July 29, 2010 - Oshkosh to Essex Skypark

Thursday morning was spent packing, taking down the tent, loading the airplane, getting my refund for camping, etc. 

A lot of people had the same idea.  There was a pretty good line of airplanes waiting to take off.  When the guy on the radio said Silver and Black RV cleared for takeoff, I immediately pushed in the throttle and went roaring down the runway.  As I headed west staying low, I could see a line of planes overhead on the approach to land on 27.  It would be a busy day for the pink-shirted Oshkosh controllers. 

 
I flew south to Chicago, staying over the water to avoid the Class B airspace.
 
I passed a military liaison L-3 off my left wing down low, obviously also on his way home from Oshkosh. 
 
I believe that is Wrigley field off my right wing. 
 
 
 
I stopped at Porter County Airport in Indiana.  I've stopped here on both my previous Oshkosh flights.  I like Porter County because the local EAA chapter mans a food tent, the airport staff likes EAAers, the facility is very nice and the gas is reasonably priced.  Porter County is about an hours flight from Oshkosh in an RV. 
 
The EAA Chapter Tent where Brats and Burgers may be had. 
 
I checked weathermeister.com which said the best tailwinds were up high.  After takeoff I climbed all the way up to 11,500, put on the autopilot and boomed along at 210mph. 
 
There was a scattered layer below me almost the entire way. 
 
I knew there would be weather around Maryland and sure enough I started to see some buildups. 
 

I didn't start my descent until about 10-20 miles from Frederick.  I actually saw a jet airliner pass below me -- the first time that I've ever seen that.

At one point, I had my nose down pretty low so I could get under a cloud layer.  My true airspeed was right at VNE (velocity never exceed, which is 230 mph in my RV-7).  I glanced at the GPS and my groundspeed was 258! 

 
I was really honking on the final leg from Frederick into Essex.  Here is a very familiar site, flying up the Back River with Essex Skypark dead ahead. 
 

Unloading the RV. 

It only took me four hours of flying time to get home from Oshkosh. 

I logged 33.7 hours on this trip out to Idaho and back.  The RV performed flawlessly.  What a great plane!

 
 
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