AirVenture 2001, celebrating the countdown to the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers “First Flight”, chose as its theme “Aviation Firsts”. Not to be outdone, Bonanzas to Oshkosh XII celebrated its own list of firsts.

For the first time the flight was delayed by weather, did not depart on the runway to which it taxied, lined up without benefit of ground crew and did not follow the programmed route. It was the first flight in a light airplane for ABS staff member Peggy Fuksa, the first time we had two Pioneer Princess cruises on Lake Winnebago and the first time we had embroidered polo shirts. Another first, a V-tail did not lead the formation (but it was chaperoned by a pair of V35B's, Wayne on the left and “Old Bob” Siegfried on the right).

Greenwood again offered formation training, both initial and advanced. Participating were Wayne Collins, Mike Babler, Elliott Schiffman, Pat Byrne, Tom Kendall, Jim Lane, Rob Mortara and Robert Mark. Two ship formation emphasized station keeping and transitioning from left to right wing and back as well as break and rejoin. By the end of the week all were sufficiently advanced to fly an eight-plane formation over a town function.

Subsequently, regional formation practices were held at EWB (MA), ABE (PA) and GSO (NC).

Early arrivals at Rockford enjoyed the hospitality suite at HoJo, with appetizers supplied by Goodrich Avionics, our prime sponsor, along with abundant beer, wine and soft drinks. We trashed the planned group dinner. Last fall I was promised a full menu and a reasonable seating time. The restaurant belatedly changed to a limited menu (after first insisting they could only serve pizza to the group) and a later seating time. I sensed a lack of accommodation or desire to have us. Such are the problems of Saturday night when restaurants generally have no need of additional customers. We were able to salvage the hospitality room at the motel by last minute negotiating.

The day of the formation flight dawned ominously. The air was stifling hot, humid and visibly unstable. An 11:30 briefing revealed a north-south line of thunderstorms destined to arrive at OSH at the same time as our scheduled 3:00 arrival (it did), but the field VFR if we arrived about 4:30. The briefing was probably the worst service I ever had. I informed the briefer of our route, that I was leading 80 aircraft in formation, and that VFR was mandatory. What followed was abysmal. “There is a front with thunderstorms due to arrive at OSH about the same time as you.” “What time do you expect the front to pass” “About 3:30.” “What's behind the front?” “A lot of rain.” “Is it IFR behind the front?” “Let's see. Yes, it is.” “How many miles behind the front do you need to go to find stations reporting VFR?” “Let's see. About 150-200 miles.” “Look at the easterly movement of the front and try to tell me when you think the VFR area will reach OSH.” And so it went with the briefer volunteering nothing and me needing to extract every little bit of information. With the information available we proceeded with the full noon briefing, delaying the flight to an ETD of 3:30 with an abbreviated briefing for 3:00.

One of our members located a weather radar computer for me to see. I was aghast. The weather briefer failed to mention that the north-south line of thunderstorms looped west for two states in an impenetrable line between RFD and OSH. I began watching the radar updates every six minutes and pessimistic was, perhaps, the best of the emotions I felt.  I called a core group of seasoned veterans to meet around the radar screen at 2:45 with a decision to be made by 2:55. At 2:50 it looked hopeless. A solid line of thunderstorms, hundreds of miles long, lay in our path with new cells blossoming here and there. Phone calls revealed elsewhere a few clouds at 2000 and a scattered layer at 2700. HoJo put aside enough rooms for us for the night. Preparing to cancel, a backward glance at the scope at 2:53 amazingly showed an area of dissipation in the line, a gap we could use and no new cells forming. We made a quick call to the tower that we were “GO” with a request to inform Madison that we might need to divert. We had come within two minutes of canceling.

The second briefing stressed the unpredictability of the flight and cautioned all who were uneasy to cancel and make their own way to Ripon. This was no time to exceed one's limitations.

We taxied to RW 25 with the winds 250° at 6 knots. Perfect. When about a third had taxied into position tower announced: “Winds now 040° at 16.” As another third taxied into position I heard: ”Winds now 060° gusting to 26.” When Bonanza tail taxied into position the winds remained gusting at our backs. I slowly taxied off the next exit and back onto the end of RW 7 with 70+ aircraft trailing behind. I came to a stop facing aircraft still taxiing off. In a wonderful show of skill, all lined up three abreast, this time without the aid of linemen and cones. The added time to change direction on the runway was actually helpful. It let the front pass further east. When I first lined up the radar showed us needing to pass west of RFD VOR. Now our open path was almost directly towards OSH. Taking off toward the cell that had caused the dramatic and sudden wind shear, a turn north at 600 feet towards brightness and we were on our way. Using a storm scope, a Palm Pilot tuned to live weather radar and help from tower, the flight was relatively uneventful and fairly smooth, but we were on our programmed course only about 40 percent of the time.