Dave (et al),CFIDave wrote: But we're still coming -- I'm sitting in St. Louis right now waiting for low ceilings here to lift so we can fly our DA42 to Oshkosh possibly today (Wed) or at the latest Thursday morning (we expect to be there through Sunday.) But we'll have to park our aircraft somewhere out in the grass along with thousands of other planes in the General Aviation Parking area located at the far north end of the field.
I will be coming in tomorrow (Thursday) for one day and I park at Basler because the grass is somewhat problematic for me. Here is the grass issue: Several years ago I was willing to park on the grass. As with everyone else, I was being given directions by the ground marshals. Apparently, they did not realize that the DA42 has a wide wing span and so that during taxiing they kept me very close to the parked planes. I hit a rut in the grass that made the plane move a bit to the left. As a consequence my wing tip hit the wing tip of a Cessna Cardinal. I didn't know it at the time, but as soon as I was parked other EAA marshals came to me and informed me of the event. There was no real damage to my plane (a small scratch on the winglet that was trivial to repair), but it cost me $10,000 in repairs to the Cardinal. I learned my lesson and will avoid grass as much as possible (especially at EAA). The small ramp fee at Basler is well worth the piece of mind.
See you on Thursday. Give me a call on my cell so we can get together around lunch (651-528-9365).
Cary