Let’s go somewhere

The big story last week was EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2021. Heck, the big story this week is AirVenture.

When massive numbers of aviation enthusiasts gather in numbers so large they actually impact the economy of an entire region, that’s big news. As it should be.

How big a crowd might that be, you ask? Consider this: Rob Sussman, a reporter for WTAQ in Wisconsin, reports that more than 600,000 people attended the big show in 2021. That number equates to pretty much every pilot registered with the FAA. Yet we know the airlines kept flying, CFIs continued to meet with their clients, and UPS and FedEx still delivered packages from continent to continent.

It would be easy to take away from that information a very interesting theory. A significant number of attendees at AirVenture are not pilots. They’re aviation enthusiasts, curious gawkers, and all-around interested folks. But with the number of attendees to the event roughly matching the number of pilots in the U.S., it’s an inescapable conclusion that aviation’s appeal extends beyond the pilot population alone. The love of flight and things that fly has wheedled its way into the hearts and minds of others as well.

I take that as very good news.

In 2019, the last year for which I have access to reliable records, there were approximately 10,000 aircraft that flew in for AirVenture. If I’m reading the stats right, that number is exclusive of the nearly 3,000 show airplanes on site for the week. That suggests a whole lot of people traveled via general aviation to the largest aviation event in North America. They didn’t all come from the local neighborhood, either.

Often, far too often in my opinion, pilots earn their certificate then spend their full flying careers flying exclusively in their local area. Maybe they stray a couple hundred miles this way or that, but they rarely leave their home time zone.

The reasons are as diverse as the pilots themselves. Renters can have difficulty finding an aircraft they can take on an overnight trip. Owners sometimes limit themselves to shorter hops for fear of having a maintenance issue far from home. More than a few concern themselves with the almost unavoidable challenge of being grounded by weather for days at a time. And there are, of course, those who simply lack the confidence to plan and execute a flight that crosses multiple state lines, or international borders.

I was one of those pilots for a time. We all were. Everybody starts with a solo around the pattern, then a few relatively short solo cross-country flights. Since our instructors rarely walk us through a truly long cross-country flight, often because they’ve never done one themselves, we limit ourselves.

This leads to a wide assortment of general aviation pilots who haven’t yet experienced the joy or the adventure those thousands of AirVenture visitors have a front row seat to. Long distance travel in a small aircraft is far more enjoyable, and memorable, than you might think.

So far in 2021, I have managed to travel from Houston, Texas, to central Florida in a piston powered airplane. From there I flew on to Maryland, up to Connecticut, and back to Maryland again. More than 2,000 nautical miles covered at the leisurely pace of a Cessna 152. Some might think of that as torture, being cooped up in a tiny two-seater for days on end. Me? I think of it as a series of adventures that I remember with great fondness.

I had the good fortune to be stuck on the ground in Jennings, Louisiana, for three dreary days, where I met some of the nicest, kindest people you could ever share a conversation with. I also got to explore a part of the country where I rarely spend much time. That weather hold was a win in my book.

Due to time constraints and weather-related issues I wasn’t able to stop everywhere I hoped to. Twice I missed the opportunity to alight on the field at Van Sant in Pennsylvania. But it remains on my list of places to visit. I’m confident I’ll get there one day.

On the plus side I was able to visit with Rich and Steve in Connecticut, my first roommate and the lead guitar player in my first serious band, respectively.

Pat Brown, my professional counterpart in Texas, introduced me to the culinary delights of his corner of the world, and for the first time since I was a teenager I had the opportunity to spend four entire days with my 85-year-old mother — a visit she continues to glow about./html

For the first time in 30 years I landed at Hartford-Brainard Airport, the field where I soloed in a PA28-161 so long ago.

I followed the white sands of the Gulf Coast from Texas to the Nature Coast of Florida. The green, seemingly endless forests and farmlands of the southeast revealed themselves to me as I passed overhead, barely above traffic pattern altitude.

On other occasions I climbed to catch a beneficial tailwind, sailing along above the clouds through a wonderland of white and gray.

Yes, it’s worth the trouble to go somewhere. To travel by air with the freedom to go this way or that on a whim. To land on a grass strip for fuel just because you can. Or to set your sights on a destination you’ve dreamed of for years, but never thought was within your reach.

The whole world is ours if we seek it out. One hop at a time. With a mindset that allows us to even enjoy the weather delays and unexpected diversions.

Now, how do we gain access to an aircraft that will allow us to do all this? It’s a worthy question. Let’s discuss that next time.