- Joined
- Jun 13, 2008
- Messages
- 7,761
- Location
- Marietta, GA
- Display Name
Display name:
Drake the Outlaw
Landed there on Saturday afternoon after our day started off waiting on low ceilings to clear in the Atlanta area.
Later, after we bumped our way North, we were just South of Chicago, probably 500' below the broken layer at ~3,500 and I looked over to our right and saw a Twinkie right below the cloud bases. He was closing on us slowly from right to left, and was at exactly our airspeed and about 500' higher. It probably took 10 minutes for him to cross from 1/2 mile to our right to 1/2 mile left of us. The really neat thing was watching him against the background of the cloud deck. He was really scooting past the clouds. Which meant we were really scooting by too, but you don't get that perspective from inside the cockpit. I wonder if he ever saw us?
Had a great time at Osh. Ran into a bunch of friends and acquaintances, got free weekly entry passes and a few other perks more or less by being at the right place at the right time. Didn't buy anything other than food and drink - really, I didn't see any new products that jumped out at me.
We saw the Terrafuga fly on Wednesday. It looked underpowered and potentially hampered by a relatively low aspect ratio wing. It'll be interesting to see how that works out for them.
Early in the week, we walked by the Icon booth and I explained to my buddy that Icon has petitioned the FAA for a weight exemption. Yeah, good luck with that. ;-) The next day, there was an announcement that the request was granted. Nice to know that hard and fast rules aren't. Just bizarre that everyone in the industry has followed the rules and a new entrant is allowed to re-write them. I wonder how they got enough influence to make that happen?
The one oddball thing we noticed was that the FAA Safety Center didn't offer FSS services. I guess weather briefings aren't as important as they were once upon a time. Some safety center. I'd have been happy with someone printing and posting the Prog Charts a couple of times a day, but noo. Pitiful.
Looked at the weather using other resources and decided to come home today. Good VFR weather and tailwinds - what's not to like? From OSH to VPC (just NW of Atlanta) in 4.5 hours, including a fuel stop. We probably averaged 180 knots at 11.5k feet for most of the ride.
Oh, and it was cold the first couple of nights. Like <50F, when I was prepared for 60 or more. Note: a towel makes a decent "extra" blanket to keep your feet warm.
Later, after we bumped our way North, we were just South of Chicago, probably 500' below the broken layer at ~3,500 and I looked over to our right and saw a Twinkie right below the cloud bases. He was closing on us slowly from right to left, and was at exactly our airspeed and about 500' higher. It probably took 10 minutes for him to cross from 1/2 mile to our right to 1/2 mile left of us. The really neat thing was watching him against the background of the cloud deck. He was really scooting past the clouds. Which meant we were really scooting by too, but you don't get that perspective from inside the cockpit. I wonder if he ever saw us?
Had a great time at Osh. Ran into a bunch of friends and acquaintances, got free weekly entry passes and a few other perks more or less by being at the right place at the right time. Didn't buy anything other than food and drink - really, I didn't see any new products that jumped out at me.
We saw the Terrafuga fly on Wednesday. It looked underpowered and potentially hampered by a relatively low aspect ratio wing. It'll be interesting to see how that works out for them.
Early in the week, we walked by the Icon booth and I explained to my buddy that Icon has petitioned the FAA for a weight exemption. Yeah, good luck with that. ;-) The next day, there was an announcement that the request was granted. Nice to know that hard and fast rules aren't. Just bizarre that everyone in the industry has followed the rules and a new entrant is allowed to re-write them. I wonder how they got enough influence to make that happen?
The one oddball thing we noticed was that the FAA Safety Center didn't offer FSS services. I guess weather briefings aren't as important as they were once upon a time. Some safety center. I'd have been happy with someone printing and posting the Prog Charts a couple of times a day, but noo. Pitiful.
Looked at the weather using other resources and decided to come home today. Good VFR weather and tailwinds - what's not to like? From OSH to VPC (just NW of Atlanta) in 4.5 hours, including a fuel stop. We probably averaged 180 knots at 11.5k feet for most of the ride.
Oh, and it was cold the first couple of nights. Like <50F, when I was prepared for 60 or more. Note: a towel makes a decent "extra" blanket to keep your feet warm.
