To celebrate 50 consecutive years of fly-in conventions in Oshkosh, we’re featuring Stories of Oshkosh told by attendees remembering their special moments at EAA’s long-standing home. If you or someone you know would like to share your own Story of Oshkosh, email editorial@eaa.org.
Doug Doers had his first solo at the U.S. Army Helicopter Flight School in 1968, which was also the year that he got interested in building an airplane and, through some of the local people living in Franklin, Wisconsin, he found out about EAA. Doug decided to visit his local chapter there; he now serves as Chapter 838 president and has about 5,500 hours of rotorcraft time and 1,200 hours fixed-wing time. Doug holds a commercial rotorcraft certificate and private pilot certificate.
Doug’s first year attending EAA Oshkosh was in 1971. When he first came, he was surprised at how many airplanes were present.
“There were about 10,000 airplanes,” Doug said. “The sheer number of airplanes and designs was impressive.”
Doug occasionally visits other air shows like the SUN ’n FUN Aerospace Expo, but his favorite is EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.
“I find Oshkosh to be the most informative [and] the most well-rounded with the most aircraft and knowledgeable people,” Doug said.
During the mid-1980s Doug saw an airplane at AirVenture that would forever stand out as his all-time favorite.
“I do remember one aircraft that I really was impressed with, and that was the [Beech] Starship,” Doug said. “It was a unique airplane, it had a very unique sound when it flew and it was one of the first composites that was commercialized.”
Doug also recalled the year 1987 as being a memorable AirVenture year for him.
“I went to Oshkosh looking for an airplane that I wanted to build, and I had been looking at the Long EZs, the Velocitys, and the Cozys,” Doug said. “I met Danny Maher in 1987 who was the designer of the Velocity aircraft and I was impressed with the aircraft.”
Doug said he particularly liked that it had four seats.
“My wife at the time said, ‘If you’re going to put all the effort into building something, I want to be able to go along,’” Doug said. “So, when we saw the Velocity, we fell in love with it.”
Doug said that EAA is a great resource for anyone thinking about building an airplane.
“You can talk to other builders, unfortunately the manufacturers of the kits don’t really tell you how much work is involved, but when you talk to one of the builders they’ll tell you, ‘Yeah it says 1,500 hours, but it took me 2,500 hours,’” he said.
Doug enjoys coming back to AirVenture year after year to see old friends, chat with homebuilders, and to keep up with what’s new in general aviation.
“One of the reasons I love going to AirVenture is to talk to the actual users and builders of the airplanes,” Doug said. “I like seeing what’s new for airplanes out there, I’m always keeping up with what’s new in avionics and it’s a great place to go and get ideas without paging through many pages of the internet.”