The EAA Air Show Gets Me. Live at Osh Kosh, and despite the plane crash, this is an event that reaches out and grabs you. Acre after acre of all kinds of planes, many with pilot’s tents beneath their wings, four hangers full of aviation equipment, pilots and aircraft enthusiasts all over the place. Warbirds, jets, brand new airliners, seaplanes, experimental planes, workshops, even massage chair demonstrations! It’s all a little overwhelming for a podcaster who doesn’t fly and doesn’t know anything about aviation, except that it’s pretty cool. Then there was the speech and presentation by Bert and Dick Rutan. One comes away with a message that needs to be heard these days. A message of living your dream, maybe taking the road less traveled to try to accomplish something that changes the world, or maybe an industry. EAA began as a community of homebuilders, and aircraft enthusiasts and there are still workshops and demonstrations for people in this tribe, but the event obviously has grown over the years to become one of the country’s premiere attractions, all in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin. All the big companies are here; GE, Boeing, Airbus, Honda, Bendix King, and Alpha Systems, to name a few. Medium and small vendors of all shapes and sizes are represented too, selling all kinds of tools for pilots, and all kinds of aircraft. If the original intent of designers and kit builders was to democratize flying — because 50 years ago the only way some people could acquire an airplane was to build their own — then they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Let’s hope it continues in this vein. In the end, it’s the people — the flight community — that makes this event so special. If you fly you already know. If you don’t, EAA is something to see. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. (Editor’s Note: I mentioned Bert Rutan’s best friend and pilot of Spaceship 1, Mike Melville and got his name wrong. Mike was part of the presentation that night at EAA, and has his own list of impressive aviation accomplishments.)

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