Oshkosh 2012 - Empowering the experience
Gaithersburg. We prepared the plane and made sure that everything was in order. We were very excited for the scheduled take-off the next morning. The take-off took place on time, and we headed to New York. The thought of flying over the Statue of Liberty and along the Hudson River fills me with excitement, and indeed a tremendous experience, to see the huge buildings centered around the Empire State Building below us passing along the Central Park, And to make two turns around the statue of Liberty at an altitude of 800 feet above the water, it is almost possible to reach out and touch the torch in her hand.
Having no choice we were forced to continue on our way to the first rest destination at SKY ACERS Airport (44N) near the city of Poughkeepsie in New York State. When we got to the field Joel’s friend was already waiting for us, in most of our stupidity we locked the plane without anchoring it to the ground and drove to lunch. Luckily the friend suggested that before a trip we should take our luggage and settled in his house, which saved us a lot of embarrassment. When we got to the plane a sudden storm started and the three of us grabbed the reinforcement beams of the plane and we managed to prevent it from overturning. The storm passed as it came suddenly after about 10 minutes. With shaky legs we tied the airplane firmly to the ground, collecting our belongings and drove to the friend’s house.
The house turned out to be a mansion within a rural area, each of us was given a private room. The next morning we woke up to nice weather, in the distance we spotted a doe licking grass and a flock of turkeys was gathering food lazily. We said goodbye to the friend and headed north.
From the lakes to Niagara Falls – most of the way passed over huge forest, we reached the lakes area, and landed for a short rest at PISECO Airport (K09) The field was adjacent to a lake whose waters were the bluest I have ever seen. Our next destination was the Thousand Islands Park located on the St. Lawrence River which flows into Lake Ontario. In each of the islands stood a luxurious villa with a boat mooring, this is the only way for mobility between the island and the mainland. In each of the islands stood a luxurious villa with a boat mooring, this is the only way for mobility between the island and the mainland. Once we have soaked up enough of the view, we proceeded to Niagara Falls International Airport NIAGARA FALLS INTL (KIAG) to land. We rented a car and drove to visit the waterfalls. There is no need to expand on the tremendous power of the waterfalls, the phenomenon is well known.
Our next stop was the city of Cleveland for a night’s rest only. We landed at the BURKE LAKEFRONT (KBKL) Airport. The runway penetrates into Lake Erie, we did not plan to tour Cleveland but we enjoyed the spectacular sunset that greeted us. Oshkosh, we already there – from Cleveland we flew around Lake Michigan, over Chicago and saw the Maigs Airport which was located inside the lake along the shore, the field was plowed and turned into a park. We finally landed in Oshkosh at the WITTMAN RGNL (KOSH) airport, not before we had to land in a small field about 15 miles south of Oshkosh due to weather. The weather caused us to land in Oshkosh after the daily flight event which starts at 14:00 and ends at 18:00.
The experience at the largest event in the world for pilots was amazing. The event includes workshops; meetings with pilots from all over the world, an aircraft display, and products for purchase at the many stalls and of course the daily flying show. The evening started with a dance celebration to the sounds of local band music and ends with a fireworks show.
The way back went as planned, an overnight stop in a small town along the route, with a slight detour led us over a basket factory designed in the shape of a basket, one could not understand the ideas of an American entrepreneur, from there directly to Maryland. The next day we landed at Montgomery Airport, said goodbye to the plane and our friends in WIFA. There were two days left before the flight back to Israel, indicating that everything went as planned with no delays. Those two days were used to visit the Atlantic City gambling city.
As usual at the end of each such trip the next trip is already planned, goodbye to the USA.