An Aussie for Oshkosh

metalman

metalman

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metalman
Hi all, I'm starting to give a bit of thought to Oshkosh next year, my Dad lives in Chicago and I would be starting out at his location, just after some local info and advice, would it be easy to rent a plane in the Chicago area for the few days at Oshkosh? Are there many taildraggers online and where would be a good start?
Any comments appreciated,
cheers Mat
 
metalman said:
Hi all, I'm starting to give a bit of thought to Oshkosh next year, my Dad lives in Chicago and I would be starting out at his location, just after some local info and advice, would it be easy to rent a plane in the Chicago area for the few days at Oshkosh? Are there many taildraggers online and where would be a good start?
Any comments appreciated,
cheers Mat
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There is a Champ for rent at Clow that might work for you. You can call them at 630-759-1555 to enquire. If it's available, you'd need a fuel stop along the way.
 
If you are going to rent a plane for Osh, what I would suggest is getting reservations on 2-3 planes booked for that time slot at least a few MONTHS ahead of time. It's not like Aus where lots of people will rent their planes out. Here it's mostly just flight schools and their schedules get booked on weeks in advance which makes it very difficult. The choice of planes for rent isn't as varied as in Aus either. I used to be able to rent anything from a Tiger Moth to a Navajo there. Here, you may find yourself relegated to a 172 or Warrior if you want to take it by yourself and for a few days. Tailwheel planes are very difficult to rent solo because of the insurance, but if you have enough TW time it may be possible. When it gets within a day or two of the event, call the other 2 people and cancel. Don't cancel too early because the chance of you ending up without a plane due to maintenance issues.

I used to live in Ringwood East and fly out of Lillydale, Cold Spring and Moorabin.
 
Thanks for the replies, I'll have to have a look around on the net and get organized . I am flying out of Lilydale and Coldstream at the moment but we're down to about 400 metres (of about 1200) because of the rain at YLIL , I'm going to be hangaring my Skyfox (aussie kitfox copy) at YLIL unless I can get into a little private strip just near our place( Cockatoo) ,and I also have an Rv6 I'm building which is a while away yet. I have a mate who's in Ringwood, what sort of work were you doing here?
cheers Mat
 
I have a rellie in Adelaide, sister. Will get back down there... some day
 
metalman said:
Thanks for the replies, I'll have to have a look around on the net and get organized . I am flying out of Lilydale and Coldstream at the moment but we're down to about 400 metres (of about 1200) because of the rain at YLIL , I'm going to be hangaring my Skyfox (aussie kitfox copy) at YLIL unless I can get into a little private strip just near our place( Cockatoo) ,and I also have an Rv6 I'm building which is a while away yet. I have a mate who's in Ringwood, what sort of work were you doing here?
cheers Mat
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I worked for a Stainless Fabrication shop and Cobra Aircraft, You know Tommy?
 
djpacro said:
We should think about a plan something like I buy a Clipped Wing Cub about that time?
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love to DP ,I was hoping to make enough dosh just to get me and the bride there,,,still if I leave her at home I might be able to get another plane,,and then I could live in it when i got back here:D
 
metalman said:
I think cobra aircraft are no more,,could be wrong but I think I saw the moulds for sale somewhere,,,,your a welder?
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Tommy always had the moulds for the highwing for sale. It wouldn't surprise me if he went of business or even had a heart attack. The plane...uggg... don't ever get in one lol. There might be one or two from after the redesign, but the ones before that... not good. Divergent stick forces above about 1.5g and prone to tailplane stall...:yikes:

Yeah, welder, fabricator, mechanic....
 
Henning said:
... not good. Divergent stick forces above about 1.5g and prone to tailplane stall...
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Thanks for the headsup, I don't see any point in getting in an aeroplane with that sort of behaviour.
His website explains why he hasn't been around for a while and recent design changes which one hopes addresses the above.
 
djpacro said:
Thanks for the headsup, I don't see any point in getting in an aeroplane with that sort of behaviour.
His website explains why he hasn't been around for a while and recent design changes which one hopes addresses the above.
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The design changes were 5+ years ago when I was there.

Best to just avoid them. I believe that all the ones that are flying have had the tail mods to fix the stick force issue, but I don't know about 2 or 3 of them. They may be both totaled by now. I don't think the first one ever got fixed after it crashed on the first landing after it got sold the second time. The first time it was sold it took about 3 landings before he crashed it... and I think the other one was the one that got totalled by the RAAF pilot who had a PIO from the stick force issue which ended in a tailplane stall and a smash into the deck which resulted in a fire. I'm just not sure if there was another one out there flying the old tail. Oh well, if there was, it's likely totaled too.

LOL, here's a pic of where the Rudder from the RAAF crash and burn one:

100_6503 (Small).JPG
 
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Henning said:
The design changes were 5+ years ago when I was there.

Best to just avoid them. I believe that all the ones that are flying have had the tail mods to fix the stick force issue, but I don't know about 2 or 3 of them. They may be both totaled by now. I don't think the first one ever got fixed after it crashed on the first landing after it got sold the second time. The first time it was sold it took about 3 landings before he crashed it... and I think the other one was the one that got totalled by the RAAF pilot who had a PIO from the stick force issue which ended in a tailplane stall and a smash into the deck which resulted in a fire. I'm just not sure if there was another one out there flying the old tail. Oh well, if there was, it's likely totaled too.

LOL, here's a pic of where the Rudder from the RAAF crash and burn one:

View attachment 23564
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So are you an Aussie? Does the welder/metalworker make a good quid in the states, have vague plans of spending some time there (or perhaps Canada) one day
And yeh ,I haven't heard too much good about the cobra AC, "it took about three landings to crash it " ,I guess it's good to have goals! lol
 
metalman said:
So are you an Aussie? Does the welder/metalworker make a good quid in the states, have vague plans of spending some time there (or perhaps Canada) one day
And yeh ,I haven't heard too much good about the cobra AC, "it took about three landings to crash it " ,I guess it's good to have goals! lol
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No, not an Aussie, had an Aussie Sheila that whinged to go home and asked me to come. I don't typically do metalwork here unless I'm in a shipyard. I grew up doing fab and welding, so If I'm in a bind, it's one of the skill sets I use to make a living. Mostly I work here as a yacht captain and such. That's what I was doing second time I got called to Aus. Up in Brissie and Cairns for a year.

But to answer your question, yeah, a welder makes a decent living here, about the same as there. Pipefitters are the best paid tradies in the states, my friend she's on Journeyman rates right now out of the San Fransisco hall and makes $70hr. If you can pass the weld tests for Nuke, you can do even better on the plant shut down and overhaul cycles.
 
Henning said:
No, not an Aussie, had an Aussie Sheila that whinged to go home and asked me to come. I don't typically do metalwork here unless I'm in a shipyard. I grew up doing fab and welding, so If I'm in a bind, it's one of the skill sets I use to make a living. Mostly I work here as a yacht captain and such. That's what I was doing second time I got called to Aus. Up in Brissie and Cairns for a year.

But to answer your question, yeah, a welder makes a decent living here, about the same as there. Pipefitters are the best paid tradies in the states, my friend she's on Journeyman rates right now out of the San Fransisco hall and makes $70hr. If you can pass the weld tests for Nuke, you can do even better on the plant shut down and overhaul cycles.
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Thanks mate, when you say "nuke" I'm thinking nuclear? I'm going for my aircraft welding ticket currently so i guess the skills would be similar,,I guess things would have to get tight to go from yachts to welding ? although $70ph is pretty good dosh ,about half that here!
 
metalman said:
Are you an expat or did your sis imigrate?
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My sister met and married an Australian fellow, a ballet dancer whom she met in Germany while she visited my younger sister, who was also a ballet dancer (they both danced, at the time, with the Berlin Ballet).

After they married, they set up housekeeping in Hobart (yes, really!), but that was rough going, apparently not so easy to make a living as a ballet teacher in Tasmania.

So, off to Adelaide they went, raising 2 kids, all that. Brother in law decided to take up housekeeping with his business partner (he was by then a massage therapist), so he and my sister parted ways. Sister has long since taken her Australian citizenship, and is a Speech Pathologist for the SA government.

Long-winded way to say, she emigrated, liked it and stayed. I got even though - my nephew came here to go to college, then law school, and he's a committed Texan, now!
 
metalman said:
Thanks mate, when you say "nuke" I'm thinking nuclear? I'm going for my aircraft welding ticket currently so i guess the skills would be similar,,I guess things would have to get tight to go from yachts to welding ? although $70ph is pretty good dosh ,about half that here!
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Nuclear would be correct. It's pipe fitting so it's multiple passes of TIG, everything passes x-ray. Need to know Copper Nickle TIC for some. She's out of the highest paid trade union hall in the country. No tradie makes more.
 
SCCutler said:
Sister has long since taken her Australian citizenship, and is a Speech Pathologist for the SA government.

Long-winded way to say, she emigrated, liked it and stayed. I got even though - my nephew came here to go to college, then law school, and he's a committed Texan, now!
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Speech pathologist in Aus will never lack work. If it gets tight she can go to Queensland....:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
metalman said:
yeh HeHe i'm a Queenslander,,,no one can butcher english more betterer than a banana bender:D
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First time I'm living in Brissie I'm living in New Farm and I'm waiting in this bar for my girlfriend to get off work. This absolutely gorgeous blonde Sheila sits down next to orders up a drink, turns to me and says in the nastiest nasal Queenslander accent "How's it goin' Cu-t?" and her voice, just the sound of it, made me cringe...:eek::no:
 
A tourist arrived in Australia, hired a car and set off for the outback. On his way he saw a bloke having sex with a sheep. Deeply horrified, he pulled up at the nearest pub and ordered a straight Scotch. Just as he was about to throw it back, he saw a bloke with one leg masturbating furiously at the bar.

"For f-k's sake!" the bloke cried, "what the hell's going on here? I've been here one hour and I've seen a bloke shagging a sheep, and now some bloke's wanking himself off in the bar!"

"Fair dinkum, mate," the bartender told him, "you can't expect a man with only one leg to catch a sheep!"
 
Henning said:
A tourist arrived in Australia, hired a car and set off for the outback. On his way he saw a bloke having sex with a sheep. Deeply horrified, he pulled up at the nearest pub and ordered a straight Scotch. Just as he was about to throw it back, he saw a bloke with one leg masturbating furiously at the bar.

"For f-k's sake!" the bloke cried, "what the hell's going on here? I've been here one hour and I've seen a bloke shagging a sheep, and now some bloke's wanking himself off in the bar!"

"Fair dinkum, mate," the bartender told him, "you can't expect a man with only one leg to catch a sheep!"
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He he he,,, I know sheilas that talk to blokes like that ,,,we're a bloody funny lot,,,I reckon texans would probably be close to a queenslander
 
metalman said:
He he he,,, I know sheilas that talk to blokes like that ,,,we're a bloody funny lot,,,I reckon texans would probably be close to a queenslander
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It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for her voice LOL, it was like fingernails on chalkboard...:eek::rofl:
 
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