14th Annual N40 "H.O.P.S. Party" Invitation

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Thanks Jay and Mary - although I was late for the party (24h even) the hospitality and company was great.. All the best..
Mike
 
Thanks, Jay and Mary! Had a great time and it was nice to finally meet some PoA folks in person!
 
Thanks, Mary and Jay.

It was nice meeting with all of the other people who were so friendly.

I will be back next year.
 
texasag93 said:
I was staying in the dorms and I took my sixer in. I had it iced and ready to drink when I got there.
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Well, we found an alternate entrance they don't bag check at. Been going through that gate since! Significantly faster walk in from the bus now.
 
Where? I walked in from where the bus dropped me off from the dorms. Long walk, but I had cold beer.
 
mkosmo said:
Well, we found an alternate entrance they don't bag check at. Been going through that gate since! Significantly faster walk in from the bus now.
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mkosmo said:
Staying in the dorms. Can't bring beer in the front gate.
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Sheesh. Dorm bus drops you off at the bus barn. Get on the (free) green flag tram. Drives you right through the gate. All everybody on the bus does is raise their wristband and NOBODY is going to stop a tram full of people to examine backpacks, coolers, shopping bags, and the like.

Just gotta learn how to game the system.

Jim
 
weirdjim said:
Sheesh. Dorm bus drops you off at the bus barn. Get on the (free) green flag tram. Drives you right through the gate. All everybody on the bus does is raise their wristband and NOBODY is going to stop a tram full of people to examine backpacks, coolers, shopping bags, and the like.

Just gotta learn how to game the system.

Jim
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Figured that one out later. This was only my second go, so I didn't have the trams entirely figured out. Plus, you're the first person to actually give me a comprehensive answer to that question
 
And just like that, it's all over.

Sorry I got to the shindig too late to meet anyone. We got into OSH much later than anticipated. After getting camp set up, finding something to eat, and walking to 3 different Texas flags (Texans love to make sure everyone knows they're from Texas), we found the HOPS party grounds completely devoid of partiers at 11pm. Oh well, maybe next year. Anyway, it was nice to meet Jay, Mary, and the two kids the following day along with Biggles.
 
OkieFlyer said:
And just like that, it's all over.

Sorry I got to the shindig too late to meet anyone. We got into OSH much later than anticipated. After getting camp set up, finding something to eat, and walking to 3 different Texas flags (Texans love to make sure everyone knows they're from Texas), we found the HOPS party grounds completely devoid of partiers at 11pm. Oh well, maybe next year. Anyway, it was nice to meet Jay, Mary, and the two kids the following day along with Biggles.
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Sorry about that.

One thing you will find out about OSH is that, after a 12 hour day on the flight line that started at 6 AM (when the B-25s went off 100' from your tent), parties end earlier than normal.

We walked an average of 7 miles per day for seven straight days. That's a lot, for people creeping up on 60. Every night we shared beers with dozens of people -- but the partying petered out around 10, from sheer exhaustion.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Sorry about that.

One thing you will find out about OSH is that, after a 12 hour day on the flight line that started at 6 AM (when the B-25s went off 100' from your tent), parties end earlier than normal.

We walked an average of 7 miles per day for seven straight days. That's a lot, for people creeping up on 60. Every night we shared beers with dozens of people -- but the partying petered out around 10, from sheer exhaustion.
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Wimps! I was up until 3 multiple nights. Haha.
 
denverpilot said:
Wimps! I was up until 3 multiple nights. Haha.
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Says the guy sleeping in a feather bed in my grampa's motorhome out in Camp Squalor...

When that B-25 goes off 100' from my tent at 6 AM, there ain't no further sleeping...even with ear plugs and eye shades. And I would not have it any other way.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Says the guy sleeping in a feather bed in my grampa's motorhome out in Camp Squalor...
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Hehehe. You should have hung out and enjoyed the fire pit. It was divine. ;)

It's well worth dragging the fifth wheel out there for anything longer than a couple of nights!
 
denverpilot said:
Hehehe. You should have hung out and enjoyed the fire pit. It was divine. ;)

It's well worth dragging the fifth wheel out there for anything longer than a couple of nights!
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We would normally love that (and often do, at the beach) -- but Oshkosh isn't the place for it, for us.

OSH is airplanes and aviation. It's why the worst part of my "tequila at Grant's" debacle four years ago wasn't the drunk, or even the hangover (which was epic) -- it was missing the entire next day of aviation saturation.

I figure we only get a finite (and dwindling) number of days at Oshkosh. Every moment is therefore precious!

And, besides -- I can't sleep after the B-25! lol

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I'm sorry I missed it but at the last minute we found out we needed to help Snowbird 10 (the aircraft) and the two "DD's" Naughty and Sticky (Snowbird 10 and 11) put their plane on static display in Vintage (it is a 1964 after all, Margy and I had suggested this back months ago to them). We helped them set up their tents so they could camp with their aircraft. They watched the night airshow there and the we all headed back to "Camp Wino" for a while.

What this led into was trully amazing. Naughty asked about the "dots" on the runway which led to an explanation of the VFR arrival procedures. I offered to let them fly with me in the Navion to see that first hand and Naughty immediately agreed. Another volunteer/Navion owner offered to take Sticky up and so Saturday morning we were flying formation with the Snowbirds, albeit in our own Navions. After a quick trip over to Wapaca for a single landing practice, we made Sticky and Naughty fly the arrival and Naughty at least planted it nicely on the yellow dot.

Alas, they could not reciprocate and take me flying in the Tudor, but they did take me over to where they were parked and let me sit in the left seat for a while.
 
flyingron said:
Alas, they could not reciprocate and take me flying in the Tudor, but they did take me over to where they were parked and let me sit in the left seat for a while.
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Did they pull the pins first? ;):D
 
mscard88 said:
Did they pull the pins first? ;):D
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We used the CO's ship. There are twelve tudors in the compelment. Snowbird 1-9 are used in the show. 10 and 11 (the double digits) are for the announcers/advance team. The skipper flies an unnumbered ship. His wasn't pinned on the ramp when we got there.

If you watched carefully in Friday's airshow, you noted that Snowbird 5 took a bird strike and returned to land. The rest did an 8 ship show for a few minutes until Snowbird 5 came up in Snowbird 10's plane to continue.
 
I'm talking about the seat pins, if that jet even has an ejection seat. ;)
 
Jay Honeck said:
Sorry about that.

One thing you will find out about OSH is that, after a 12 hour day on the flight line that started at 6 AM (when the B-25s went off 100' from your tent), parties end earlier than normal.

We walked an average of 7 miles per day for seven straight days. That's a lot, for people creeping up on 60. Every night we shared beers with dozens of people -- but the partying petered out around 10, from sheer exhaustion.
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No worries. I'm just sorry I missed out.
 
flyingron said:
I'm sorry I missed it but at the last minute we found out we needed to help Snowbird 10 (the aircraft) and the two "DD's" Naughty and Sticky (Snowbird 10 and 11) put their plane on static display in Vintage (it is a 1964 after all, Margy and I had suggested this back months ago to them). We helped them set up their tents so they could camp with their aircraft. They watched the night airshow there and the we all headed back to "Camp Wino" for a while.

What this led into was trully amazing. Naughty asked about the "dots" on the runway which led to an explanation of the VFR arrival procedures. I offered to let them fly with me in the Navion to see that first hand and Naughty immediately agreed. Another volunteer/Navion owner offered to take Sticky up and so Saturday morning we were flying formation with the Snowbirds, albeit in our own Navions. After a quick trip over to Wapaca for a single landing practice, we made Sticky and Naughty fly the arrival and Naughty at least planted it nicely on the yellow dot.

Alas, they could not reciprocate and take me flying in the Tudor, but they did take me over to where they were parked and let me sit in the left seat for a while.
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Dear Ron, you suck.
Love,
PoA

flyingron said:
We used the CO's ship. There are twelve tudors in the compelment. Snowbird 1-9 are used in the show. 10 and 11 (the double digits) are for the announcers/advance team. The skipper flies an unnumbered ship. His wasn't pinned on the ramp when we got there.

If you watched carefully in Friday's airshow, you noted that Snowbird 5 took a bird strike and returned to land. The rest did an 8 ship show for a few minutes until Snowbird 5 came up in Snowbird 10's plane to continue.
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Ahh so it was a bird strike. I think that's one of the smoothest transitions from dropping a team member to having them land, get another jet, and rejoin to finish the show that I've ever seen.

Friday was a bad day for the airshow. Snowbird 5 gets whacked, the F-16 drops out after two turns and calls it a day, and the Mars makes a precautionary landing after an (unknown to me) engine problem and struck something in the water puncturing the hull, and Soucy sets his airplane on fire with pyro.

Having four showcase aircraft go down with mechanicals must be some kind of record for all the years I've listened in to the Air Boss. And I missed Soucy but Jay caught it and shared.

But the show went on...

The Jack Links airplane just makes me giggle like a little kid.
 
mscard88 said:
I'm talking about the seat pins, if that jet even has an ejection seat. ;)
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I understood. The tudors indeed have ejection seats. Naughty's plane (#10) was ready to fly and the seats armed. The CO's ship, not intending to fly (either in the show proper or to be used as backup that day) was not so that's the one I got to play around in. Attached is a picture
 

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Hey -- did anyone take pix at the HOPS party that they can share?

Incredibly, there were two guys in attendance from our very first (and 2nd, 3rd, and 4th) Oshkosh, whom we had not seen in THIRTY YEARS -- and I stupidly never took a picture with them.

Mary remembers several people taking pix. I'm hoping someone captured a shot of our old friends? Thanks!
 
I dropped off my beer contribution and we'll be over there before the night show starts!
 
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