Oshkosh 2018 - July 28 ~ August 4th

Continuing with the journey to Oshkosh, this year I traveled in a Turbo Saratoga due to the last minute engine failure in the non-turbo Saratoga the club I used to be a member.  The engine failure was unexpected but didn't happen in-flight, so there wasn't any incident related to it.  This last minute change caused me to scramble around to find and get checked out in an airplane that I could take to Oshkosh for the week.  Fortunately I encountered an owner who had such an airplane.  Pricey, but still functional.  My co-worker/friend Don Besse was already in high gear to attend his first Oshkosh ever and I sure as heck wasn't going to take my foot off the gas trying to get us there.  Thus continues the trend of my travels to Oshkosh in a new aircraft with a new individual joining me.

We encountered some issues getting to Oshkosh.  The Saratoga we were using absolutely refused to perform a hot start (ie: land, fill up the tanks and take off).  Each time we landed required a minimum of 3hrs on the ground for the engine to cool down far enough to start.  This put a major damper on the trip out as we had two fuel stops to make before getting there.  The second fuel stop was necessary, especially for this years flight.  The weather inbound was treacherous at best.  We're lucky we made it in to the show this year on the day we left.  Others weren't so lucky and many pilots were in a holding pattern to come in for up to 3hrs.  Even with proper planning that puts you well into the fuel critical range.

​I'll be back for sure - with a new passenger and a new airplane.