Day one of EAA's 2011 Airventure has drawn to a close with some exciting events in the books, with plenty more in stock the rest of the week. The crowds also continued to swell on the first day, with fly-in areas filling quickly. As of 3:45 pm the General Aviation camping area was 80% full and the General Aviation parking area was 75% full.
Capping off the day is REO Speedwagon, currently on stage for the sixth annual opening day concert presented by Ford Motor Company. The concert performances will continue with Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band on Friday and Aaron Tippen on Saturday.
Hawker Beechcraft showcased a new upgrade opportunity for Bonanza owners that has come to be nicknamed 'Extreme Makeover: Bonanza Edition.' The actual upgrade is called the Bonanza Extra Tim Glaser, manager of sales/aftermarket development, stated that 'We wanted to offer our current customers more performance, comfort, and safety.' The upgrades include the same engine found on current production model A36 Bonanzas, the Teledyne Special Edition IO-550 paired with a Hartzell 3-bladed propeller. The new engine, combined with the propeller, provides improved climb and cruise performance while decreasing noise and vibration. The increased in the performance add 150 lbs of usable weight, that can be utilized as carried weight or used to fill the new 20-gallon tip tanks (40 gallon total). For additional modifications and the cost and time of the upgrade, see EAA's article on the Bonanza Extra.
In addition, some other interesting aircraft that were present were a replica Supermarine Spitfire from the WWII era along with Burt Rutan's 'Boomerang' design aircraft. The Spitfire is a kit available for purchase for about $170,000 and 92 have been sold, with about 50 still flying around the world. The fleet has flown a total of over 250,000 accident-free hours.
The Boomerang, usually referred to by Burt as one of his most important designs, is an asymetrical twin built in 1996. 'It’s head and shoulders over anything in its class for performance,' Rutan said. As for its aerodynamic characteristics, 'I wanted the absolute ultimate in safe flying qualities.' It was resurrected from storage and was restored to flying condition as Burt did not want it to go to a museum without being seen in flight by the public. Tom Clements, a engineer at Scaled Composites, said about Burt, 'He didn’t want to see it in museum. He thought people might think there’s something wrong with the design, and he wanted to see it back in the air.”
Finally, as Airventure was named a tier 1 event for the Centennial of Naval Aviation, there is expected to be a plethora of Navy aircraft, a 1911 Curtiss Pusher replica, P-3, F-5, T-38, TH-57, T-34, T-6, T-39, F/A-18, F-16, DC-9, E2-C, T-45, C-2, TC-12, T-44, Blue Angel 7 F/A-18, HH-60H, Marine AV-8B, S-3, and E-18G. The vintage warbird community will also honor the Navy with multiple vintage Naval airplanes present, such as the SBD, J2F, SB2C, PV-2, Pinto, SNJ, TBM, F4U, FM-2, F7F, HU-16, PBJ, R4D, AD, A-4, T-2, F8F in Blue Angel paint scheme, and UH-1.
If after seeing all these events, and once the REO Speedwagon concert is over and you still weren't satisfied, you could head over to the 'Fly-in Theater' for a screening of 'Top Gun.' After the movie, the realization most likely comes along that this was only day one of seven days of aviation celebrations and it may take all seven days to see everything.
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