Here is an excerpt from Volume One of "Around the Field: The stories of the people places and planes of the Oshkosh Fly-in". Excerpt from July 1998.
Do you think that the folks who work at the fly-in every year get jaded? Nope. Just talk to Jenny Dyke, Chairman of EAA Forum Tent #9. "I've got this guy speaking in my tent who is 98 years old and still has his medical."
Ralph Charles worked for the Wright brothers in the 20s, has designed numerous airplanes, and is a gold mine of aviation stories. "I'd love to take him home and have him tell me stories every night," Jenny says.
According to Jenny, Charles is quite a character. His private strip lands down a hill to the bottom where he must veer to miss the barn, then roll up another hill to slow down. He makes no drawings of his designs. It's all in my head, he says, I think about it and I go do it.
Charles is speaking in EAA Forums Tent #9 at 1:00 p.m.
For the past three years the Homebuilt/Custom-built judges have been recording scores and results, out on the field, using small handheld computers.
The project is spearheaded by Bob Reece, Chairman of Homebuilt/Custombuilt Judging, and an EAA National Director. Bob and his team of volunteer computer engineers created the software that lets judges enter their scores directly on computer using a "stylus" pen.
Every few hours the judges visit the judging headquarters where the scoring is transfered to a central database. From there the information is automatically compiled, and reports are created that show the progress of the judging process.
Using the earlier, paper-based system, says Reece, "we can no longer do all the judging in the available time." He says that the new system is four times as fast as the old one.
Even the most reluctant of old-timers are embracing the new system. One veteran judge was persuaded to try the new system alongside his old reliable ring-binder paper method. After a few hours the judge marched into the judging trailer, threw the old black binder across the trailer, and yelled, "I don't want to see that thing no more."
This year 3COM has become a corporate sponsor of AirVenture Oshkosh '98 and donated 100 of their Palm Pilot Pro handheld computers for the project, replacing the previous units. All the other AirVenture judging groups, except for Warbirds, are sampling the system this year with the intention of adopting it fully next year.
Learn more about Volume One of "Around the Field: The stories of the people places and planes of the Oshkosh Fly-in" and other books by Jack Hodgson here.
General Aviation, Flying, Airplanes, EAA, Experimental Aircraft Association, Wittman Field
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