AirVenture Adventures: Chapter 3
How Two Idiots and an Airplane Managed to Fly to Oshkosh and Back
By Dave Stanchuk, EAA 1141923, and Doug Daverne, EAA 1161768, Chapter 154 Regina
Catch up on Chapter 1 and Chapter 2… you’re going to need it!
In the process of building our RV-10 there are many decisions to make on avionics and other equipment. And, of course, the best place to make these informed decisions is at Oshkosh. Plus, it’s a lot of fun. And this was the year to actually fly in, for the first time ever. Excitement guaranteed. So, with our 1967 Cessna 172H, good old Whiskey Hotel Charlie, we planned and geared up to camp and headed out.
What you are about to read is the third and final segment of our 2024 trip account. And just to be clear, there were never any unsafe or dangerous maneuvers, flying issues, or fines involved. Just a lot of dumb stuff along the way…enjoy, and hopefully learn from our experiences.
Chapter 3: The Greatest Air Show on Earth
Settled into KOSH and Little Canada, we began our search for the answers we needed to complete our planning for the RV-10 build. Every (well, almost) vendor in the world is in town to show off their wares, near 900 in total. It’s truly mind-boggling the number and variety of airplane stuff on display. With a reported 686,000 attendees over the weeklong event, gleefully and easily wandering around the busy grounds talking to vendors, (other) airplane nuts, getting things to eat and drink, and generally just being a little kid excited at everything you see, comfortably, is a true testament to the organization needed to pull off such an event.
More than 6,000 volunteers contribute to the success including a couple for our own: Chapter 154 members Marral, EAA 1165216, and Mark Meadows, EAA 1165216, spent a couple of weeks again this year helping out in the fracas. Mark scootered up to say ‘hi’ one day after he spotted us from his flightline duties of wrangling airplanes on the ground. Then a couple days later, Marral offered us a very welcome ride in her mobility assisting golf cart as we returned from the very long walk to check up on WHC, as long as we “…limp a little bit when you get off…” We didn’t have to pretend — I think that was the near 30,000 steps on the near 30°C-day. Good jobs, guys!
This year EAA went to particular effort to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Prominent in the show centre static display area was a WWII-era Lancaster bomber from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, and an RCAF F-18 that participated in various air shows and demonstrations throughout the week.
And of course, the Snowbirds were in attendance. Three spectacular shows on Friday through Sunday capped off a wondrous week. EAA Canada Council’s Thursday morning pancake breakfast included a great presentation by some of the Snowbird pilots and ground crew regaling the efforts and logistics needed to get the nine-plane formation (plus two flying spares) to work and move around the country and the world. Of course, the main questions were around the recent announcements regarding the Tutor jets’ future: Basically, they have enough spare airframes and parts squirrelled away in a warehouse to keep them flying for likely at least another decade if need be. And they’re starting an upgrade path to help with that: Garmin avionics are replacing the steam gauges, with two complete already. All fascinating stuff.
The EAA Canada Council did an outstanding job with their presence in their new air-conditioned tent, along with COPA. Canadian vendors and presentations contributed to a busy place throughout the week whenever we stopped by. Particularly interesting to us was C-GROK: Les Kearny’s RV-10, based at Springbank, just west of Calgary, on static display at the Canada booth. He’s a serial 10 builder, on his fourth (!), so we garnered a wealth of information to help us with our build and made some decisions based on his recommendations. See https://rv10.ca/ for more.
COPA had a well-attended BBQ at SOS Brothers, an outdoor bar set up just for the week every year, just outside of the AirVenture grounds. Great meal, prizes, and camaraderie among fellow Flying Canucks. Best was near the end when they realized they had some of the beer left over, “I have an announcement, FREE BEER up front. Please don’t run.” While nobody was observed sprinting, there was some very polite Canadian brisk walking to the tub full of icy cold beer, especially after that long hot day of trekking around the grounds.
Another interesting encounter for us was with Big Tuna, a CH701 from Oregon that’s near the same vintage as our club project, and pretty well stock. Jon Hakala told us how he kind of accidentally got into STOL flying with it and is having a blast touring around, competing, and just having a lot of fun. And he showed us during the STOL demos at the ultralight field. Very impressive.
So, after Friday’s Snowbirds performance, we knew it was getting time to go home. To allow for an early as possible exit upon KOSH opening at 06:00 Saturday, Friday morning we moved camp from our very hospitable Little Canada to under the wings of WHC. The plan was to get home in one day — kinda like the plan to get there in one day, but better…maybe.
Leg 1 of 4: Oshkosh (KOSH) to Clouquet, Minnesota (KCOQ)…sorta, not really.
Up at sunrise, tents packed away, and some free Joe (thanks Shell!) and a danish (or whatever it was) from the South 40 convenience store, it was wheels up at 07:17. The airport was not too busy yet, and really the departure procedure/NOTAM is pretty straightforward, especially for the active 18R which we were assigned. “Head south until clear of the zone. Then you’re on your own.” Or something like that — no Flight Following anywhere near Oshkosh. I don’t blame them. So straight out southbound and eventually right turn to home.
But the more northeast we got, the more the morning fog and clouds were getting lower and lower. We tried to get around some of it, but eventually decided we had to divert. “Look, it’s Eau Claire!” Ok, so we finally made KEAU (see Chapter 2). Very nice little FBO there, 50 cents off a gallon for Oshkoshers, and a crew car to drive into town for a leisurely omelet at the recommended — and what appeared to be the busiest — breakfast joint in town. It was a great way to wait for the ceilings to rise. And they did.
Leg 2 of 4: Eau Claire (KEAU) to Bemidji, Minnestoa (KBJI)…sort of, not really.
After a couple hours the ceilings were up and so were we, departing 11:26. Bemidji was the next planned fuel stop. But incoming weather again from the west with a NE-SW line of cloud and showers began to force us to a more westerly route and the home of Paul Bunyan was now off our list. Checking for somewhere else to go that had fuel, and a runway that would be accommodating for the now quite gusty winds, we picked a spot. But Dave wasn’t real crazy about a 19-knot gusty crosswind. As we were nearing it, we heard a PIREP on the CTAF that indeed the gusty south winds were not very nice there, and that Detroit Lakes (KDTL) a little further west was a better choice. Sold! KDTL’s giant 18-36 grass runway was at least 250 feet wide — we could’ve landed in almost any direction!
Safely down, it was time to make the eAPIS departure manifest and the call to CANPASS to advise of our intended arrival time back home in Regina. All good. Let’s get some fuel. As we were filling, some fella drives over and starts chatting. “Going back to Saskatchewan?” he says. “Why yes, how’d you know?” we asked. “You just look like it.” Hmmm…
Leg 3 of 4: Detroit Lakes (KDTL) to Minot, North Dakota (KMOT).
So we file a flight plan and check the weather. Oh. Oh…
As you can see above, the weather was coming in hard. It was starting to spit. We could sit here and wait it out for a couple hours or more likely the night. But there was opportunity showing in the WX radar. We decided once we got up, if we couldn’t get through, we’d turn around and sit it out at KDTL. But our informed choice to go ASAP turned out to be a good one and we made it through between the systems. Did I mention how much we love the ADS-B WX radar data? Wheels up at 14:53.
The rest of the leg to Minot was mostly uneventful as it cleared up on the other side of the weather. The toughest bit being another Hotel Charlie aircraft flying around KMOT. Kind of confusing to the poor controllers. And the repetitive “Charlie Golf Whiskey Hotel Charlie” while finally rolling off our tongues more easily, it wasn’t off most of the American ones, “Canadian aircraft registration, say again.”
Leg 4 of 4: Minot (KMOT) to Home Sweet Home Regina (CYQR).
After another fuel up with a 50 cent off pergallon Oshkosher discount, we headed back to Saskatchewan (where, apparently, we looked like we belong) leaving at 17:38. Bit of a headwind and hazy coming home but relatively smooth and uneventful entry to Canada.
After landing, we asked YQR tower where the customs building is we should pull up to, “I think that building over by the old Aerocentre with the blue roof might be it. Or they sometimes hang out at the Kreos Aviation FBO.” Well, nobody came out of said building or answered the Kreos Aviation radio frequency, so we called the CANPASS number again. Customs dude says, “Any changes to the information you gave us a few hours ago?” “Nope,” I replied. Then he gave us a file number to write down and said we were free to go. Much less intense than entering the U.S. And we are no longer abroad.
There are other stories from our trip left out for brevity: like the two dudes from Texas and their highly modified CH701s on amphib floats (see their feature article in the February 2025 Sport Aviation); how Dave found his wallet on the Wednesday inside an airsick bag; the side trip to the idyllic and relaxing Seaplane Base; the fantastic night air show; how Doug discovered he had Dave’s passport instead of his own; one night’s jarring/wide awakening 03:00 public address announcement of approaching thunderstorms and doom; and many more. Ask us someday.
So, after seven days away, 19 hours total flying, a bunch of fuel, oil, and a little bit of chaos, we managed to get to Oshkosh and back with good old Whiskey Hotel Charlie. All in all, it was a fantastic trip and one hell of an adventure to AirVenture. We recommend it to everyone.
Originally published in Chapter 154’s Leading Edge newsletter, October 2024.