Bonanzas to Oshkosh XX was HUGE! 136 airplanes took off from Rockford. That's 4 more than the official NAA World Record for a civilian formation, which we set in 1995. There were only a handful of RFD no-shows, so we expected less than the record, or we might have sought sanction. A plethora of last-minute registrations made record-seeking arrangements a no-go, anyway.

There were 20 Barons and a King Air - by far the largest number of twins we have ever flown. More important than the number is the fact there's a new bit of camaraderie developing among the multi-engine set.

Only 135 landed at Oshkosh, however. Richard Schmidt, Baron Leader, had a landing gear malfunction after take-off at RFD. After calmly trouble-shooting the situation he decided to divert to his home airport in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He led the Barons most of the way to Oshkosh and smoothly handed leadership to his wingman, first time B2OSHer Richard Fenati. Fenati led the rest of the way and did great. Schmidt landed at home and the right main gear collapsed on roll out. Damage was minimal, considering, and was repaired in a couple weeks. Schmidt made it to Oshkosh by car later in the day.

Richard Schmidt's handing of the entire scenario was cool, calm, and 100% professional in every respect. In fact, he could have flown another few miles, dumped his Baron in Lake Michigan, and we would all be calling him “Sully, Jr.”.

There were two “issues” with B2OSH XX: Substantial winds and a lot of radio chatter. Near RFD, the wind from the northwest and a closed Runway 1 caused a Runway 25 take-off, which necessitates a near-180 degree turn at the first waypoint. The whole parade was blown to the south on climb-out and then back nearly over KRFD after the first turn. We can prevent that from happening again by flying ‘track' instead of ‘heading'.

At KOSH, the wind had shifted from northwest to WNW, taking us right up to the limit on crosswind component for the first several elements. There were some ‘sporty' landings, but everything was safely managed.

Radio chatter: Upon landing, the general consensus was that we jabbered too much on the radio. However, we need to consider a few things before fully accepting that denigration. First, there were more of us. 50% more aircraft should result in 50% more ‘good' radio calls. Second, a pair of home-builts were on our frequency for almost 15 minutes. We are working with the FCC to get a for-real discrete frequency assigned. And, third, Richard Schmidt's gear problem caused some ‘good' calls and several “Helpful Hannah” calls that should not have been made. We have a plan to deal with similar issues should they occur. On balance, I think radio discipline was OK. Not great, but certainly not bad.

Good things about the flight: 136 of us were orderly and safety was never in doubt. Overall flight dynamics were pretty good – excellent considering the winds. We had a new take-off interval scheme that was supposed to give our most experienced flight leaders an extra 15 seconds (30 seconds total), so they had room to “fix” spacing issues. The flag man got out of sequence and the wrong guys got the extra time. Even with the miscues, there was time added to the take-off (one of the goals of the scheme) and that was effective. Accordion effect was managed better despite the larger number of elements. The snake at POBER was there, but not nearly as “coiled” as the 2008 serpent. There were 2 go-arounds. Both were very good calls and managed excellently – especially by the Hawker Beechcraft factory 3-ship that brought up the rear. Peter Kennedy, flying the lead Bonanza, had complete situational awareness and deftly identified and allowed the go-arounds to follow the Barons before proceeding inbound. The Beechcraft factory 3-ship then performed a very cool high-speed low pass and overhead break to land. The three pilots want to do it again. We'll see if Hawker Beechcraft's OSH 2010 plans include it.

B2OSH XX was led by The Sopranos, with Robert Mark front & center. Members of the Sopranos Flying Team occupied the first two elements. Element three had one more, plus Elliott and Paul are from Massachusetts & Rhode Island – close enough to New Joisey to be “honorary” Sopranos. That makes 9 Sopranos up front. There would have been more, but we needed the others to lead elements elsewhere. Leadership is about more than sitting in the left seat of the first aircraft. The Sopranos took their leadership role very seriously and punctuated it by commissioning, minting, and giving Challenge Coins to everyone. The coins are flat-out beautiful and they were certainly not cheap. 150 of them! Google ‘Challenge Coin' to learn what the tradition is all about, but suffice to say, nobody will ever surpass the Sopranos' effort in the area of “Cool Factor”. I take my B2OSH Challenge Coin with me every time I am going to be around fellow B2OSHers. I get a free cup of coffee EVERY time! (No beer – gotta fly home) Thank you, Sopranos!

Party reports: All our gatherings were once again terrific, but there is a sad note.

L-3 Communications sponsored the Hangar Party, which Jessie Siegfried & hubby Bob II put on. It was another fun evening, as usual. Excellent food and lots of “buzz” in the hangar as people connected or reconnected. Everyone seemed very pleased with the shirt quality & color and the hats & visors were well-received, also. The new style staff shirts were also well-received.

Hawker Beechcraft picked up the tab for the Saturday breakfast prior to the B2OSH briefing. Joyce Sweeney, the nice lady who owns the airport terminal lunch counter & snack bar, prepared an excellent buffet! Saturday AM meal has been a real problem in past years. Since we got Joyce on board, problem solved COMPLETELY! Thank you, Beechcraft! And, thank you, Joyce!

Kevin O'Halloran bought us all pizza, Margaritas, beer, and soft drinks for consumption in the North 40 after landing at OSH. 120 pizzas! One Hundred Twenty. And 25 gallons of Margaritas. I don't text or tweet, but OMG!

Our big party & raffle on Sunday had a rain delay. A big downpour that had everyone mashing into each other getting under the big tent. Thank goodness for the tent. Tom Poberezny always attends (we ARE important!) and this year we made a strong effort to get sponsors & donors there to present their prizes. It slowed down the raffle a bit, but we believe this is the right thing to do. We are working on ways to make the raffle more efficient without giving our sponsors the bum's rush. Speaking of sponsors, GAMI sponsors the big B2OSH party. GAMI has sponsored for many years. We can't begin to express enough appreciation. The food was great, of course. What do you expect when the Sopranos make the party arrangements?

beer@osh II and the Ice Cream Social were on Monday. They were scheduled for after the Doobies Brothers concert, but Kevin, and Biermeisters Mike Caban & Al DeMarzo just couldn't wait. So, things were in full swing when we returned from the Doob's OUTSTANDING set in Aero Shell Square. Who would guess that those guys are better as 60 year old men than they were in their 20's? The concert featured a couple big screens so those in the back could see what was happening on stage. The cameramen focused on revelers in the “preferred viewing area” from time to time. John & Erika Wiebener got a lot of “air time” on the big screens – dancing with each other and just rocking out. Deb was shown a few times, too, but Erika was the star of the show (aside from the Doobies, of course). She & her Mom can dance!

Back to beer@osh. What a fantastic party! Mike & Al grilled excellent brats, with terrific trimmings & condiments. What do you expect in Wisconsin? And plenty of excellent beers – the beer ‘overage' lasted the entire week. No drunkenness all week. We are a GREAT crowd!

While beer@osh was getting started, Kevin served ice cream to the kids on the side of the tent. He invited the kids from the Cessnas to Oshkosh camp and they all came over with their parents. The C2O group then reciprocated by inviting our kids to watch Disney movies projected on the white wall of their tent. It was wonderful! We have made arrangements to do the same in 2010, and we will invite the Mooney Caravan & Cherokees to Oshkosh kids, too. Kevin O'Halloran is THE MAN!

The sad note concerns the B2OSH Raffle & Party: Lightspeed donated a Zulu headset and Vicki Cruse was sponsored by Lightspeed, so I asked her to attend and present the prize. Despite her very busy schedule, she agreed. Vicki was 2007 US Unlimited Aerobatic Champion and a member of the 2009 US team for the World Championships. She was also president of the International Aerobatics Club, the sanctioning body for all world class aerobatic events. In other words, Vicki was seriously “in demand” at Oshkosh. She made time for us and stuck around to talk to the young ladies in our group.

Vicki Cruse was killed two weeks later at the World Aerobatics Championships in England. The final report is not complete, but it appears a temporary rudder pedal modification failed and she was unable to recover from a dive that was part of her routine. The pedals were modified to accommodate Vicki's five foot, zero inch tall stature. She was flying someone else's plane because, as a true leader, she volunteered to leave her plane home when it became apparent there not enough funds to transport all the team's aircraft. Vicki Cruse was one of the finest pilots in the world and a tireless worker on behalf of her comrades. I did not know her personally, but by all accounts she was a real sweetheart, as well. Before she left our party for another commitment, she told me she would fix her 2010 OSH schedule so she could stick around, eat with us, party with us, and hang out with the kids for a longer time.

We also lost Jim Sanders the week before B2OSH XX. We have mentioned many times how important he was – and still is – to Bonanzas to Oshkosh. Jim was a high-up executive at Hawker Beechcraft and a die-hard fan and participant in B2OSH. Stop by the Brown Arch Project in Oshkosh and take a look at the paving brick Jim bought to honor the accomplishments of our founder, Wayne Collins. Then look immediately to the left of that brick and read the inscription B2OSH ordered in memory of James Keith Sanders. Bricks numbered P25 & P26, near the compass rose in the center of the project.

We like to think B2OSH gets better with each effort, and in many ways we did improve. But, we can't call B2OSH XX the “best ever” because we lost two friends, including one very close one.

Larry,

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