Builders,
So far this year we have covered colleges # 28 in Texas and #29 in Florida, and an appearance at Sun n Fun. For the second half of the year we have two more colleges and Brodhead and Oshkosh to cover. Below is a break down of these dates for planning purposes.
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The next event on the schedule is the annual Pietenpol gathering in Brodhead WI. It is the weekend before Oshkosh. I am going to be there Friday and Saturday, July 25th and 26th. This is a basic gathering of Pietenpol fans, set at one of the most relaxed small town airports in America. We don’t do a commercial set up there, but I do have a trailer load of stuff that I am bringing to Oshkosh and I will be glad to deliver anything that people will not have a chance to pick up at Oshkosh. I spend most of my time at Brodhead looking a cores, and running seminars on topics like weight and balance. It is a far more relaxed setting than Oshkosh for covering technical questions. If you are a Piet builder and would like to pick up something special like a motor mount, now is the time to order it in advance. All of our standard off the shelf items will be in the trailer.
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We move 90 miles up the road to outdoor Oshkosh display space #616 in the north aircraft display area (Home builts directly across from Zenith, were we have been the last several years) on Sunday morning. Airventure starts the next day July 28th through August 3rd. We will have a full commercial display with almost every part in the catalog on hand and for sale. We are planning on manning the tent 9-5 for regular hours, but I will be hanging out late into the night most evenings in a relaxed social setting. If you look at this link to last years Brodhead and Oshkosh, you can get some idea of the feel of the events: Brodhead, Oshkosh and Beyond 2013. Other companies tend to man their booth with salesmen who can wait to bug out at exactly 5pm. I am just the opposite, where I like to kick back with friends, new and old, and hang out in lawn chairs until it’s dark. I am always glad to look at any core engine or part, see and collection of builders photos, or answer any question. I am driving 12,000 pounds of truck trailer and parts 1,300 miles to a 30’x40′ piece of grass I rented for a week for $3K, I am going to spend the maximum amount of time on site, not the minimum. I am usually the very last vendor to leave on the last day. Also get a look at the old photos at this link: 90 Days to Oshkosh 2014.
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Corvair College #30 is at the Zenith Factory in Mexico MO September 16th-18th. These are the three days just before the Factory’s 23rd annual open house: http://www.zenithair.com/events.htm. We will be staying all the way through the open house, but to allow everyone to do both, we are making sure the events are back to back, but don’t overlap. I have spoken with a number of Corvair/Zenith pilots who will be flying in for this event and staying for the open house. We had a very productive and fun College #26 at the same setting last year, and we are just fine tuning it this year, and adding a large dose of late night social stuff and more flying planes to the event. We had no registration last year, but this year it will be a regular event with food and drink provided for a small sign up fee. We will have the sign up page functioning shortly. A number of the builders with flying planes have told me that they are looking forward to Mexico because it is a lot less pressure and expense than flying into Airventure, and you have the freedom of a casual setting to hangout or go fly, what ever you like, things being more relaxed fun. I am looking forward to this. As always Sebastien Heintz, president of Zenith has made very clear that all builders are welcome, not just his Zenith customers. I think that says a lot about the Heintz family support of all homebuilders.
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October in California? This has come back up again. First, let me say that I don’t think we can get a full college done this year on the West Coast. But lately we have again been looking into having several small events in a single week in the Golden state, and maybe making an appearance at the Copper State fly-in. If we do anything in California, my #1 choice is to have it at Steve Glover’s Hangar in Chino. I have spoken with Dan Weseman, and he has actually considered flying the Panther out for this; we have several other people like Woody Harris and Andy Elliott who can fly in. But keep in mind that there are a lot of logistics to anything on the other side of the continent, and there are only 7 weeks between College #30 and #31 in which to put something in California. There is also the little matter that College #30 is 1,200 miles from us, and #31 is about 350, so it is a lot of packing, traveling and planning. I like the idea, but I don’t want to bite off too much. We will keep builders posted and have an answer by the end of Oshkosh.
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Corvair College #31 will be in Barnwell South Carolina, November 7th -9th. This will be an unprecedented 5th College at one location. We keep going back because it is an excellent location and P.F. Beck and crew really get it right every time. Go to this link: Corvair College History….in photos, scroll down and click on any of the links to the Barnwell colleges, #’s 19, 21, 24 and 27. There were outstanding events. This is the Year end social event also, where we award The Cherry Grove Trophy. Again, the registration page for this college will be up shortly. While the event is fun, Barnwell is a very productive setting where a great number of engines have been assembled and test run. The all time record for running the most engines is still held by College #17 (http://www.flycorvair.com/cc17.html) in Orlando, which was a 4 day event. In speaking with a number of builders who have already begun planning for College #31, we have a good chance to break the record from #17. Don’t miss it.
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Above, 601 builder Steve Sims of Florida assumes the famed “Superman Position” to celebrate the first run of his engine at Corvair College #17. This is where you lie prone on the bed rail of the pickup truck the run stand is bolted to, and “Fly” behind it, in the prop blast of your Corvair engine. Steve is now flying this same engine in his 601HDS.
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There are some places in the country were you can pay to learn how to assemble a Lycoming kit you buy. Sounds great, but somehow I suspect that they have rules against pulling a “superman” at their test facility. You are not actually old until you are too old to have fun. -ww.
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