By Matt Carruthers, EAA 123832
My name is Matt Carruthers, EAA 123832, and I am part of an aviation family. I am a third-generation pilot at 31 years old, and my three children, two girls (4 and 2 years old) and one boy (10 months old) all enjoy aviation as well.
I was introduced to AirVenture in 1995, the year after my father won a Grand Champion award for his small experimental airplane called a SuperCat. I was 5 years old, and as one would imagine, as a 5-year-old at Oshkosh, it is a very overwhelming experience. My parents were great about the whole adventure, and I got to spend a lot of time in the pedal planes and exploring KidVenture.
Fast forward several years, I am a regular attendee of AirVenture now with plans of flying my own aircraft into AirVenture 2020. For AirVenture 2019, my wife and I decided it would be a good time to bring our oldest daughter, Nikki. She loves flying and hanging out at the hangar, she even has a favorite airplane, a Grumman Albatross that lives at our home airport of 2W6. This would also be our first time enjoying Camp Scholler, as we would normally camp at a nearby campground.
Upon arriving at AirVenture 2019, we were greeted by the monsoon that closed most of the campground. We were, however, able to get in and get camp set up. Nikki enjoyed every aspect of the sights and sounds; she also got great enjoyment out of the pedal plane area. AirVenture attendees are some of the best people in aviation. Nikki enjoyed the vintage area very much and got her photo with several of her “favorites.”
With COVID-19 going on, it has given me a chance to sit down and go through some of my personal memories of AirVenture. I happened to run across a photo of myself at 5 years old, sitting in the pedal plane GeeBee. I went through my phone and found an almost identical photo of Nikki in that same pedal plane GeeBee. That is a set of memories that will stick with our family forever. AirVenture has become a cherished part of our family, and even my wife, who isn’t a huge aviation enthusiast, enjoys attending. We look forward to this event every year, and we can’t wait to bring the rest of our children!