Just got back from Oshkosh. Engine purred sweetly with no squaks except for a tiny coolant leak noticed while cowl was off at Osh.  Was due to a loose SS hose clamp on the 5/16" air vent line at top of engine.  I've been meaning to replace all those screw type hose clamps with Gates PowerGrip heat shrink type like the ones I used on the larger coolant hoses.  Maybe I'll actuall get it done now.

 

   Flew low and slow (135 - 145 mph ground speed) on way up due to high head winds above.   The last 250 miles or so was great fun since it was over the endless corn fields at about 50 feet.  Not many obstacles there but does requires a sharp watch for power lines, cell towers and wind power farms (lots of these are springing up since my last trip 2 years ago).  The Garmin 496 warned of every obstacle except for telephone poles.  XM weather was worth it's weight in gold too.  

 

Got to see many of the people I've met here on Flyrotary.  Dennis H. flew his RV-7A there too so had lots of good company.  There was a total of 5 Mazda rotary powered planes that I saw this year.  Rotamax was there with their engine on a Saddler Vampire but it still is not flying for some reason. 

 

I thought the economy and gas price would hold attendance down but not so.  More planes there than ever and crowds were heavy as usual.  They consumed millions of $3.25 cups of Pepsi too.    

 

Flight back to Shady Bend was high and fast since winds were still high out of the north.  Flew at 15,500 burning 6.4 GPH with a ground speed between 190 and 210 mph.  Total Hobbs time for trip was 15.4 hours (includes ground taxi times)  and total fuel burned on trip was 90.1 gallons.  Total miles flown was 2150.  Average MPG figures out to 23.8 mpg.  Used 10% Ethanol gas for first tank load (Florida mandated all gas to have it :>(  )  and all Mogas for rest of trip except for a 3 gallon 100LL top off at Osh ($5.44 a gal )   

 

All in all, a good trip but I was very ready to head home after 6 days.  Every pilot should see it at least once.

 

Tracy