OSHKOSH Preparations · · PAGE 337. 

July 11, 2010: This was a day for a quick test flight before the flight to Texas, then the trip up to Oshkosh the next day planned for later this month.  Since I just changed the oil, this was a quick trip "around the block" to get the engine up to full RPM on takeoff and be sure the oil filter is secure, etc.  I turned on the autopilot long enough to see it lock on to a GPS course for the Dalton Airport.  When I was satisfied it was tracking the course, I shut it down to make a pass over the Wilson Airport (GA03) as seen in the map below.  It was probably one of the shortest flights I have had.  The only shorter flight was from the paint shop there at Wilson Airport back over here to Folks Field back in July 2005, which was one day before my very first flight to Oshkosh in the airplane back on PAGE 151 of this web site. 

The Hobbs meter only ticked over 0.1 hours, or less than 9 minutes I suppose.   The main thing was to check out the airplane before cleaning it up for the 25+ hours it will be flown at the end of July.  I cleaned the canopy inside and out where it was in need.  I also removed the video camera to modify its clamp assembly.   That will make it easier to aim the video camera at the ground or twist it around for inside the cabin views.  I just got FIVE new digital video cassettes for my camcorder, allowing for up to 7.5 hours of live television video in flight.  This trip to Oshkosh this year will have plenty to see, not just the arrival at OSH like the videos taken in my 2006 trip with Wendell to AirVenture.  The picture below is looking toward the sun since this was a morning flight.  The temperature this afternoon is forecast to be 95 degrees.

My digital camcorder is not 100% functional.  I will have to rely on my son to take some video while we are on the ground at AirVenture.  My camcorder internal CCD optical sensor is fried, but the external video input works just fine with my dash-mounted video camera.  I checked it out last week on the return flight from Dublin, Georgia and all was well.  After the return trip from Oshkosh and Texas, the digital video camcorder gets an overhaul just in time for nothing, since I had hoped to use it at OSH.  Oh, well, there are more videos to shoot with a handheld camera somewhere.

July 17, 2010: This Saturday was a day for some FAAST (FAA Safety Team) Class Room time on Mountain Flying at the Collegedale Airport.   It was a nice Power Point presentation from an ATP and other local pilots with actual mountain flying experience in the Rocky Mountains and even in the Appalachian Mountains just to the East of our location here near Chattanooga.  Tomorrow is a day for packing the camping gear in the airplane and some other preparations starting early in the day to be ahead of the afternoon heat of summer.

July 18, 2010:  How many of you noticed the title of this page and the big red print at the top did not match until I posted this entry?  Sorry about that error on my part.  Sunday was about updating the Dynon D-10A software and packing the camping equipment into the baggage area.   I weighed everything that went into the airplane and made a checklist spread sheet to be sure I have everything that is needed.  This year, this computer is not going, just as it did not go in 2006 the last time I flew up to AirVenture.  I won't be there long enough to worry about keeping this web site up to date.  You guys will have to wait until I return home.  Weather permitting, I should be home on Tuesday evening, July 27, 2010.  These web pages will be updated in the days following that return as time allows.

As for this Sunday, July 18, I finished loading the version 5.3 software into my Dynon D-10A and then pulled the airplane just far enough out of the hangar to get GPS signals to test everything.  All went well as it should...  What is THAT RED thing on the wing?

To answer the question about the photo above, I give you this photo:

The OLD RED CUP meets the NEW RED CUP which had its debut on Saturday when I attended the FAAST class on Mountain Flying at the Collegedale Airport.  None of the other pilots noticed the new cup which was on my table during the class and lunch.  I even had to show it to Wendell on Sunday afternoon as I was about to leave the hangar from the work and packing session seen above.   I guess he had not paid attention to the BLUE CUP that now goes into reserve status at home.  By the way, I bought TWO RED CUPS this time.  The ORIGINAL RED CUP and its heir are shown above.  There is also another spare RED CUP that may be called into service a few years from now.

This coming Friday will begin my roundabout trip to Oshkosh and back.   This time the trip starts toward Texas with a fuel stop at Meridian, Mississippi and a lunch stop at Hattiesburg, Mississippi to visit an old friend.  The day will end in Georgetown, Texas where I will spend the night with my oldest son and his family.   He is a private pilot and this trip to Oshkosh was his idea and it will be worth it to give him his first visit to Oshkosh.  Saturday morning will see the departure for Oshkosh by whatever route will get us there around some rain showers forecast along our route.  I am continuing to watch the forecasts to be sure what we will be doing enroute and while we are at the world's biggest air show!

July 31, 2010:  It is Saturday night after returning from Oshkosh this past Wednesday.  I have resumed my day job duties with emails and phone calls to and from customers about fiber optic communications products, etc.  I have spent some of my personal time in the past few days beginning to sort through more than 400 digital photographs taken by my son and myself while on the trip to AirVenture 2010 at Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  It was truly a good mini-vacation to the home of all things aviation. 

I went to the hangar late on this Saturday morning to visit with Wendell and his friends to share some of the stories about my quick trip to Oshkosh.  Those stories will be told here in the special web pages as needed.  I have installed my video processing software and learned some new procedures I have not used before.   You will see videos from the trip and my usual photos from the journey, and the photos taken by my son Edward.  ALL of this new material will be in a special section of this web site about AirVenture 2010 at Oshkosh, Wisconsin.   It will be similar to the section I created for Wendell and Terry's Great Alaskan Adventure of 2007.  I hope you like it.

When page 338 is created, it will be about the normal stuff of flying and maintaining the "Enterprise" here at home.

August 2, 2010:  I have processed more photos from the 400+ I mentioned above.  I hope to have some time before the weekend to put up more pages on Oshkosh 2010.

August 6, 2010: Two new pages are posted in the Oshkosh 2010 section of this web site.  I am starting to select only the relevant photos from the more than 400 taken by my son and I on our recent mini-vacation to AirVenture 2010.

August 7, 2010:  I will post more Oshkosh pages and photos this Saturday evening.  I am having lunch and a movie with my youngest son to celebrate his 29th  birthday, which was during this past week, but he was out of town on his day job.  Sounds familiar, huh?

August 8, 2010:  Sunday again, and I went to the airport to work on the Enterprise.  The last flight home from Texas on July 28 was normal right up until I noticed the GPS was running on the internal battery when I landed back home.  I had noticed an intermittent DC power connection which was the power plug I had reworked a few months ago.  I ordered a pair of Garmin data power cables after I returned from Oshkosh.  This Sunday morning I went to the airport to change out the old one for a new one.  I was pulling out the plugs connecting the various things in the main panel to the wiring harnesses.  One of my custom plug assemblies ended up with two broken wires that were not broken when I started.  I fixed those two and finally got the old data power cable switched over one wire at a time.  The older plugs had right-angle power plugs that would break with repeated connections and disconnections since the GPS 296 is at home in the air and on the ground in my car.

The older model is seen above and in the photo on the left and was the type that would break as I said in the paragraph above.

This the current design which should not be as likely to be damaged as easily as the older right-angle connector.

The data power cables do not have right-angle plugs like the original plugs.   I had to drill a hole in the instrument panel directly behind the power plug socket on the GPS 296.  That was easily done while the instrument panel was removed from the airplane.   I realized when I was removing the panel, the hole was going to be close to the center rib behind the panel.  That rib is one of three that go from the firewall, an intermediate bulkhead and ends at the instrument panel.  A pair of pliers and some gentle persuasion to the flange provided the clearance I needed for the straight plug to come through from behind the panel and just clear the rib and its lower flange.  It was the flange that needed to be reshaped to provide clearance for the new GPS power plug.

As luck would have it, the new position of the rib flange is perfect to put in a loose tie-wrap to keep the data power cable and plug from falling behind the panel when the GPS is removed for automotive usage.  I would hate to have to remove the instrument panel just to retrieve the GPS power plug.

I also added an audio output connection from the Dynon D-10A that will be connected to the altitude alert input to my GMA-340 intercom.  There is a pair of audio input connections specifically designed to input those audio alerts.  I stayed at the airport until just after 3 PM before the heat of the day told me it was time to go home.  I stopped by Radio Shack on the way and picked up a 10K linear potentiometer to use a volume control for the altitude alert tones to the intercom system.  I will complete those connections when I get back to work on the airplane.  For now, the instrument panel is not in its normal place.  I also cleaned up some short cable problems that made it interesting to remove and install the various connections when the panel is serviced.

I finished updating the Oshkosh report to page 10 with the approach and landing to Oshkosh and parked in home built camping.  We still have a lot more to publish on the ground as we tour the site on Sunday afternoon and evening, then the Opening Day of AirVenture for Monday, July 26th.

August 11, 2010: The Oshkosh pages now go up to PAGE 14 and get us to the first visit for Edward and myself to the EAA Museum.  I must have been to Oshkosh at least six times now.  I have flown up there commercial and rented cars.  I have been there in my car one time.   I have flown there three times in my airplane.  In 2005, I flew up there by myself in the Enterprise.  I came with Wendell in the right seat in 2006.  This year, my oldest son and private pilot had his first visit to Oshkosh. 

August 14, 2010: This Saturday was spent in the hangar finishing up the wiring changes after the Oshkosh trip.  I also went to lunch with Wendell and his friends.  Wendell and Terry went on another adventure this past week.  They went to Denver to pick up a used motor home that Terry bought and Wendell went along to help drive it back to Georgia.

My work in the hangar was to wire the audio alert from the Dynon D-10A to the altitude alert input to the GMA-340 intercom.  I put a 10K gain pot in the path to set the volume of the alarm tones from the altitude monitor "bug" settings.   I used the visual alarms from the D-10A on the Oshkosh trip, and realized I needed the audible alarm to get my attention.  I relocated some of the wires behind the panel to make things easier to service the panel.  I also discovered the new GPS plug would be prevented from falling behind the panel by the center rib.  No tie-wrap was needed to secure the GPS cable against falling through the new hole and being out of reach.

August 15, 2010:  I was working with my digital video camera capturing some of the Oshkosh video when I realized I needed a PCMCIA adapter with Firewire and USB-2.0 expansion ports.  My son Edward was able to use Microsoft Movie Maker software and a Firewire connection to copy his digital video cassette videos he took at Oshkosh and send me an "original" video tape I can play in my digital video camcorder.  Now I hope to do the same for him with the two video tapes I made during the trip to Texas and to Oshkosh.

August 18, 2010:  Now that all the Oshkosh photos are processed, making up the various web pages and writing the story about them is going quickly.  I added three new pages tonight bringing the count up to 25 pages.   The last of the flight line photos from opening day are posted and the departure day photos from Tuesday, July 27th are posted.  You can access any of the Oshkosh 2010 AirVenture photos from this menu page.

August 19, 2010:  With not much on TV tonight, I finished up the photo pages for Oshkosh 2010.  The number of pages stand at 29 as of now.  The Firewire adapter for my laptop arrived today.  There is still more to do processing my videos and deciding if some of the frames of videos would make good snapshots.  It is late as I post this.  I hope you guys have some fun and fly safe from what you learn here.

August 22, 2010:  It has been hot this weekend.  That gives me a good excuse to stay inside or do inside things at stores, etc.  While I was out, I went by the hangar and retrieved my Garmin 128-megabyte chip I had loaned to Wendell for a recent road trip.  When I got home, I had some computer network chores to accomplish and then I turned my attention to this web site.  After reading the last few pages of the Oshkosh report, I found some typo errors that spell-checking would not find -- wrong words.  I have also added some information that some of you may find useful.

I have packed up my camcorder after duplicating the two video tapes shot from the dash-mounted camera in the airplane via the video input port.  The optical sensor chip in the camcorder was part of a recall by JVC.  It had failed as they indicated in their recall web page.  It goes to the factory repair center in Texas tomorrow.   When it gets back, I will be able to use it as a handheld camera again, as well as an in-flight video recorder from the camera mounted in the airplane.