EAA AirVenture 2015
Oh. My. Gosh. How do I condense two days of airplanes and more than 2000 photos / videos into one post?
I saw the only remaining airworthy B-29 Superfortress, “FIFI” – not only on the ramp, but also taking off:
I saw an Airbus A350 – not only a new plane, but a type so new that the example at the air show was filled with testing instrumentation and a whole engineering consoleĀ installed in the coach section for monitoring it all:
I saw more than 20 P-51 Mustangs:
I saw a family’s DC-3 parked on the grass and their tents under it:
I saw a replica of the Wright Flyer Model B and one of the Bleriot monoplane:
I saw the most *amazing* air show, too – if you consider that any air show you’ve ever seen is a Fourth of July fireworks show, then the air show here was the fireworks finale. At one point there were more than 50 (yes, fifty) planes in the air at the same time, ranging from multiple flights of 12 or 16 planes to single planes, all flying over the runway at the same time. This photo shows about 42 of them (including the planes that have just flown out of the top of the view, leaving their smoke trails behind).
I got up close and personal with a (the?) Goodyear Blimp – uh, “Goodyear Zeppelin”. It was tethered to a mobile mooring post and rode low enough for me to rub it with my head.
Although I didn’t take advantage of the offers, I could have flown in a B-17, a Ford Tri-Motor, and/or a M*A*S*H-era (Korean War) helicopter. There were small planes (ultralights) and big planes (the Airbus and a B-52); float planes and amphibians; monoplanes and biplanes; single- and multi-engine planes; prop jobs and jets; and (literally) hundreds of planes parked all over the place because their owners had flown in from all over and decided to camp. There were even planes that flew in every day from other local airports – as we drove home today, we passed the Fond du Lac airport where we saw a fair number of airplane campers.
And for the piece de resistance, I saw the Icon 5 sport amphibian. I. WANT. THIS. PLANE. I *REALLY* WANT THIS PLANE.
It’s a two-seater. It’s comfortable on land and on the water. It’s transportable – you fold the wings, put it on its trailer, and haul it home to your mansion. It’s only $189,000 and for the duration of the AirVenture, a $2000 deposit (it’s normally $5K) will reserve you a delivery date sometime in 2019.
If any of you has a spare $189K you’d be willing to throw my way, I promise to give you a ride in my brand new Icon when it’s delivered. š
The Peripatetic Traveler 
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