2024 EAA Airventure OSH Report

[scottrsellers]

CessnaR182 Type Club Oshkosh 2024 Report
We’re located close to Oshkosh in SE WI and as regular Airventure attendees for the last 15+ years, flying friends & family gather at our hangar and we drive in to OSH and camp out. This year we printed up cards and made a few T shirts with the logo to introduce the CessnaR182.com type club. See our summary of activities below.
• The Prior weekend the regular yearly friend group assembled at RAC (SE WI) hangar where CessnaR182.com co-founders Mike Pattison & Scott Sellers met for the first time in-person. Mike flew Scott’s 300XP R182 – great fun, more on this later.
• Spent Monday thru Wednesday walking Airventure connecting with various R182 resources
including: Cessna Owner Organization(where Scott formerly contributed), Cessna Flyer, EarthX(developing a Lithium battery for R182), Surefly(emag), and looked for Cessna Pilot’s Association but no joy.
• Attended Dave Pasquale’s Cylinder Borescoping class. Standing room only with excellent info on how to borescope cylinders and analyze images. If you're not borescoping your cylinders you should be.
• Attended Garmin training class for GTN 650/750 that was outstanding and worth the trip to OSH as a stand alone. Course instructor is a CFII Garmin engineer who trains inhouse tech support and each attendee desk position used an actual Garmin stack for 650/750 & G3X, so fun to learn other systems. Exercises included loading routes, then reroutes with GFC500 configuring. Well worth the $85 for 2-1/2 hour class. Will join again next year – your Garmin flight deck has way more capability than you use.
• After class asked what Garmin could offer R182 type club; answer: Live Online class ‘Tips & Tricks for Using the GTN 650/750’. Boom.
• After attending Tuesday AM AOPA ‘Ask the A&P’s’ podcast had unscheduled lunch with Paul New, Colleen Sterling & her husband, and others – with fun lunch table discussion. Have been friendly with Paul New for a few years and he is supportive of the R182 type club. West Coasters should attend the September R182 Class with Paul New. Mike Pattison will be there. Discussed R182 ‘Greatest Hits’ list with Paul as key list of items owners should be aware of and take action on at some point. More on Greatest Hits later.
• Saw AOPA’s G100UL Baron test bed with large poster of cylinder borescope images indicating remarkably clean piston & top cylinder areas. Heard rumor: Mike Busch, George Braly, & Dave Pasquale were meeting to discuss the Baron test program results to date. This could be a big deal.
• Record OSH attendance was indicated by overflow campground being totally full. Maybe 2025 R182 gathering in SE WI prior to OSH. Sunset STOL competition was fun/entertaining to watch.
• Wednesday’s goal was to find R182s in the North40 and put website cards on them having seen not a single R182 on the South40 Monday/Tuesday. North40 was R182 target rich including about 15 R182’s including passionate owners Dan & Lyssie Wood from California who’s newly painted R182 was sporting a recently installed AirPlains 260hp conversion. Also met Jason Apol from MI and heard about his well kept R182’s plans for panel upgrade and excellent utility the airplane provides for his business, along with his passion for the type.
• Purchased Aerox 2-place O2 system on the way out of AirVenture with feet/legs feeling it after 3 days of walking the grounds and camping out for 2 nights. Aerox will be used for planned September trip to CO.
All said it was another fun year at Airventure with the launch of the CessnaR182.com type club and connecting with others of our type.
Scott Sellers

[mpatt]

Great review! Good flying with ya pal! Wish I could have spent more time with ya!

Sounds like a R182 East coast fly in is already overdue!

[scottrsellers]

Over the decades I've flown with lots of pilots and immediately could tell you're promptly tuned-in to the airplane - unlike many others(like me) who take awhile. We popped up thru a hole in the broken layer where Mike did some steep turns to further get a sense of the airplane's rigging & handling. Mike commented on the smoothness of the engine confirming the well executed dynamic balancing of the prop a couple years ago. We found ourselves looking at a couple small storm cells to the West resembling columns of rising precip that was confirmed on the ADSB weather imagery.
Heading back to RAC Mike entered the pattern while saying the BGUMP landing checklist callouts and glancing at the right wing gear mirror that confirmed it's extension.
Rolling out on final Mike lowered 40 degrees off flap(I almost never use 40) and I prepared for a firm arrival that often comes with flaps 40 in 182s. Stabilized at like 65kts on final Mike greased the arrival with perfectly timed round out and held off the nose wheel too - which is not easy to do in the R182 especially the 1st time in the airplane. Then I realized not only is this guy a Pro but This guy is Good! Great fun!
'

[mpatt]

I think it was more of the airplane and the fantastic first officer!

[scottrsellers]

Correction: The right wing mirror allows the pilot to confirm NLG extension.

Great fun being your right seater Mike!

[scottrsellers]

George Braly's update is worth listening to. Especially for California pilots.

https://youtu.be/HKrDzoR1Zyc?si=OV5wUPJDvWeJJLdP