First-Timers, Old-Timers, and Repeat Arrivals

Ed Somers and Steve Berkley are attending their first ever AirVenture. They are both members of the A&E Flying Club at Hawthorne Airport in California near Los Angeles. They arrived in the North Forty campground on Friday after 15 hours of flying.

Their first flight to Oshkosh was a little longer than planned since they had to avoid some thunderstorms near Salt Lake. "But ATC did a good job," said Steve. "They give good headings that threaded us between them no problem."

The red, white, and blue Cessna they flew is a 1980 Hawk XP which belongs to their club. Ed explains that an XP is a Skylane airframe with a 195 HP Continental engine. "It's basically a 130 knot Skyhawk," he says.

The club owns the XP, two Skyhawks, a Cardinal, and they are considering adding a fifth plane. At A&E the members do alot of the airplane upkeep themselves. "We meet once a month and spend the day cleaning and caring for the fleet," says Ed. "A few of the members are A&P Mechanics," says Ed, "so they watch what everyone is doing and make sure it's all OK."

Both men say they are better and more comfortable pilots since they've become so involved with the maintenance of the planes.

Although this is his first time to Oshkosh, Ed has been flying since the mid 70s. He is the president of A&E which has 50 members, the maximum allowed by club rules. His predecessor as president retired from the position when he won a seat on the Hawthorne City Council, adding a crucial pro-aviation vote in Hawthorne's recently resolved airport closure controversy.

At this year's AirVenture, Ed is looking forward to the Forums. "The problem is," he says, "there are so many that I'd like to attend, that are on at the same time as another equally good one."

He's particularly interested in welding and engine maintenance sessions. He says he can apply that new knowledge to the club's fleet back home. Steve is interested in learning about turbine conversion kits.

Ron MacEwan has been attending AirVenture since 1971. He remembers back to when he first started attending that the North Forty used to be working farmland which was harvested just before the fly-in. "We'd park our airplanes and camp out here among all the hay stubble." He remembers when the campground shuttle was a tractor pulling a hay wagon.

Ron flies in from Smiths Falls Airport. That's about 50 miles southwest of Ottawa, Ontario. He came to AirVenture in his 1974 Cessna 182, which he's owned since since 1981. Normally it's a six hour flight, but this year he had an in-flight emergency.

On the trip here, soon after flying into IFC, his alternator failed. It was the result of an apparent belt problem. He calmly shut down all but one radio and the transponder, and declared an emergency. ATC directed him to Toronto International, where he landed uneventfully. As luck would have it he was able to get a new belt installed quickly. He arrived in Oshkosh only two hours behind schedule.

Ron comes back to AirVenture each year because it's so well organized, and for the great people he meets here. "I go home an tell friends that there are 300,000 people here, yet there's not a gum wrapper or can on the ground. The have a hard time believing that."

Bert Damstra arrived at AirVenture this year on Friday... twice! First he flew across Lake Michigan from his home in Grand Rapids, with his 16 year old son Aaron. After arriving he met up with friends who had driven over in their motor-home. He flew them back home so they could return with their own plane, and Bert flew back, arriving for the second time.

Bert's been to AirVenture for 14 consecutive years. Originally he would stay for only a couple of days. But a few years back his son got him to start volunteering. Now he arrives early each year, goes to the volunteer booth and asks for a job. He's worked the flight-line, swept parking lots, staffed a ticket booth, and acted as a Greeter.

"Last year I got to drive a steamroller for a few days. That was fun."

He flies a white & burgundy 1966 Navion Rangemaster. He originally started flying 30 years ago, but gave it up for awhile. "Then I started up again about 14 years ago."

He bought his current Navion in 1996. Before that he'd owned a 1947 Navion which was painted in warbird colors. He brought it here to Oshkosh one year, put a For Sale sign on it, and quickly had two offers.

Son Aaron has many friends here at AirVenture who he stays in touch with throughout the year by email. Aaron is a student pilot and hopes to get his license by the time he's 17.
You can email Jack at atf@da4.com.