rickbotha

I did my standard morning routine again this morning, moving it forward by about half an hour, to make sure that I would get a front row seat on the busiest day of the week. Apparently something like 550 000 people attend on this Saturday every year.I put my chair down and headed to the Warbirds area, for the umpteenth time, still fascinated. I noticed the pilot of the AT-6 in SAAF colours uncovering his canopy, so I headed over to have a chat with him. His name was Stan Markus, and he does not have a South African accent, much as I expected. He bought the aircraft in 2006 and left the colour scheme as he found it. In a recent overhaul of the engine, he got a South African 50C coin from our campsite ... read more

My day started a bit differently this morning. We had a group photo, and Athol Franz was being picky. The group had a great time ripping him apart. I took my standard walk down to the flightline and put my chair down in anticipation for the massive show expected the afternoon. I decided I should possibly do some memorabilia shopping before I left, so I bought myself a couple of T-Shirts, Caps, and a really interesting book on the B-29 type and its combat history. I had another walk through the warbirds area and saw that even more T-28s had arrived. I am almost prepared to saw that the T-28 is to the USA at an airshow, what the the Harvard is to South Africa at an airshow; extremely numerous. I hopped on the free Warbirds ... read more

My day started with donuts in the camp and then my usual walk out to the flightline to put my chair in place. The weather looked a bit bad, and it started raining just before I was set to walk out, but it cleared quickly, and I could continue. I stood on the observation platform for about an hour waiting for a C-5 Galaxy to come in, which never did. In the waiting I saw some Mustangs fly out, numerous civilian aircraft, and just enjoyed the atmosphere around me. I decided that I would go to the EAA Museum today. The museum is part of the airport complex, but it still required a tram and a bus to get me there. I was really impressed by the scale of the museum, especially for such a small ... read more

I have an idea that this is going to be a reasonably short entry; I am exhausted from all the walking and the sun. I had what appears to be the normal morning for me in Oshkosh. Early up and then breakfast followed by a walk to the flightline. I had a plan this morning, I would put my chair on the flight line first thing. This meant that my spot would be reserved for thhe airshow the afternoon, and no one would be walking, or standing in front of me. This went off well. I took a walk down to the warbirds area to see if anything new had arrived overnight, and as normal, something had. The aircraft that most noteable stood out was the A-36 Apache Fighter aircraft. I would have called it a ... read more

I had a wonderful evenings rest. It seems all that walking takes it out of me. Some of the other people mentioned that they had struggled due to the music and partying in the camp boma, which my tent was pitched next to, but I didnt even wake up. I seem to be in the rhythym of waking up at 5.30, which is great. I had a nice breakfast of breakfast bagels, bread rolls, and a bunch of grapes. I decided to walk down to the flight line to get an early start to my day. At the flight line, I sat at the closest cafe and had a donut whilst using the wireless and trying to upload some photos. I saw a few new aircraft that had arrived overnight and walked up to the observation ... read more

Dy 1 at EAA Airventure 2012 started off screaming; with Phil making everyone aware that he is awake and ready to start his day. I had a nice breakfast of toast and two bagels with peanut butter, and a nice cup of tea. I walked to the main gate and got there at about 6AM, when the gates open, and was informed that online ticket redeemkng was only opening at 7. I thought that this might have been a bit earlier, as even the people who hadnt bought tickets could get theirs by 6.30. It sounds like I'm moaning; I'm not. At the entrance stood a a stunning Cessna Grand Caravan Floatplane, done up with camouflage stripes; that is the aircraft you need. A long walk to the warbirds area was rewarded with the sight of ... read more

After the longest flight of my life, both literally and figuratively, I am now on US soil. In the last two hours of the flight we flew across the Great Lakes, and they are quite literally, great. The width of Lake Michigan trumps any flight across Algoa Bay. On the point of Michigan, I got to listen to "Especially in Michigan" whislt flying over Michigan, so I'm pretty chuffed, even if it actually means nothing. The flight from there was quick, ending with a shaky descent, and a bumpy, swervy landing. The process through immigration was about 5 minutes, then waited about 15 minutes for my luggage, 10 seconds through customs, and then out into the free world. I must say, I had quite a smile that crept across my face as I walked out of ... read more

This has been a long leg. The food that I said I would l judge was not at all disappointing, but as I write about food, I realise it is once again time to eat. My body clock is all weird; my wrist watch says its 11AM, wow, that means I've stoof still in time, except for the fact that I set my watch back by 7 hours. We're over Montreal, Canada now, so on the map we are slowly approaching the Great Lakes. All the big names that I've seen on the world map are now flitting by below us. I unsucessfully tried to watch a movie, but got too bored, its more entertaining peering out the window and seeing the landscape below. There is sparse cloud cover at about 10000ft, and right next to ... read more

So, as you may have guessed, I didn't manage to find that sleep I was looking for. I spent my time watching Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, and just looking into the darkness outside my window. We landed at Charles de Gaulle International, Paris at about 5.55 AM SA time. The Parisians were definately still asleep as we had to wait about 20 minutes for the disembarkation gates to be attached to the aircraft. To my surprise, when we I had to go through the gates to the duty free area, through security again, there was only one manned station out of a possible 20. I had the same experience at OR Tambo yesterday, and distinctly remember think that it would not be the same overseas; ironic. The rest of the terminal and ... read more

A very early good morning from 40000ft above the Sahara. Its been a pleasant flight thus far, watched Tintin as my first movie, and it was worth my time. I slept for about 3 hours, but I cant seem to find sleep right now. I scored it quite lucky with my seating placement; sitting at a window with no one between myself and the aisle seat. In the aisle seat I met Maies, a travel agent from Mountain View, California. Had a good chat about her experiences in Africa, South Africa, Kenya and so forth. She also invited me to the Air France Lounge in Paris as her guest, so that means free food and a shower, something that I wouldnt be getting in any other case, so that is a really nice gesture. In trying ... read more