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What an Experience!!!


Tony__L

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Where do I start?  It is not easy to write a message like this without sounding disingenuous.  So please bear with me.  Oshkosh is something that I had heard about many times from friends that had been and experienced the event.  They all had grand and marvelous things to say about Airventure.  From the scale of the event to the variety of the planes attending, the airshows, the sheer number of the vendors and the people.  They were always impressed with the pure efficiency of the organisation of the event too.  When you listen to people go on like this you eventually form a mental picture of what to expect and so expectations are formed, should you ever go.  Well, those expectations were exceeded.  It really is mind blowing event that even by American standards must be BIG.

 

I had no real plans to attend Airventure, this year or any year in the near future either.  It was something I would do ‘one day’.  I had some friends from South Africa that were attending this year but that too was not enough to get me to go.  I had other priorities that needed my attention.  Now I must mention that I am quite passionate about Mooney aircraft.  I own one and therefore think it is the best plane ever designed or built, for my mission that is.  I am not an aviation nut in as much as I cannot tell the name, make, model and horse power of every aircraft I see.  However, I had recently read about the Mooney Caravan and how the crescendo of this organisation leads to a mass formation arrival at Oshkosh each year.  I thought this was cool, even though I had little interest in flying in formation.  I did however like the idea of arriving at Oshkosh by light aircraft one day as opposed to arriving on a bus.  And so my trip to Oshkosh this year began.  It started with an enquiry on MooneySpace about the possibility of a right hand seat for the arrival at Osh in the Caravan.  This is the point where a very special friendship started.  Rocketman jumped in very quickly and assured me that he could organize a ride, one way or the other he would make a plan.  I still was not convinced to go but started looking into flights from South Africa and forming a plan as to how the logistics would work out.  Clearly I was taking too long to commit and so Rocketman offered a sweetener to seal the deal and offered a ride from Granbury, Texas.  Clearly he is a good businessman as the deal was sealed and my flights booked!

 

Much happened between then and departing Granbury for the flight to Madison.  To say the least I was touched by offers from Flash, Bumble and Sandman to get me to Airventure when Rocketman had technical challenges with his rocket ship.  It is heartening to see the family of aviation at work, something that I continually experience here in South Africa too.  This is something that we as aviators need to hold on to as this is the fabric that will get us through many hurdles in the future and the bond of comradery that we will share with and impart to our children and families as we grow old.  This is something that people who do not participate in common interest activities, such as aviation and many sports, cannot adequately comprehend and understand.

 

Much that followed Rocketman and my departure from Granbury passed as a blur.  Some vivid memories are the shear flatness of the interior of the States, the extent of agriculture along the Mississippi, taking off and landing in formation for the first time, flying in formation and having a chance to pole the plane and get an introduction to formation flying, The mass departure from Madison and naturally the mass arrival at Airventure, camping with your plane (something I now plan to do myself) and spending time (not enough) with the Caravan bunch.

 

I cannot adequately express my gratitude and thanks to everyone that contributed to this experience and I could not remember all that deserve a mention.  However a few in particular bear mention; Rocketman for accommodating me and providing transport in Granbury and for the ride all the way to Oshkosh in his amazing plane and Pinto for the camping gear (that mattress is something special, go figure!).  To the rest of the Texas Wing bunch, thank you for making me feel like part of your group, you feel like an extended aviation family to me now!  To the Caravan family, thank you too for making me feel so welcome and at home.  You truly have something special.

 

To the non-leaders of the Caravan; you have a special and top notch team heading up the Caravan.  They put in a substantial effort to make this happen, all because they love Mooneys and formation flying and do not want either to fade away.  Take a moment to say thank you in person the next time you see one of them.

 

As for me, I now have two new challenges in aviation that I would like to pursue.  Firstly would be formation flying, it will be a challenge because of the number of Mooneys in our area, but I will do my best to get them together.  Secondly is an IF rating (I was amazed at how many of you have IF ratings!).  I will also be hanging a Texas Wing banner in my hangar and will wear both the Texas Wing and Mooney Caravan T-shirts and caps with pride!!!!

 

Cheers for now and hope to see you again sooner rather than later and hopefully out of the window of a Mooney with one of us tucked in tight!!!

 

Yours in aviation!

Striptease

PS:

We will have to work on that call sign as no one has believed the rationale behind that name yet ;-) – thanks Cowboy

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Glad you had a great time, Striptease! I attended AirVenture for the first time this year as well and although I was only there for two days, it was an extraordinary and unforgettable experience!

 

And, yes, it is amazing how flat the U.S. is, starting where I live in Denver and proceeding eastward to the Atlantic (except for the Appalachians). Always blows my mind when I head east. You probably also noticed the 1-mile by 1-mile grid laid out in the Midwest, an artifact of the Homestead Act.

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Nice report, Striptease.  I may not have been completely aware of my surroundings when you were handed your callsign (maybe Cowboy neither), but it was very nice to meet someone from South Africa.

 

Welcome to the Caravan.

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Thanks for the write-up and especially for the kind words, Striptease. Many people worked very hard over the last year to bring off "the best Caravan ever"--at least until the NEXT one! Hope to see you again and look forward to flying together sometime, here or on your continent. Joker

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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It WAS an amazing experience, educational, great people, superb pilots, beautiful airplanes, very well organized, and a lot of fun. Look for my take on it, and Bert's photos in the next General Aviation News. I commend mooneycaravan.com to every Mooney pilot, and suggest you think now about finding a formation flying clinic, so you can be honing the skills and enjoying the challenge and fun all year, until next July's Caravan.

 

"Scoop" :rolleyes:

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The above comments notwithstanding, the evolution of the Mooney Caravan is an example of what is right about aviation and AirVenture. We are a mix of regular and seasoned formation pilots and "newbies" that have acquired formation skills this past year. We take flying very seriously and learn from all observations of our personal and group performance. We take what we learn and apply it to training and the execution of the next mission. Most newbies determine that they really want to excel at formation skills and become involved in recurrent training and formation get-togethers throughout the year and across the continent. As side effect of formation training and flying is improved situation awareness, aircraft control and professional attitude.

Formation flying is serious business. BUT, we have a lot of fun in the process. The time spent together in the Caravan experience will foster life long friendships and associations. It is amazing how there is a "band of brothers and sisters" across the continent that one can rely on for assistance if needed. The social aspect of our life in the North 40 aircraft camping is unique and unparalleled. When it is over, I look forward to doing it again next year.

To steal a motto from the Red Star Pilot Association: "Serious Business-Serious Fun".

Cowboy

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My take on this fascinating experience is briefly recounted in the just-published GA News, with photos by my no.1 son.  It's online now at generalaviationnews.com, and will presumably appear in the upcoming print version. Hope I got it right, and didn't commit any journalistic faux pas in my excitement. If so, mark it up to antiquity, and as we say here in Nawth Cahlina, "Bless Her Heart. :unsure: " I see the editor did not see fit to include "Scoop" in my byline as submitted.

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My take on this fascinating experience is briefly recounted in the just-published GA News, with photos by my no.1 son.  It's online now at generalaviationnews.com, and will presumably appear in the upcoming print version. Hope I got it right, and didn't commit any journalistic faux pas in my excitement. If so, mark it up to antiquity, and as we say here in Nawth Cahlina, "Bless Her Heart. :unsure: " I see the editor did not see fit to include "Scoop" in my byline as submitted.

 

Nice scoop Scoop. An observation, there was 39 planes in the caravan, not 29.  ;) 

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I just got the photo taken by Mooney International staff following our debrief.  I am attaching it here.  It is much lower resolution than the folks at Mooney sent me, but the site would not allow me to upload even the half size (resolution) one.

 

Keep in mind that this photo is Copyright Mooney International, 2015.  All rights reserved.  post-7155-0-46874200-1438792922_thumb.jp

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