: https://flightlinepodcast.com/episode/002

Flight Line Podcast Subscription Link: Listen to Flight Line Podcast

Flight Line Podcast Website: Flight Line Podcast website

Hope you enjoy the episode and thanks for listening! Visit the FLP website at https://flightlinepodcast.com. Please keep the feedback coming. You can reach us via email by sending a note to bill at flight line podcast dot com, or tiffany at flight line podcast dot com.

Legal Notice: Remember, any instruction or advice or experience that you hear in this podcast is specific to the situation and person(s) that experienced it at the time. Please do not try to apply anything you see or hear in this podcast to your own flying. If you have questions about any aspect of your flying, please consult a qualified CFI.

Copyright 2024, flightlinepodcast.com and Tiffany Wolf and Bill Williams. All rights reserved. Please contact for any usage rights.

Transcript
Speaker:

Well, welcome back everybody to the flight line podcast.

Speaker:

Bill here and I've got Tiffany with me.

Speaker:

How you doing Tiffany?

Speaker:

good, Bill.

Speaker:

Good to see you.

Speaker:

good to

Speaker:

It's been so long.

Speaker:

been so long.

Speaker:

No, we got together, of course, a few times at Oshkosh, uh, while

Speaker:

we were there this past week.

Speaker:

And I know that we're both exhausted and trying to get back into the

Speaker:

swing of things in our normal lives.

Speaker:

But we had a great time at Oshkosh.

Speaker:

We did a bunch of different things.

Speaker:

We did a couple of things together and, uh, we've got a lot of ideas

Speaker:

and, and content coming your way.

Speaker:

we wanted to just do for this week's episode, we just wanted to do a real quick

Speaker:

recap of the things we saw and that we thought were interesting and, uh, kind

Speaker:

of go back and forth and talk about that.

Speaker:

And I'd like to talk a little bit about the things that we wish we would have been

Speaker:

able to get to and weren't able to get to.

Speaker:

Does that sound all right with you, Tiffany?

Speaker:

Yeah, that sounds really good.

Speaker:

All right, so what's one of the, what's one of the things that stood

Speaker:

out for you, um, at OSH 24 this year?

Speaker:

I love the B 52.

Speaker:

I've only seen a B 52, um, at Nellis.

Speaker:

They did not let me get close to it.

Speaker:

I think they pointed guns when we tried to walk across to get to it.

Speaker:

I'm just kidding.

Speaker:

Uh, so it was really cool to watch that come in and then get to climb

Speaker:

in the wheel well and massive wheels.

Speaker:

I have some video and pictures of it where this kid's standing

Speaker:

there with his arm up on the wheel and his head resting like that.

Speaker:

I mean, they're like, almost five feet tall.

Speaker:

Amazing.

Speaker:

Yeah, speaking, speaking of video for, uh, next week, hopefully.

Speaker:

We've got a little surprise for you.

Speaker:

We're going to go over some more things from, from Oshkosh.

Speaker:

And, uh, like I said, at the top, uh, we got some, we got some interviews and

Speaker:

some other interesting people planned, uh, to bring onto the Flightline

Speaker:

podcast in the next few weeks.

Speaker:

Um, but just as a hint for next week, just think, uh, maybe mystery science

Speaker:

theater, we're going to go over some stuff with you, so that'll be fun.

Speaker:

One of the, uh,

Speaker:

Got it.

Speaker:

one of the things that kind of stood out to me, this year was,

Speaker:

uh, that I spent in forums.

Speaker:

I usually don't make the time to spend time at some of the talks

Speaker:

and the forums and, and some of the vendor talks or at the AOPA, I don't

Speaker:

remember what they call it, but the auditorium that they have there.

Speaker:

And so I did a little bit more of that, even though I spent three days

Speaker:

with Lightspeed in, in their tent, um, somehow I just, I had to cut out

Speaker:

some other things I wanted to do, but, I, I went to some of those talks

Speaker:

and that was pretty interesting.

Speaker:

I, did a couple on advanced features of Foreflight since that's something

Speaker:

that's so important to my everyday

Speaker:

Oh, that's cool.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So that was, that was pretty cool.

Speaker:

I went to a talk that was at the, one of the Garmin theaters that

Speaker:

they had, they had two tents, that they were doing talks at.

Speaker:

So that was pretty interesting.

Speaker:

I.

Speaker:

to one that was about building a Zenith aircraft.

Speaker:

I'm not planning on building one, but I just thought it would be

Speaker:

really interesting and I, I did that.

Speaker:

Um, and

Speaker:

kind of a random one.

Speaker:

I know I've

Speaker:

Where, where are you finding, um, All of the forums are, are you

Speaker:

using the app or using the catalog?

Speaker:

in the day it used to be kind of posted in these big documents, you

Speaker:

know, 15 years ago, um, and you kind of had to search through those, but

Speaker:

the app makes it pretty easy now.

Speaker:

Um, I've got some feedback for EAA on the app.

Speaker:

Um, it, there, it could be easier to find the exact location of the venue.

Speaker:

Cause you have to find where you're going and then you have to go to

Speaker:

a different place in the app and find, you know, how to get there.

Speaker:

so I got some feedback there, or maybe I need some user education on how to use it.

Speaker:

But yeah, for the most part, I went through the app and I was able to

Speaker:

find some of those opportunities.

Speaker:

Um, there's of course, some I didn't get to go to, and we'll talk about that in

Speaker:

wish I could have section of this podcast, but yeah, that was, that was pretty fun.

Speaker:

I've done them before, only maybe one or two per year.

Speaker:

And this time I did about three or four.

Speaker:

um, I just love learning.

Speaker:

And so that was, that was pretty fun.

Speaker:

It was pretty fun to be able to go do that and hang out with a bunch

Speaker:

of fellow aviators and learn some

Speaker:

What are your takeaways from those?

Speaker:

Well, um, some of my takeaways, if I go back to ForeFlight, which

Speaker:

is actually Um, kind of important for me in my everyday flying.

Speaker:

I actually learned a few things about how to use that app that

Speaker:

I really didn't know before.

Speaker:

And one of the focuses that they have, lately is, really focused on

Speaker:

turbulence and what the air is doing.

Speaker:

And there's some things I didn't realize in some of the newer versions.

Speaker:

I, I always read through the release notes, but I don't always

Speaker:

internalize it all the way.

Speaker:

ForeFlight's doing some pretty interesting things around, you know, they have a

Speaker:

lot of people fly with a Sentry or other ADS BN, and those have ADHARS in them.

Speaker:

And so they can tell when you're going up or down or when there's

Speaker:

bouncing and things like that.

Speaker:

So they're collecting data.

Speaker:

from pilots, even when they're not doing pilot reports or Pyreps,

Speaker:

um, but they're collecting data.

Speaker:

They know the type of aircraft, uh, from the tail number.

Speaker:

They know, you know, the size and the weight of the aircraft.

Speaker:

They know where the aircraft is because of the GPS.

Speaker:

Um, and they're correlating all that data and they've got, uh, filters

Speaker:

that's filtering out things like regular descents and things like that,

Speaker:

that they can kind of figure out based on context starting to build maps of

Speaker:

where turbulence is, what altitudes, how severe, all of those things, um,

Speaker:

just automated from people using ADS in and reporting through the app.

Speaker:

It's kind of ingenious, so,

Speaker:

That's really interesting.

Speaker:

Yeah, being able to collect all that data,

Speaker:

exactly, yeah.

Speaker:

And

Speaker:

Which,

Speaker:

no, go ahead.

Speaker:

oh, no, no, go ahead.

Speaker:

I was gonna

Speaker:

I was just gonna, I was just gonna add, um, and I know that there's

Speaker:

other things, you know, coming down the pike that people are, you know,

Speaker:

I had some candid conversations that aren't on the record, so to speak,

Speaker:

with some folks at different vendors.

Speaker:

that are sometimes partnering with each other to that.

Speaker:

really are going to leverage what we're learning about big data, so to speak.

Speaker:

I hesitate to use the term AI because it's overused and kind of

Speaker:

has a lot of weird connotations.

Speaker:

there is this concept of having a lot of data around something and

Speaker:

being able to use that to glean insights automatically by by systems.

Speaker:

And, I think there's some really interesting stuff that's going to be

Speaker:

happening in aviation, you know, using, big data and, uh, it'll be, it'll be fun

Speaker:

over the next few years to kind of see how people innovate and, um, take the amount

Speaker:

of information we have at our fingertips and how we glean, usable data from that

Speaker:

and, you know, use it in the cockpit.

Speaker:

So it's, it's pretty cool.

Speaker:

Pretty cool time to be engaged in general aviation for sure.

Speaker:

Yeah, and with the data, when you were, we met up a couple of times and

Speaker:

you were telling me about some of the interesting booths that you had seen.

Speaker:

It's like the data kind of ties into the AI's you were talking about.

Speaker:

And I think that You found two really interesting, um, companies that are

Speaker:

using AI to further general aviation.

Speaker:

Yeah, and we're going

Speaker:

I'll let you

Speaker:

in depth interviews with both of those.

Speaker:

one of them is a company called Aerosys, but if anybody went to

Speaker:

Oshkosh, you probably would have seen advertising everywhere, including

Speaker:

in the bathrooms, I noticed.

Speaker:

Um,

Speaker:

Yes, I did notice

Speaker:

where they were saying, you know, talk to me,

Speaker:

I'm not sure how I feel about QR codes in the bathroom.

Speaker:

because you got to

Speaker:

In the stall, I'm just

Speaker:

because you

Speaker:

saying.

Speaker:

the, you got to get the old camera out.

Speaker:

That's not really the place you should be opening up your

Speaker:

camera or holding up your phone.

Speaker:

I agree with you there.

Speaker:

you probably would have seen them as, uh, talk to goose.

Speaker:

so we're going to be sitting down with, uh, Mark Hahn, who's the CEO and

Speaker:

founder, in the next couple of weeks.

Speaker:

And we'll bring that to you.

Speaker:

As part of the flight line podcast.

Speaker:

So that'd be really interesting.

Speaker:

And that one is really about a digital co pilot.

Speaker:

I know again, some people might call it AI.

Speaker:

It's really, uh, kind of, uh, uh, of

Speaker:

Siri.

Speaker:

and a language model to allow, uh, Um, uh, you know, allow us to use our

Speaker:

device that we're already using probably for for flight or or some other E.

Speaker:

F.

Speaker:

B.

Speaker:

be able to use that device to also remind us of things.

Speaker:

Um, switching tanks, uh, time to do a checklist and even run

Speaker:

through the checklist for you.

Speaker:

Like, audibly like a pilot would, um.

Speaker:

Um, be able to talk to it, to bring up information about where you're going,

Speaker:

maybe even set, um, a course, uh, a direct to course, uh, using your voice.

Speaker:

Um, some things like that.

Speaker:

So really interesting stuff there.

Speaker:

Did you get a chance to take a look at it, Tiffany?

Speaker:

I did.

Speaker:

I think that is, especially for new pilots.

Speaker:

I like that idea.

Speaker:

I remember, you know, first solos, first cross countries and second

Speaker:

guessing yourself, and then just have that feeling of a safety net

Speaker:

or somebody else, you know, having that CFI on board, if you will.

Speaker:

your back a little bit.

Speaker:

Like, isn't it time for you

Speaker:

Yeah,

Speaker:

your cruise checklist?

Speaker:

It seems like it is.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

down on tools.

Speaker:

I use chat GPT quite a bit for content creation and, and, um, helping

Speaker:

with build concepts and whatnot.

Speaker:

Yeah, so it's taking that CHAT GPT, that large language model concept, and

Speaker:

applying it specifically to aviation, and in this case, um, specifically to, you

Speaker:

know, helping us fly as a co pilot would.

Speaker:

So,

Speaker:

Yeah,

Speaker:

so yeah, if you are single pilot, um, you know, why not, why not

Speaker:

have somebody helping you now?

Speaker:

Obviously I have some skepticism as well.

Speaker:

So that'll come out in our interview.

Speaker:

And I, I've already talked to Mark about that and he's all for it.

Speaker:

He wants to talk about, it's not that I'm skeptical about the overall product, um,

Speaker:

but I think we need to learn a lot more.

Speaker:

And of course we need to train a lot more with some of these things in my

Speaker:

humble opinion, before we can just go out there and fly and rely on them.

Speaker:

Um, but that's all part of the growing process.

Speaker:

And I think it's awesome that, that people are innovating and coming up with

Speaker:

new ways, uh, new ways to do this, but we'll save discussion, you know, deeper

Speaker:

discussion on that when we get to, uh, talk to the company themselves and

Speaker:

hear about their origins and, you know, where they're planning on taking it.

Speaker:

So looking forward to that and you can look forward to it too.

Speaker:

trying to think if there was anything else that was really

Speaker:

interesting in the exhibit halls.

Speaker:

It's usually the same stuff every year, but it's kind of a wonderful

Speaker:

sense of familiarity to walk through and know where everything's at.

Speaker:

I visited my buddies over at Hooker Harness.

Speaker:

They have good swag, great product,

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

um,

Speaker:

Cool.

Speaker:

Uh, did you see, here, here's a fun one.

Speaker:

Did you see the Elvis jet, um, motorhome?

Speaker:

So,

Speaker:

two or three art cars that, I'm going to call them art cars, um, that they

Speaker:

had on site, which was really cool.

Speaker:

There was, um,

Speaker:

the

Speaker:

did you see the other one?

Speaker:

um,

Speaker:

Yeah, that one was great.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I saw,

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

of gals like riding on the stubby wings, you know, riding around on that car.

Speaker:

That was pretty funny.

Speaker:

Um, what else did you see as far as our cars go?

Speaker:

I think that was it.

Speaker:

However, I do have an art car that I will be trying to bring next year.

Speaker:

yes.

Speaker:

I've heard about this.

Speaker:

I can't wait to see it in

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

Maybe I'll get to see

Speaker:

It's not, it's not mine, it's my friend's, but

Speaker:

yes.

Speaker:

But I will be on the mission to get that there.

Speaker:

The art cars are great.

Speaker:

It's just a fun way to be walking around and feel like you can engage differently.

Speaker:

We

Speaker:

We, we have the

Speaker:

did run into somebody

Speaker:

Go ahead.

Speaker:

couch, uh, over near the

Speaker:

Oh yes, we did.

Speaker:

So we got, we got some video and some pictures of that.

Speaker:

We'll, we'll show it to you, uh, in our next episode for

Speaker:

was, that was the best seat in the house.

Speaker:

Car.

Speaker:

Yep.

Speaker:

Exactly.

Speaker:

So yeah, back to the

Speaker:

That's so funny.

Speaker:

So if you haven't seen that, it's at a, it's being showcased on

Speaker:

a YouTube called Jimmy's World.

Speaker:

So Jimmy has purchased an old Jet that was never going to fly again.

Speaker:

That happened to have belonged to Elvis.

Speaker:

And the inside was so pristine they didn't have to restore anything.

Speaker:

They just had to clean it up.

Speaker:

And so it's like a little time capsule and he didn't want to

Speaker:

get rid of that time capsule.

Speaker:

So he turned it into a motor home.

Speaker:

He put it on under home chassis, took the wings off of course.

Speaker:

it's now the fuselage.

Speaker:

Is now the motor home and you can drive it around from the cockpit in a, you

Speaker:

know, with a diesel pusher chassis.

Speaker:

So, I mean, again, the things that people think of and innovate on just.

Speaker:

It's mind boggling and super fun.

Speaker:

I love this community.

Speaker:

And so that was that was pretty fun to see.

Speaker:

Yeah, that one cracked me up.

Speaker:

And on the back, it's all shook up, is the name of it.

Speaker:

I don't know if you saw that.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Thank you, thank you

Speaker:

That was a pretty good one.

Speaker:

Thank you.

Speaker:

Um, I also um, I have a couple of my favorites for the Home built airplanes.

Speaker:

And so I got to spend some time.

Speaker:

got to spend some time with those guys.

Speaker:

Um, so of course the, airplanes themselves, I always want to see

Speaker:

what's new and, and what they're doing and how they're innovating, but

Speaker:

it's also fun to catch up with the people, um, that are behind these,

Speaker:

these companies and these operations.

Speaker:

so that's always really fun.

Speaker:

And so I'm just going to give a shout out to the guys at

Speaker:

Bearhawk, um, of revitalized.

Speaker:

They got some really cool airplanes that have these

Speaker:

massive envelopes of performance.

Speaker:

stall speeds down in the 40 mile an hour range and and cruise speeds up

Speaker:

in the 130 140 mile an hour range i mean it's just It, it's crazy.

Speaker:

Um, you know, tail dragger off airport style airplanes that you can build

Speaker:

yourself and that's pretty cool.

Speaker:

And then I also spent some time over at sling Island.

Speaker:

I've always been a big fan of the sling aircraft out of South Africa.

Speaker:

They have a location in Torrance.

Speaker:

I think most people know that.

Speaker:

where they do flight training, but they also, um, do build assists and

Speaker:

deliveries of airplane kits and things like that over in Torrance, California.

Speaker:

So are a couple of ones that I visited, kind of saw what was new,

Speaker:

got to crawl around their airplanes and, and really check them out.

Speaker:

So that was really fun.

Speaker:

Something I do all, you know, every year, but, but it's always fun

Speaker:

to see what's, what's the latest.

Speaker:

Anything like

Speaker:

I'm not familiar with that airplane.

Speaker:

Uh, which

Speaker:

What's that?

Speaker:

The sling.

Speaker:

Sling?

Speaker:

Yeah, they're, um, they're cool airplanes.

Speaker:

They have a, they have a couple of models.

Speaker:

Well, three, really.

Speaker:

Um, they've got the Sling Highwing, they've got the Sling TSI.

Speaker:

Those are both four place, kind of go places airplanes,

Speaker:

but they, uh, run with Rotex.

Speaker:

915 or 916 IS engines.

Speaker:

So they're turbocharged.

Speaker:

Um, get up and go pretty good and they sip gas.

Speaker:

So really, really efficient aircraft, really nice looking.

Speaker:

The TSI is a low wing.

Speaker:

That was, uh, sort of their standard.

Speaker:

And then the high wing they came out with a couple of years ago and made a

Speaker:

big to do in, I think it was 2022 when they flew the first Sling high wings to

Speaker:

Oshkosh from South Africa, three of them.

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker:

can be built as either a tail dragger or a, you know, conventional

Speaker:

gear or tricycle gear aircraft.

Speaker:

And, they're, they're just awesome.

Speaker:

They're awesome airplanes.

Speaker:

Um, Yeah, I, I just love them.

Speaker:

I've, I've always been following their endeavors.

Speaker:

So that was pretty cool.

Speaker:

Um, and then some of the show planes that I really wanted to see, I got to see.

Speaker:

So I've been seeing some of them online a little bit as

Speaker:

we were leading up to Oshkosh.

Speaker:

But that AOPA giveaway plane for next year, it's a, one

Speaker:

of the straight tail 182s.

Speaker:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker:

I'm just in love with that airplane.

Speaker:

It's got like a teal paint job that was inspired by their first magazine cover.

Speaker:

I think back in the fifties of a, of a one 82, just like this one, same model.

Speaker:

And so they redid that paint job.

Speaker:

It's like teal and, and black and white.

Speaker:

And it's just, it's gorgeous.

Speaker:

And the, the yoke is teal.

Speaker:

The inside is all redone.

Speaker:

They're doing, they did avionics out here in Mesa, Arizona,

Speaker:

where I fly at Falcon field.

Speaker:

And so my son was actually flying one day a couple of weeks ago and

Speaker:

saw it out on the ramp right before they flew it back to, uh, right

Speaker:

before they flew it back to Oshkosh.

Speaker:

Um, so got to see that one.

Speaker:

It's just beautiful.

Speaker:

Check it out if you haven't.

Speaker:

And also at AOPA, they were showcasing Chelsea Smith's

Speaker:

beautiful 150 she recently did.

Speaker:

Repainted in, in Santa Maria, California.

Speaker:

Um, which is basically where I'm from originally, where I,

Speaker:

where I was born and raised.

Speaker:

So I've got a couple of local tie ins to those as well, but that

Speaker:

one's also a beautiful retro paint job, um, upgraded avionics, but.

Speaker:

always in, in round dials.

Speaker:

And so it's got that classic looking one 50, you know, look on the

Speaker:

panel, but with modern avionics, it's just, again, just gorgeous.

Speaker:

I just love seeing people these airplanes restored and looking and flying so

Speaker:

well and just keeping them going.

Speaker:

And along those same lines, um, Stevie T, uh, Treisenberg, I think, she had her,

Speaker:

140 A Cessna 140 A on display over at the Garmin tent and that was also gorgeous.

Speaker:

Um, you know, the old tail dragger, two seat, um, airplanes, just

Speaker:

same thing as Chelsea's, just really classic looking, but.

Speaker:

modernized and upgraded and updated.

Speaker:

just really gorgeous.

Speaker:

I know my, uh, my middle middle son, who's also a pilot, he became a pilot last year.

Speaker:

He loves that plane and was looking at it, looking at some of the

Speaker:

pictures and some of the videos.

Speaker:

And, um, was noting how he just loved the nose of that airplane.

Speaker:

I'm, thinking later, I'm pretty sure he was talking about the airplane and not

Speaker:

Stevie, but it could have gone either way.

Speaker:

Cause the,

Speaker:

You never know.

Speaker:

know, you know, young guy, but, um, but yeah, that was, it was fun to

Speaker:

kind of see some of those airplanes that I've been following and

Speaker:

watching and see them up in person.

Speaker:

And sure enough, they were gorgeous as ever.

Speaker:

I just love seeing what people can do, you know?

Speaker:

So,

Speaker:

I do too.

Speaker:

My, in the Warbirds area, it's really neat when you go down there and

Speaker:

check out what people have going on.

Speaker:

My friend has a T 34 that he purchased and pretty much brought it back down

Speaker:

to bare bones and had it rebuilt.

Speaker:

And it, it pretty much takes first in class every year.

Speaker:

We flew to Oshkosh a few years back and he had these Oregon Aero seats that were.

Speaker:

So, I mean, more comfortable than a couch.

Speaker:

He's got the, the T 34 has got the bubble canopy, so

Speaker:

yeah.

Speaker:

it gets hot, but he has the vests that have the, that circulate the

Speaker:

water going through it, and then the ice chest, where the cold water

Speaker:

lives, goes into the back, and

Speaker:

Yep.

Speaker:

just fabulous, fabulous trip.

Speaker:

conditioning.

Speaker:

Yep.

Speaker:

Yeah, it was so nice.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Absolutely, but oh, there's so much love.

Speaker:

got to meet him, but you know, I never got to see the airplane.

Speaker:

So we'll have to, we'll have to go take a look at that next year

Speaker:

That's because he was barbecuing steak in Warbirds.

Speaker:

was delicious.

Speaker:

Yep.

Speaker:

It

Speaker:

Which I think was pretty much.

Speaker:

The gist of my trip, I got there on Tuesday and Tuesday evening,

Speaker:

and then, um, left on Saturday and the whole trip was just meeting

Speaker:

up with friends and connecting and watching the night show and.

Speaker:

You know, making more friends and that our top five must do's in Oshkosh or

Speaker:

hacks, if you will, I definitely, I think I, I think I nailed all of them.

Speaker:

So there was, uh, night one went to Pete's garage for dinner.

Speaker:

And one thing about Pete's garage is.

Speaker:

It's because, I mean, everybody must have heard our podcast because

Speaker:

it is definitely a popular place.

Speaker:

In fact, it's so popular that, uh, EAA asked Pete, Hey, why don't you

Speaker:

become a vendor at Oshkosh and he has probably the biggest for first year.

Speaker:

It's probably one of the biggest, I don't know what you call it, eating locations.

Speaker:

Vendors on site.

Speaker:

they were doing the concession for, what was it, Hangar D.

Speaker:

Um,

Speaker:

Yeah,

Speaker:

the, the southwest side, uh, of the grounds.

Speaker:

And yeah, very prominent spot for sure.

Speaker:

Especially for a first time

Speaker:

and

Speaker:

you said.

Speaker:

at the restaurant, he's got, uh, the whole place is decked out.

Speaker:

I have some video.

Speaker:

We'll stick in here and they have the license plates and I thought it was

Speaker:

very, very cool when you went to the location on site and at Oshkosh and then

Speaker:

he'd put the license plate in there as well, kind of the same vibe going on.

Speaker:

Um, but, you know, night one, I'm sitting in the restaurant.

Speaker:

It takes forever to get your food.

Speaker:

So having a cocktail and.

Speaker:

Taking some pictures and the guy next to me starts yelling.

Speaker:

What are you a tourist?

Speaker:

Like, of course, we're all tourists for this week and Ended up, you know chatting

Speaker:

with probably four or five different groups of people and at the end of dinner

Speaker:

you've got plans for the next day to go watch the air show at this person's

Speaker:

chalet and It's just a snowball effect.

Speaker:

So I think I ended up Spending most of my time, I went to KidVenture,

Speaker:

that was fantastic, uh, went to the museum, went to the gala,

Speaker:

can't, we can't forget the, the Wednesday night air show too.

Speaker:

It's just spectacular.

Speaker:

the night show.

Speaker:

drones.

Speaker:

Um, Yeah,

Speaker:

Oh,

Speaker:

like

Speaker:

that,

Speaker:

level now.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

they were way off, if you're looking at the runway, they were way off

Speaker:

to the left, and the drones just kept, Bonking into each other and

Speaker:

you could see him falling down.

Speaker:

I think we talked about that before, but, uh, you know, it's, it was

Speaker:

their first year and now to see what the drones can do, it's incredible.

Speaker:

It's really amazing.

Speaker:

Be walking around

Speaker:

Yeah, there were.

Speaker:

even other nights and then you'd look up and you go, Oh, they got the drones up and

Speaker:

making all kinds of shapes and animations.

Speaker:

And so yeah, it's, it's amazing.

Speaker:

I was looking at, this is off topic, but, uh, San Diego Comic Con, I was

Speaker:

looking at some videos of that, and they had the drones there too, and

Speaker:

it's unbelievable what they're doing.

Speaker:

They're taking the Marvel comics and, you know, in 3D, they're just creating.

Speaker:

Wolverine or whatever in the sky.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Um,

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

And of course,

Speaker:

yeah, those were good fireworks

Speaker:

Like

Speaker:

at Oshkosh.

Speaker:

you know, you got all these fighter jets flying around and we, we haven't even

Speaker:

mentioned the snowbirds yet from Canada.

Speaker:

It was there.

Speaker:

I think it was like the hundredth anniversary of military aviation

Speaker:

for Canada or something like that.

Speaker:

um, so the snowbirds were there.

Speaker:

That was pretty interesting.

Speaker:

They have cute little jets, but there's a lot of them and they fly really close

Speaker:

together and they are very precise.

Speaker:

So it's really impressive.

Speaker:

And I was assured that those are not RC.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

That there's really people in them flying.

Speaker:

They do kind of

Speaker:

That's my favorite snowbird joke.

Speaker:

But they looked great and then they brought their F 18 in.

Speaker:

Their F 18 always has a killer paint job.

Speaker:

And flew formation, um, with, with him.

Speaker:

And I did notice, I took some pictures of it, I believe, too.

Speaker:

Um, but I did notice that when the snowbirds were flying, the

Speaker:

show line had to be different.

Speaker:

And we know that the Blue Angels cannot fly at the show because there's locals

Speaker:

who won't leave their house, which means that the box has to be smaller

Speaker:

or moved in a different location.

Speaker:

I think that's what happened with the snowbirds.

Speaker:

Yeah, but they were able to fly because they just moved

Speaker:

the show line, uh, to the west.

Speaker:

Um, little less room out on the flight line, you know, than normal.

Speaker:

Uh, but I guess they were able to make it big enough just by doing

Speaker:

it, by moving it on that one side.

Speaker:

So, thankfully, because then we got to see them.

Speaker:

Although

Speaker:

at,

Speaker:

the Blue Angels and, um, the Thunderbirds who, who don't come often to Oshkosh,

Speaker:

at least part of the official show, but they both made appearances this weekend.

Speaker:

I don't know if you caught that, but a couple of

Speaker:

I did not.

Speaker:

uh, um, the Thunderbirds came by one time.

Speaker:

I think it was just one of the solos or maybe it was both solos,

Speaker:

but I only saw one at a time came by and did a few flybys and so on.

Speaker:

They were.

Speaker:

then later in the week, I think all six, maybe even seven, including

Speaker:

the media plane, uh, kind of all came and did a little bit of an

Speaker:

impromptu show without landing.

Speaker:

And they were, they were doing a weekend show in Milwaukee, which is

Speaker:

close by, especially in an, in an F 16.

Speaker:

so they came by and made an appearance, but the blue angels did as well.

Speaker:

They had a show in Fargo, North Dakota, and they came by.

Speaker:

I don't remember if it was, I think it might've been Thursday.

Speaker:

They showed up in the afternoon and, uh, flew around a little bit too.

Speaker:

So even though, even though they're not officially there as

Speaker:

part of the acts, those guys try and make an appearance at Oshkosh.

Speaker:

I mean, why wouldn't you?

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

I mean, Nice.

Speaker:

why, I mean, why wouldn't you, you know, that when they're picking

Speaker:

their, their air shows, they want to pick the one closest to

Speaker:

They want to,

Speaker:

Oshkosh so they can come in.

Speaker:

Maybe we

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

if you will.

Speaker:

So that was

Speaker:

cool.

Speaker:

I've, I've seen them do that a few years too.

Speaker:

That's fun.

Speaker:

Yeah, I had

Speaker:

Oh, what else was,

Speaker:

because I didn't realize the Thunderbirds were coming.

Speaker:

And, and I'm like looking up going, wait a minute.

Speaker:

That's one of the F 16s in the Thunderbirds.

Speaker:

You can tell because they've got the Thunderbird painted on the bottom.

Speaker:

Like very distinctive.

Speaker:

uh, so yeah, it kind of surprised me.

Speaker:

And then I found out that, yep, they're making appearances.

Speaker:

They're close by.

Speaker:

So pretty cool.

Speaker:

That's awesome.

Speaker:

Yeah, that's,

Speaker:

Well, it was definitely a good AirVenture and I will say the worst

Speaker:

part about AirVenture is Saturday night.

Speaker:

Sunday morning, and EAA did a really good post on their social, and it

Speaker:

was just all the planes flying out.

Speaker:

Definitely go look at EAA on Facebook or Instagram or wherever

Speaker:

you choose to look at social media.

Speaker:

But it was just all these different airplanes flying out, and you, you

Speaker:

really get the gist of just how cool.

Speaker:

Incredible.

Speaker:

It is.

Speaker:

They, I mean, they have anyone from Doc to like a little 150, you know,

Speaker:

just different warbirds going out.

Speaker:

It was, it was the departure of all the most Switch in airplanes that

Speaker:

you could imagine and so sad to see everybody leave But they did a really

Speaker:

cute post that says it's not goodbye.

Speaker:

It's see you later

Speaker:

Yep.

Speaker:

See ya!

Speaker:

But that that is definitely the saddest part about Oshkosh is if you're

Speaker:

there on a Sunday And you watch all the campsites slowly start thinning

Speaker:

out and all the planes departing

Speaker:

gonna ask you Tiffany, have you ever closed out Oshkosh?

Speaker:

Have you ever been there through at least Sunday night?

Speaker:

I have, and it's depressing,

Speaker:

It is depressing.

Speaker:

It's so weird.

Speaker:

cool.

Speaker:

so weird because yeah, everybody's leaving and things are taken down and

Speaker:

Camp Scholler empties, the North 40 empties, just feels like you're already

Speaker:

kind of something, but I guess like EAA said, it's not, it's, it's not goodbye.

Speaker:

It's just see you later.

Speaker:

So

Speaker:

Cat's like, you're the last one at the party.

Speaker:

exactly.

Speaker:

But that's why we love it because they're cool airplanes flying away,

Speaker:

but it's the people flying away in them that we miss and, always look

Speaker:

forward to getting back together.

Speaker:

you Oshkosh, it's such a, it's such an amazing family.

Speaker:

of aviators and enthusiasts that get together.

Speaker:

And, my wife calls them my, my, you know, all the friends I meet up, meet up with,

Speaker:

she calls them my imaginary friends most of them she hasn't met, which I think

Speaker:

That's

Speaker:

of funny, but yeah, I

Speaker:

pretty good.

Speaker:

wait to, to meet up with my imaginary friends at Oshkosh, uh, every year

Speaker:

and anytime that we can get together.

Speaker:

And that's, that's really what it's about.

Speaker:

But speaking of

Speaker:

I did take a picture of you working at the booth, so that you could

Speaker:

send it to your wife, so she knew you were actually working.

Speaker:

You weren't just making an excuse to get down there.

Speaker:

right.

Speaker:

what Tiffany's mentioning is that I did spend three days working, um,

Speaker:

at Lightspeed's booth with them.

Speaker:

Great people.

Speaker:

I had a wonderful time talking about my favorite movie.

Speaker:

My favorite aviation, headsets um, about all the innovative things that

Speaker:

they're doing to, to current customers, prospective customers, and so on.

Speaker:

So that, that was really fun.

Speaker:

had a good time meeting a whole bunch of people.

Speaker:

And, uh, we met some people that, um, hopefully we're going to bring on, uh,

Speaker:

the flight line podcast here pretty soon.

Speaker:

There's always just such interesting people that you run

Speaker:

into at a place like Oshkosh.

Speaker:

And so I want to help bring some of those stories to you and

Speaker:

everybody's got their amazing stories.

Speaker:

But speaking of the sad, you know, Sunday afternoon, everything's shutting down.

Speaker:

Were there any things, that you wish that you could have gotten to

Speaker:

that you didn't at this Oshkosh?

Speaker:

Cause I've got a list.

Speaker:

I've been so many times that for the most part, it's, I really enjoy walking around,

Speaker:

looking at the planes, watching the show, catching up with friends, et cetera.

Speaker:

Yeah,

Speaker:

But did I miss anything?

Speaker:

I don't, I don't know if I missed anything per se, probably

Speaker:

because it's such a whirlwind.

Speaker:

know.

Speaker:

I will say what I missed is being on site.

Speaker:

This year, I was in a hotel the last couple of years and an Airbnb,

Speaker:

and I did not make it on site until afternoon

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

each day, which was nice because you have air conditioning.

Speaker:

I, you know, get some work done in the morning, take some calls on the drive in.

Speaker:

But, uh, one thing I really.

Speaker:

Missed I guess I don't think this is exactly what you were asking is I miss

Speaker:

waking up in the morning and Walking out of the tent or an RV and you're

Speaker:

just there you can hear everybody flying You go, you know, the showers

Speaker:

are great as we've discussed at Oshkosh

Speaker:

That you're always meeting different people in the bathrooms or you know,

Speaker:

just while you're out there washing your hair and whatnot Not that you're

Speaker:

washing your hair together But, uh, yeah, some of my favorite memories

Speaker:

from Oshkosh are definitely being in a tent and, you know, coming back to the,

Speaker:

your campsite at the end of the day and watching all the planes fly around.

Speaker:

I think most days after the air show, I had something else going

Speaker:

on that pulled me off site.

Speaker:

And so I didn't really get that sunset at Oshkosh with everyone just.

Speaker:

Buzzing around and I miss that.

Speaker:

Yep.

Speaker:

Not only Tiffany was that exactly what I was asking about,

Speaker:

but I had that on my list too.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Because I also stayed off site in an Airbnb this time and, I

Speaker:

think it's my second time doing that, and I really, really prefer,

Speaker:

like you said, to be on site.

Speaker:

And as far as weather went, I mean, this was one of the best

Speaker:

Oshkoshes I've ever been to as far as

Speaker:

Oh,

Speaker:

It was

Speaker:

my

Speaker:

so

Speaker:

gosh.

Speaker:

It was glorious.

Speaker:

rarely got hot, and it was, and even when it did feel a little warm, it was

Speaker:

only when you were in direct sunlight.

Speaker:

You'd get in the shade, and, I mean, there were a bunch of times this time

Speaker:

where I wished I had a sweatshirt.

Speaker:

Which of course I didn't

Speaker:

Mm hmm.

Speaker:

like, why would you bring a sweatshirt to Oshkosh?

Speaker:

But yeah, I wish I had a sweatshirt.

Speaker:

so as far as weather goes, it was great.

Speaker:

We had one rainy day slash afternoon, but it didn't even, it just

Speaker:

postponed the air show a little bit.

Speaker:

Nothing got canceled.

Speaker:

They just went to 630 instead of six or seven instead of 630.

Speaker:

I can't remember exactly, but, um, but yeah, the weather was,

Speaker:

the weather was fantastic and I really do prefer being on site.

Speaker:

Same reasons Tiffany said and so hopefully that's how we'll do.

Speaker:

We'll experience more of it.

Speaker:

were a couple of

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I mean, if you're on site not to keep going on to this one, but it really

Speaker:

it's the best when you're on site in the afternoon, you've got a Midwest sunset.

Speaker:

It's usually gorgeous.

Speaker:

Um, you're out there amongst like.

Speaker:

I'm from California.

Speaker:

You're from Arizona.

Speaker:

So green everywhere, which is so beautiful.

Speaker:

And then, yeah, you've got the sky, not the sky typers, but the sky writer

Speaker:

upwriting EAA or whatever his message is.

Speaker:

That's so much fun just to kick back in a hammock or something and watch that.

Speaker:

And then, um, Uh, everybody's barbecuing, you know, everyone's just hanging

Speaker:

out barbecuing and you're, you're one word away from being someone's friend,

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So even though I was staying off site, I was closing down the gray lot Where

Speaker:

I parked every day and I, I would usually walk out to my loan rental car.

Speaker:

And it was a Jeep, actually my lone Jeep sitting out there by itself late at night.

Speaker:

I would go back to the Airbnb and then I would get up as early as I could and get

Speaker:

back out there and park in the gray lot and spend the rest of the day in Oshkosh.

Speaker:

And, um, so it worked out okay, but it's just not the same as waking up, you

Speaker:

know, under the path of the ultra lights or something like that in Schuller.

Speaker:

Um, Um, so,

Speaker:

but and you forget to that at the end of the day, there's so much

Speaker:

activity going on in the campgrounds.

Speaker:

Yep.

Speaker:

There's the, uh, movie theater that you can go to the fly in theater.

Speaker:

There's different talks are going on and

Speaker:

I know.

Speaker:

I know.

Speaker:

And those are all those things that I always wish I get more of.

Speaker:

experienced them before, but I always wish I get more of those.

Speaker:

And never, there's never enough time to experience everything at Oshkosh.

Speaker:

Um, like I've been wanting for a couple of years to be able to go to the

Speaker:

Hypoxia Chamber and experience Hypoxia.

Speaker:

Still haven't done that.

Speaker:

So that's something I kind of wish I would have.

Speaker:

And this year, um, Osh 24, I didn't make it, I didn't even make it out

Speaker:

to the Seaplane Base, which is one of my favorite places in all of Oshkosh,

Speaker:

and never had a chance to go out.

Speaker:

So that's, that's another one that sort of disappointed about.

Speaker:

I know you did.

Speaker:

I did day one.

Speaker:

It was, that's so pretty.

Speaker:

Although, one thing I told myself next year I'm going to do is

Speaker:

go out there in the evening.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

the tiki torches and the fire pit.

Speaker:

And it's just, it's, as you walk through in the afternoon, it's

Speaker:

just begging you to like, just come

Speaker:

stay.

Speaker:

watch me, you know, see what I look like at night.

Speaker:

hmm.

Speaker:

So beautiful.

Speaker:

Someday.

Speaker:

I saw the albatross hanging out and he took off right as we were rolling up.

Speaker:

So that was cool.

Speaker:

cool.

Speaker:

Someday, it's on my bucket list to arrive and depart.

Speaker:

the seaplane base.

Speaker:

So someday I'll do that.

Speaker:

I hear it's a lot more chill to do the seaplane base than to do

Speaker:

the arrival at Whitman Field.

Speaker:

So, um, yeah, bucket list item.

Speaker:

Someday.

Speaker:

Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker:

That would be great.

Speaker:

Cool.

Speaker:

Yeah, significantly less busy than the main airport.

Speaker:

Exactly.

Speaker:

And it's like valet service.

Speaker:

You just pull your plane up to the dock, get your stuff out.

Speaker:

And got a boat where they tug your plane out and tie it off

Speaker:

for you somewhere out there.

Speaker:

Doesn't get

Speaker:

Oh my God, it was so beautiful out there.

Speaker:

than valet service on your seaplane.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

So

Speaker:

to camp too, I think, if you, if

Speaker:

agreed.

Speaker:

you had that opportunity.

Speaker:

It's a little bit more mellow.

Speaker:

Got to try it someday.

Speaker:

Well, it like, like you said at the top of this episode,

Speaker:

another successful air venture.

Speaker:

Um, it's just so amazing to see everyone and, and see everyone get back together.

Speaker:

So, we'll give you a bit more information and recap in our next episode.

Speaker:

Uh, we'll go into some details and then we have some stuff coming up as, as

Speaker:

we mentioned before, um, that'll dive into some of these innovations that

Speaker:

we've been seeing, uh, around aviation.

Speaker:

So, But that's kind of the

Speaker:

Yeah, and I think we have some, yeah, we have some pretty good guests

Speaker:

lined up, but just, I don't know why nobody wanted to get right onto

Speaker:

a podcast the day after Oshkosh.

Speaker:

Yeah, it's weird.

Speaker:

It's weird.

Speaker:

We're all exhausted.

Speaker:

don't know.

Speaker:

I'm exhausted.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I'm a little hoarse too.

Speaker:

losing my voice from all the talking and, and everything that, that I did.

Speaker:

So anyway, it's awesome.

Speaker:

It's awesome to get a chance to spend a few minutes and recap with you,

Speaker:

Tiffany, while it's all still fresh.

Speaker:

And, uh, we'll get some more of this stuff coming out.

Speaker:

That sounds good.

Speaker:

I'm going to cut some video and uh, share that as well.

Speaker:

I think it was, uh, pretty successful.

Speaker:

I got some bookstore videos.

Speaker:

So you, so everybody knows what I'm talking about.

Speaker:

Garment tent video.

Speaker:

So, you know, all the cool places to go, although they weren't.

Speaker:

Necessarily needed, but I did end up standing in front of the old

Speaker:

air conditioner at the bookstore.

Speaker:

That's a great spot.

Speaker:

It's so cool.

Speaker:

Right in front of the vintage airplane area, so you're just looking out and

Speaker:

they have like the old 1940 Fords sitting out there, some trucks,

Speaker:

and all the old antique airplanes.

Speaker:

So pretty.

Speaker:

Awesome.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

until next week's episode, we appreciate you guys watching and or listening and

Speaker:

we'll see you on the flight line later.

Speaker:

Sounds good.

Speaker:

Thanks for watching or listening.

Speaker:

Bye everybody.

Speaker:

Goodbye.

About the Podcast

Show artwork for Flight Line Podcast
Flight Line Podcast
A General Interest Aviation Podcast for All of Us

About your hosts

Profile picture for Tiffany Wolf

Tiffany Wolf

With a unique blend of aviation expertise and a passion for adventure, Tiffany brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to The Flight Line Podcast. Holding a private pilot's license and an instrument rating, Tiffany started flying in college and has continued to build her knowledge and experience in aviation.

In addition to her flying credentials, Tiffany is also a skipper on a power boat, constantly traveling and exploring new places. Her active lifestyle and social nature allow her to bring a wide range of diverse stories and perspectives to the podcast.

She is driven by her love for learning and connecting with people. On The Flight Line Podcast, she focuses on creating engaging topics and hosting guests who bring unique perspectives and fascinating stories.
Profile picture for Bill Williams

Bill Williams

Bill is a papa, a pilot, a geek, a diver, a sailor, a motorcycle rider, and a podcaster. He brings a long if sometimes interrupted history with both aviation and podcasting, along with passion for both to his podcasts. Currently working on his CFI, Bill is dedicated to advancing his skills and sharing his love of flying with others.

Bill hosts the popular Student Pilot Cast where he shares his flight training with the world, bringing the listener into the cockpit and more frighteningly, into his head, to share in the triumphs and the defeats of perpetually learning the art and science of flying.

More recently Bill is also co-hosting the Flight Line Podcast with Tiffany Wolf as they reunite after having been co-hosts on the reborn Pilotcast podcast in the earlier days of aviation podcasting.