Homebuilts To Flock From Mojave To Oshkosh

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The airport at Mojave, in southern California, is known as an innovation hub for general aviation, and the 1,600-mile route from there to Oshkosh, Wis., has been flown many times by many iconic aircraft — and this summer, a group of about six to eight pilots plans to fly the route together nonstop in their homebuilt airplanes to arrive atEAA AirVenturewith a flourish. “Everyone is just geeked out about the whole idea,” flock organizer Elliot Seguin told AVweb this week. “It’s a cool way to bring the whole community together.” The group plans to arrive on Monday afternoon, July 28, Seguin said, and will roll to Boeing Plaza, at the center of the show grounds, for display.

Seguin said his airplane, Wasabi Siren, which was designed for racing, is undergoing several modifications to be able to fly the route nonstop. He expects the route will take about 11 hours. He’ll be presenting a forum about his airplane at the show on Thursday, and several of the other pilots also will be giving talks about their work, he said. Airplanes expected to join the flock include Catbird, a Burt Rutan design from the 1980s, flown by Zach Reeder; Ol’ Blue, the Long EZ Dick Rutan flew around the world in 1997, flown by Dustin Riggs; and Tango 2, a 160-knots design flown by Justin Gillen. The trip to Oshkosh will be posted online in real time via a flight tracker at the Oshkosh-nonstop website, Seguin said.

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