Corvair College #28 Texas, last 24hrs. to sign up

Builders:

I am going to have Ken Pavlou, our on line sign up guy, cut off the #28 page at this time Saturday. (Shortly after, we will have the sign up for CC#29, March 28-30 Leesburg FL activated.) If you are going to Texas, the time to act is at hand.

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I just got off the phone with Corvair/601XL pilot Andy Elliott, and he is flying in to CC#28 from Arizona. Above, Andy’s aircraft at the EAA Chapter 1 Open House, Riverside, Calif.

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In the last day, we have several new builders sign up, including Dean and Robynn Trzynka. We had met them at Oshkosh over several years, and they were forming a plan to get into homebuilding. They were pretty sure the plane for them is a Pietenpol. I spoke with Dean on the phone two nights ago, and he made the decision that he would not longer put off getting started.

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He and Robynn signed up, and are packing their core engine to bring and make progress. Get this part: The drive to Texas is 20 hours, each way. Will it be worth it? To the builder who has decided that this year will be his, that he will not put off dreams he has long had, yes, it will be well worth 40 hours of driving.

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Not only will they make great progress and learn skills and procedures, they will also make good friends in home building, These friends are different than the people in your local EAA chapter who talk about planes, but always seem to have reasons never to build or fly them. The friends we have a colleges are people who are in the arena. And if you are a guy who will drive 40 hours to advance your dreams, you have a place among these builders. When I included the words from T.R. in the manual:

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“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and  blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

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I am not kidding. Yes Teddy wrote and said that in Paris 114 years ago, but words are just as true today. Few of us will have what he called his “Crowded Hour” in life, charging San Juan hill. But none the less, we face countless quieter choices, moments when you decide that you will take the controls…..or you will take a seat with the cold and timid, who all had reasons why it was OK to let their life drift by. Everyone has a place in this world, and it isn’t for me to say where anyone belongs. But if it is your own life, make damn sure you are on the right path. Time insures that we all end up at a destination, I am only here to suggest finding the path to the destination you would prefer.

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Later this year we will be at Oshkosh. As always, our tent will be a gathering point for builders and flyers from near and far. Although I love the planes, I like the people a lot more.  Everyone is welcome, and we see many of the same faces every year. The Cook out is the big event, but the camaraderie goes on from early each day to hours after all the other booths are closed.

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Some of the builders on hand will have flown in with their planes. Others will have made good progress and be speaking of serious plans to get to the finish line. There are several dozen people each day, many that you will recognize from stories on this site.

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Like all other years, and all other shows, there will be people who want to get started, but always have some rational reason not to. I am a realist, and I understand that homebuilding isn’t possible for everyone. There are the needs of young kids and older parents, and a thousand other tasks. But truth be told, many more people are held back, not by family obligation or commitment, they are just restrained by nagging doubt brought on by a lifetime of exposure to negative people, all filled with a myriad of reasons why they don’t have dreams and therefore you shouldn’t either.

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Into this setting will walk two people who’s year in aviation will be different than their previous years. Dean and Robynn will arrive with pictures of their engine, and parts of their plane. They will be greeted by fellow Piet builders they got to know at CC#28, great people like Kevin and Shelley and Mark Chouinard. They will have supportive friends who they stayed in touch with since the college. There will be kidding and fun, ideas and thoughts. all the while they will be thinking about the plane they are building and all the places they will fly in it. Except it will no longer be a daydream, it will be a plan. Because they decided that ‘someday’ had come for them, and from here forward, they would be in the Arena.

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https://corvaircollege.wufoo.com/forms/corvair-college-28-

registration/

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More info here: Corvair College #28, getting to last call

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Oshkosh 2013: When setting up the tent, a lot of things like hanging up display motor mounts in the top of the tent went quick with the help of 6’5″ Pietenpol builder Mark Chouinard. I have looked at this photo many times, but just noticed the dog sleeping in the trailer.