EAA Recipe for Safer, Better, and More Pleasurable Flying

This air show and aviation get-together is in someways like a wonderful meal. Every wonderful meal starts with extensivepreparation and that's exactly what has occurred at Oshkosh 98with the forums and hands on workshops. They are a smorgasbordfor those hungry for a safer, better, and more pleasant flyingexperience.

For appetizers there are the "How to" workshopsand forums. These are designed for those new to a specific functionof building their own aircraft or those just getting into flying.The hands on workshops cover skills such as fabric covering andstitching, woodworking on spars, electronics installation, andwelding to mention a few. The forum appetizers include such topicsas how to learn to become a pilot, buying your first airplane(one forum focused on buying the right seaplane), licensure issues,and even one session on How to Overcome "Checkriditis!"

Although some of these forums are new in content,many are timeless and have not changed much over the years. Allare well attended since good knowledge and artisan skills areby nature timeless.

For our Oshkosh salad we may choose to dine on manyspecific and exacting technical issues or human factors. The technicalissues were broad and interesting. They ranged from the LinearAerospace Experiment (LASRE), ATC Future Considerations and FreeFlight, Laminar Flow design, Engine Management, Aviation Oils,and the Future of Avgas. On the Human Issues side of things wereHigh Altitude Considerations, How to get an Airline Job, and Survivingand Thriving After an Airplane Accident.

For the serious consumer, the main courses are here!The meaty issues included a choice of Test Piloting Your Own Airplane, Maintenance for the owner-pilot and an assortment of maintenanceissues such as How to time Mags, Basic Wiring, and Airframe Rigging. The serious non-flying issues to aviation included forums suchas Insurance Options, Making a Partnership Work, and Lessons LearnedDefending Meigs Field.

There are several forums dedicated to the care andfeeding of specific aircraft. The American Bonanza Society presentsa forum on Bonanzas which covers everything from how to fly themto maintaining them and what issues are pertinent to owners regardingADs and Service bulletins. There are similar forums this yearfor Taylorcrafts, Mooneys, and others.

Everyone likes Dessert… and the forums havethat too. The human interest of "Wasps Tell the Storyof Their Part in World War Two" caught the ears of manyand no one sits through Hangar Flying with Rod Machado withouta chuckle or belly laugh.

As I wandered through, in and out, and among theforums, I noticed several things. Some of the forums that haveremained unchanged over the years are as well attended as everand this year's slate of exciting new topics on the leading edgeof technology are filled with those hungry for a safer and betteraviation future. If you visit the forums at EAA/Oshkosh 98, youwill dine on a smorgasbord of topics which will leave your appetitefor knowledge satiated but wondering what will be for breakfasttomorrow. If one or more of those topics doesn't wet your appetitefor aviation knowledge, you're just not hungry.

Dining with the EAA is terrific. They sure know howto put on a banquet!