Jenny's Forum Tent... Computer-based judging... Changes everywhere... California Burger... Ornithopter & Vintage Engines.

Do you think that the folks who work at the fly-in every year get jaded? Nope. Just talk to Jenny Dyke, Chairman of EAA Forum Tent #9. "I've got this guy speaking in my tent on [Friday] who is 98 years old and still has his medical."

Ralph Charles worked for the Wright brothers in the 20s, has designed numerous airplanes, and is a gold mine of aviation stories. "I'd love to take him home and have him tell me stories every night," Jenny says.

According to Jenny, Charles is quite a character. His private strip lands down a hill to the bottom where he must veer to miss the barn, then roll up another hill to slow down. He makes no drawings of his designs. It's all in my head, he says, I think about it and I go do it.

Charles is speaking in EAA Forums Tent #9 on [Friday] at 1:00 p.m.

For the past three years the Homebuilt/Custombuilt judges have been recording scores and results, out on the field, using small handheld computers.

The project is spearheaded by Bob Reece, Chairman of Homebuilt/Custombuilt Judging, and an EAA National Director. Bob and his team of volunteer computer engineers created the software that lets judges enter their scores directly on computer using a "stylus" pen.

Every few hours the judges visit the judging headquarters where the scoring is transfered to a central database. From there the information is automatically compiled, and reports are created that show the progress of the judging process.

Using the earlier, paper-based system, says Reece, "we can no longer do all the judging in the available time." He says that the new system is four times as fast as the old one.

Even the most reluctant of old-timers are embracing the new system. One veteran judge was persuaded to try the new system alongside his old reliable ring-binder paper method. After a few hours the judge marched into the judging trailer, threw the old black binder across the trailer, and yelled, "I don't want to see that thing no more."

This year 3COM has become a corporate sponsor of AirVenture Oshkosh '98 and donated 100 of their Palm Pilot Pro handheld computers for the project, replacing the previous units. The other AirVenture judging groups, except for Warbirds, are sampling the system this year with the intention of adopting it fully next year.

Changes are eveywhere. The traditional Oshkosh fly-in admission badge buttons, that are made by the Antique/Classics Division have been updated to reflect the new fly-in look and logo. They now sport the AirVenture emblem with a bold 98 in the background.

The new buttons can be had for a dollar each at the Antique/Classic Red Barn east of the Theatre in the Woods.

Yes, we have no avocado. The food gets better every year. Clearly someone is thinking about the fly-in's food offerings and making improvements each year. But we would like to know what there is about a hamburger with cheese, onions, lettuce, and tomato that makes it a "California Burger"?

Would you ride an airplane with one of these things? Regular fly-in attendees will have seen the Ornithopter. It's the tongue-in-cheek, mostly wooden, wing-flapping, wing-walker-carrying, contraption that rolls around the grounds. Well the Ornithopter is the mascot for a more serious, historic exhibit of working, antique engines at the north edge of the big West Ramp.

Steve Hay, Jim Hay and Joe Kohli will tell you about the workings of four historic aircraft engines. The 1913 Gnome Rotary, the Henderson Engine, the 1902 Manly Engine and, our favorite, the 1903 Wright Engine.

You can not only look but touch too. "You can touch everything," says Steve. "We have rags," adds Joe.

When Steve fires up the 1903 Wright, and it starts belching smoke and going chunka-chunka, we found ourselves imagining what it was like that day 95 years ago on the sand dunes as the Wrights flew that fragile looking plane.

Sixty seconds later, when the engine finally coughs to a halt Steve says, "One minute. The length of the longest flight that day."