SonexBuilders.net

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would give a report on my trip to Oshkosh. You can see some photos of the events here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/50734158@ ... 106765302/

And Videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Planeolbob/videos

Saturday

I got an early start at 0600 flying from OJC in Olathe, Kansas. It was a bit rough on climb out but I had as much as a 60 MPH Tail wind (See Photo). The decreasing tail winds stayed with me until my fuel stop at Washington, Iowa (AWG). After that I had weak head winds. A few of my Chapter 868 friends were attending the Pietenpol fly in at Brodhead, Wisconsin. I thought I might stop by but as the weather was hazy I just flew over and pressed on to Oshkosh.

The Fisk traffic was light and my arrival was without problems. The rest of the day was involved with getting my schedule for volunteering at the Home Built Headquarters (HBHQ), signing up for the Homebuilt Review and checking into the dorm and looking around the grounds.

Sunday

Sunday morning found me at the aircraft trying to beat the dew from drying on the polish and talking to Kirk and other builders on our taxi times to the open house. We ended up going over around 0830. On the way over my left wheel grabbed. When I arrived I found that the bolt between the brake assembly and the landing gear had sheared on the taxi over to Sonex.

With plenty of help and advice along with a bolt from Sonex I had the repair made in about 30 minutes. Thanks to everyone for the help. It looks like my luck is holding.

As always, the homecoming was a blast with the introduction of the JSX-2 and Turbo. I believe the Turbo will be a hit with many builders. The Jet? What can I say?

Rain caused a bit of problems and another cleaning of the plane but the Monett kids had a great time playing in the puddles (see photos).

We all lined up for the Taxi and the Jet lead the way. I think we had more aircraft this year than ever before. Sonex will have the count. The rest of the day was spent meeting other builders, working at the HBHQ and walking around looking at new products.

Monday

I had an early rise again to beat the dew drying. It was a nice cool day. More time at the HBHQ and met up with Jeff Shultz who flew to the Kansas City area but drove the rest of the way to OSH. That night Ron Sipple and his pals gave me a ride to the Sonex party. Ron has finished his tail feathers and is working on his first wing. One of these days he is going to have a very nice Sonex (maybe a Turbo?).

The party was a blast as always. There was a lot of talk about the turbo. The AeroVee drivers may have revenge after all.

Tuesday

I went to the 1/3 scale B-17 presentation. What a project! This aircraft is the size of a Cessna 152 and is a single seat aircraft. Go to http://theballybomber.com/ for more information. You have to see this to believe it.

http://theballybomber.com/2013-c.html

More time at HBHQ and watched the Sonex Jet fly in the airshow. Dinner that night was at the Ford tent. If you are a chapter president you get an invitation for you and a guest to this party. If you can, go. It is very nice. I went this year with my chapter’s president and we had a great time. Also, we were nice and dry while the storm went through.

Wednesday

For three years I have been trying to fly in the Home Built Review. This year I finally accomplished the goal. If you ever have a chance to do this go for it. I have posted a few videos (above). This was the most fun half hour of flying I ever done except my first solo. Plus, Alan Shepard’s prayer was answered. Always a plus. After returning to Earth (literally) I treated myself to a double dip ice cream cone.

That afternoon I said my goodbyes to as many folks as I could and thanked everyone for their help and especially the Sonex people for all they do. Back to the dorm one more time.

Thursday

As always got an early start and took off at 0750. The aircraft flew nice and strong with another stop at AWG for fuel and I touched down at OJC at 1221.

I know I have left a lot out and I am sure others will fill it in. It was great seeing everyone and their aircrafts
I have my dorm reservation set for Saturday July 18th 2015. See you then.

Bob Mika
Sonex N178KT

Nice write up, Bob! Thanks for sharing!

I'll throw in my OSH 2014 report here, too. I flew to KC from Atlanta on Friday and coincidentally landed at Bob's home aiport (Johnson County Executive) as it's the airport closest to family. After spending a couple of days visiting, I launched for OSH on Sunday AM but soon realized that with a 25 mph headwind at 5500 feet, my plans to make the Sonex Open House were in jeopardy. Bob's huge tailwind had changed dramatically in 24 hours! Soon, I was at 300' AGL over the Iowa cornfields with only a 5 mph headwind. I endured the bumps and kept alert for obstacles and birds for the sake of a decent ETE.

I arrived over Fisk with rain shafts nearby but they had mostly moved away from OSH. I seemed to be in front everyone and never saw anyone in front of me on the arrival so I kept my speed up and was assigned runway 36. With winds reported 290 @ 8 I requested runway 27 and it was approved. I had an uneventful landing and taxi to Sonex and enjoyed the last half of the Open House.

The mass-taxi over is a tradition now and I was happy to participate in my 5th in a row. I parked and gathered my camping gear and headed to Homebuilt Camping to camp with Waiex builder/pilot Mike Farley and family. This is also a three year tradition!

On Monday, I was approached my Mary Jones and the legendary writer Budd Davisson from EAA and they wanted to do a story about me. Joe Norris sent them my way looking for something interesting to write an artilcle about. Not sure how "interesting" it will be but I ended up doing a nearly 1 hour photo shoot with a C-210. We staged at the Waupaca Airport (25 miles north of OSH) for some static shots then some aerials over Lake Winnebago and some low-lying clouds. It was fun to be in tight formation and have the photo pilot relate the photographers instructions of "ten feet up and five feet right"! I'm not sure what if anything will be published but I am promised 1000+ pics of my airplane my December! The Sonex Party that evening was great as usual with beer, food, music, people, and airplanes.

Later that day, I had the honor of spreading some ashes of a great friend who took me to my first OSH (and Monnett party!) in 1985 on the ultralight runway. It was obviously a somber moment but a celebration as well. Quite a day and I slept very well that night.

Departure day was Thursday and after my interview with Budd Davisson, we both noticed the smoke and flames from the Breezy crash on the other side of the airport. The airport closed down for about an hour and backed up all of the departures. Instead of leaving at 0930, I did not get off the ground until nearly 1300. Most of that time was spent wating for the mass of RV's wanting to depart. Mike Farley and I decided that if we were to leave at all that day, we had to get in line. The problem was engine overheat issues. I'd guess that we were in that line for 40 minutes or so and I clocked about eight engine starter cycles after shutting down repeatedly to prevent an overheat. Mike and I performed a near-formation takeoff on runway 36 with my CHT's in the yellow.

I climbed to 11,500 to clear the Chicago Class "B" while chatting with Mike on 122.75 about his progrees until he got too far into Ohio from my straight line to Atlanta.

The rest of the flight was uneventful other than some clouds over the north Georgia mountains that were a bit of concern but not too bad and some light rain for the last 50 miles prompting me to get the old towel out to protect my panel when the drops come in from the bow.

Total miles were about 2200 in about 17.5 hours. A great trip in the books!

I'll toss in my quick story of this year's Oshkosh as well. I departed my home base of Marysville, OH (MRT) around 0630 on Saturday morning, once again flying as a two ship with my father in his Wheeler Express. The plan was to head towards the Joliet IL area and proceed just outside of Chicago's Class B as we made the turn towards Oshkosh. As soon as we departed however, 25 mph headwinds slowed us down enough that I required an unplanned fuel stop in northern Indiana. We chose Starke County (OXI) and made a 20 minute fuel stop after almost 2 hours of flying time. After we got back in the air, it was time to proceed around the outskirts of Chicago before we headed to our second stop, Watertown WI (RYV). I had enough fuel to reach Oshkosh but would much rather hit Ripon with a full tank!

Shortly afterwards, I hit Ripon and immediately found myself behind a Taylorcraft that could hardly maintain 80 miles per hour, let alone the 90 knot entry requirement. Looking back I should have broken off and returned to Ripon but instead I proceeded along behind the T-Craft all the way to Fiske. The only good news was, that early in the morning, traffic was light so I had no issues with faster traffic behind me. Even my father in his Wheeler was able to maintain separation behind me so it all worked out. Over Fiske, the T-Craft was told to head towards runway 36 and I was assigned 27 which was perfect given the surface winds of 280@6. After a normal pattern and landing, I was parked right next to Bob Mika and Katie. I believe I was the third or fourth customer build Sonex/Waiex to arrive.

On Sunday morning, my dad and I hopped into the Waiex and taxied over to the Sonex factory for the Open House. I was very excited to hear about the AeroVee turbo package as well as catch up with old friends. Unfortunately some short but heavy rain showers tried to make a mess of things, but thankfully I had no water run into my cockpit. Shortly after, we were able to join the Mass Taxi back over to Sonex Parking where I was fortunate enough to park between Kip's beautiful Waiex and a customer built Xenos.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was a blur as time was spent chatting with friends, prospective builders, and others by the flight line. Monday's Foundation meeting was a huge success with great attendance, and the Monday evening Hangar Party that Sonex provides is always a great time! Come to think of it, as the week went on I didn't get a chance to browse the vendor display areas much as I was having too much fun at the Sonex display!

Kip told you the story on departure; I was just picking up my new iron cylinders from the factory when I saw the smoke from Thursday morning's accident. This postponed our departure by a few hours as Kip and I knew we had no chance of leaving before they reopened runway 36. Having runway 27 as the only runway wasn't even close to keeping up with the departure demand so we were stuck on the ground an extra few hours. Finally we were able to depart and I wish I could say I was able to keep up with Kip and his Jabiru 3300 powered speed demon, but it wasn't the case. Maybe a turbo will help even the odds! :mrgreen:

After a quick fuel stop south of Chicago at Bult field (C56) it was just under two hours to get home. I did develop a slight oil leak at some point when a T fitting I have threaded into my AeroVee for oil pressure monitoring came loose, causing a bit of a mess. I hardly lost any oil but it was messy! The good news is that it took me around 15 minutes to find the leak, tighten everything back up, and now the Waiex is good to go! I sure hope we can set a new attendance record at Crossville this fall!

I'd like to take a quick second to thank Kip for putting up with my crazy family, including my 20 month old son who loved giving Uncle Kip high 5's the whole week. I'm happy our camping tradition is holding strong and can't wait until next year! Also, I'd like to thank Robbie, Eric, Carl, Tony, and the rest of the SBPF members for being such an amazing community of enthusiastic builders and pilots! Finally and certainly not least, a big thank you to everyone at the Sonex factory for providing such a wonderful week! You all are the greatest!

I'm already looking forward to next year! Thanks everyone!

Thanks for all the reports guys! Wish I could have been there but I do like hearing the stories and seeing the pictures anyway. Hope to join you campers soon.

Having a family member with a wheeler express is a GREAT way to add remote baggage space to a Waiex!

Bryan Cotton wrote:Having a family member with a wheeler express is a GREAT way to add remote baggage space to a Waiex!

You know it Bryan! Actually, the real secret is having a Wheeler for some basic camping gear as well as a "ground crew" of the wife, son, and mother in a fully loaded Ford Explorer with everything else! It makes things easy when all I need in the Waiex is the tie down kit, some tools, canopy cover, tow bar, and a backpack with some basics. Sure makes life easy!

My son and I were wheels up at KFLY at 9AM Saturday morning, flying with a Yak18T. First stop was Lexington NB. Next leg we got pushed south towards Omaha due to a thunderstorm coming down from the north, and spend a few hours in Fremont, NB as it passed. Hooked back up the the YAK at Ft. Dodge, IA then on to Reedsburg, WI that afternoon. Checked into a halfway house motel and met up with Jim Hicke. We were wheels up by 8AM out of Reedsburg for OSH. I followed Jim in on the Fiske and they assigned us 36L. Wind was 280 at 10Knots so landing was challenging.
The open house and show was what everyone as already said. We stayed in the dorms and hooked up with Mike Neidenthal who just bought a nearly completed Sonex. Also met up with Jeff Schultz and Gary Motley. It was also noteworthy that Waiex outnumbered Sonex at the booth! Most of my time at the show was to support my next build, a Peitenpol Aircamper w/Corvair engine. Also got a cool ride in the Yak18T on Tuesday. They really treat warbirds like royalty.

We left Wednesday morning after the cloud ceiling lifted around 9AM. The weather in Colorado had been horrendous since our departure and we wanted to stage somewhere close so we could take advantage of any weather window to get back in. We scud ran from OSH back to Reedsburg. Then the cloud cover broke up enough to get VFR on top back to Lexington via Fort Dodge. Checked weather at KFLY and it looked like it was drying out. So we launched with hopes to make it in, but divert to Goodland KS if necessary. 100 miles out of KFLY the cover started dropping, the ADS-B was showing rain bands between us and KFLY, but it was smooth and still VFR and not convective (weird for Colorado). I had never flown in the rain, much less my Waiex. As the rain started hitting the windscreen, I kept bending south to get around it, mostly avoiding. The last 25 miles however wasn't possible and had to punch right into it. Get-home-itis was setting in. It was MVFR and deteriorating. Visiblilty out the windshield was nonexistent due to the rain drops, but still had good visibility out the side canopy. Greased the Waiex onto a wet runway at 5PM local and taxied back to the hangar with rain dripping through the canopy bows and smiles on our faces. Total flight time was 12.8 hours. Only casualty was my fuel flow sender quit working mid trip and we had to use timers to gauge our fuel level on the return.