Preparations

Oooh, I’m getting Oshkosh fever. Today I bought the approach plates for Wisconsin and Michigan and marked out the course on the en-route (L) chart, and programmed both legs into my handheld GPS. Last time I went, I used a Howie Keefe atlas rather than an L-chart – I didn’t realize the whole route fits on one chart. While it’s probably true that I could do the whole flight in one leg in the Lance, I’ve decided to play it safe and refuel at MBS (Saginaw) the same as last time – it means arriving at Oshkosh with plenty of fuel in case they’re busy and we have to hold or circle around RIPON, and it also makes it easier to time the arrival for the IFR arrival slot.

I still need to buy an air-mattress and some other camping supplies, but otherwise I think I’m ready. Woo hoo!

This weekend’s plans are complicated too – as I mentioned earlier we’re going to see Great Big Sea on Saturday evening. But unfortunately Laura works on Saturday morning, and she also wants to spend some time at the Corn Hill Festival here in Rochester. So here’s the solution we came up with: Vicki and I are flying to Oshawa on Friday night. On Saturday afternoon, I fly back to Rochester and pick up Laura, and fly her back to Oshawa. We all go to Great Big Sea, and then on Sunday morning, Vicki, Laura and I fly back. That gives Laura a few hours at Corn Hill on Saturday, and a few on Sunday – hopefully that will be enough for her. Hope I don’t end up on some US or Canadian Customs watch list. But for me it’s a way to get a few hours flying the club’s Dakota with its new GPS, have some fun. Filing /G and going direct across the lake, each way will probably only take 30-35 minutes. Unless they make me go around the two MOAs (Misty One and Misty Three) and the Canadian alert area (CYA-530).

Oh yeah, sometime in the next few weeks I’ve got to go out and practice flying the Lance at 1800 feet at 90 knots, in case we have to do the VFR arrival at Oshkosh.