An airline pilot’s return to GA begins with a first-time visit to Oshkosh

“AirVenture absolutely lived up to the hype.”

That was said by airline pilot Dan Cook during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2023 as he reflected on his first time at the world’s largest fly-in convention and air show.

“I had known about Oshkosh ever since learning to fly in 1985,” he said. “It was like a mythical land that was on my bucket list to visit, but I always had to work in July due to a low seniority number.”

A professional pilot for 35 years and now a check airman for a major airline, Cook finally arranged for his first-ever summer vacation and headed to Oshkosh with his family — wife Anna and their two sons, Joshua, 16, and Nathan, 14. Anna’s father, Mark Wilson, also joined them for the week.

The trip to AirVenture involved 14 hours of driving from Signal Mountain, Tennessee, a suburb of Chattanooga. In Chicago they picked up a 36-foot travel trailer loaned by an airline co-worker. Having completed a seven month tour of the west in 2019, life in an RV is nothing new to the Cooks, who homeschool their sons.

In order to secure a good site at EAA’s Camp Scholler, the Cooks arrived several days before the show officially opened on July 24. In spite of having more than 13,000 sites available, the campground quickly reached capacity and spaces were added.

The Cook family quickly fell into their individual AirVenture daily routines.

Dan attended forums on aircraft ownership, which he plans to pursue, while Anna and Joshua volunteered several days at KidVenture, where Joshua showed the young attendees how to rivet. His goal is to attend the Air Force Academy.

Nathan is the family’s aviation historian, says Dan, who is amazed at his son’s knowledge of aircraft. As an example, Nathan can explain all the variants of Corsair fighters from World War II, which were among the warbirds featured this year. He hopes to become a fighter pilot someday.

In one of those “only at Oshkosh” moments, as Dan was talking to the owner of a beautifully restored Cessna 190 radial engine classic, he suddenly realized they had flown together years ago in the cockpit of an Airbus airliner.

As a family, the Cooks enjoyed watching the daily air shows, and especially the Wednesday night show featuring after-dark aerobatics and fireworks. They judged Nathan Hammond and his “Ghost Writer” Super Chipmunk as the best act.

With obvious regret, Dan said he never made it through all the commercial displays.

“I didn’t see even a third of what was there,” he said.

That led him to offer this piece of advice for those attending AirVenture for the first time: “The air show grounds are huge, and everyone needs a bike, so you don’t have to depend on the shuttle buses.”

Will the Cooks return to AirVenture next year?

“Absolutely,” says Dan. “It was more than expected.”

Meanwhile, Cook, 56, plans to get back involved with general aviation and “fun flying” by renewing his CFI certificate and teaching his sons to fly.

And, if the right situation presents itself, he’s ready to explore an aircraft partnership.