In July of 1993, I joined several other Ultralight pilots on the Spirit of Adventure Flight to Oshkosh, Wisconsin and the biggest airshow in the United States. My friend John and I joined the adventure flight at the second stop, Harrisburg, Ill. John had a Quicksilver MXL, which is a three-axis model, with a Rotax 447 motor. The trip to Oshkosh would be over 500 miles at speeds of 35 mph for me since my MX was the slowest of the lot. Starting with only four planes at Harrisburg, our numbers would grow as others joined in as we flew north. By the time we landed at Oshkosh, there would be over 52 of every kind of ultralight and light planes imaginable four days later.

From our home base of Harrisburg, we would fly to Benton. The Benton airport always welcomed Ultralights. In fact, they hosted an annual fly-in for several years that would draw fliers from three states. Understand that I had logged about 20 hours flying time when I started this trip (that’s me on the right above). I was still so green that everyone would wait to watch me land to see how many times I would bounce and to see the panic look on my face!

The next stop was Centralia Municipal Airport. Centralia did not like Ultralights and did not try to hide their feelings. The main runway that they wanted everyone to use had a strong crosswind. As was mentioned before, my 2-axis MX does not handle crosswinds well. Flight leader and president of Gateway Ultralight Club, K.J. Zigaitis, had to nearly beg operations to give me clearance for the grass strip. Once on the ground, the "real" pilots stayed far away from us.

The only problem with this leg was flying over Carlyle Lake, all 3 ½ miles of it! That is a long time to go without breathing! I had never flown over that much water before.

Our first night was spent at Litchfield Municipal Airport. Most of us stayed in the office building so there were bodies everywhere. Since most were males, the snore levels were at about 250,000 dbs.

The first stop of day two was Taylorville. Winds had kicked up and I almost made an unscheduled landing in the tall corn that ringed the field. Several in the flight were disappointed that they were not in a good position to see the rookie bumble another landing. We drank sodas and watched as trucks hauled asphalt to the runways to be squished by a giant roller as a part of a remodeling program.

The real problems came when it was time to leave. Winds had now kicked up hard but Zigaitis elected to have the bulk of the flight leave for Deer Creek. I am not sure how much wind there was (KZ did not want to tell me) but I know that when I untied my little plane it started flying on its own before the engine was started. John and I had stayed together the whole trip since, for some reason, the faster planes were put in front. That meant that the slower and more fragile models were at the back and if there was a problem, nobody would be coming by to help.

As John and I cleared the airport, we were like leaves in the wind. I called to John on the CB and asked if he was "OK". "No", was his reply. I tried to explain that I could not turn and come back since I was also fighting the winds. According to our flight instructor, we should avoid winds in excess of 15 mph. I found out later that the winds were gusting to over 25 mph. John had gotten into a downdraft, a pocket of air that has very little lift. He was slowing flying in a downward direction and into some of that tall Illinois corn. He watched as a farmer came out of the barn to watch this "darn fool idiot" land in his cornfield. At the last minute, Johns little place grabbed some air and went back up. The farmer, somewhat disappointed, went back in the barn as we lumbered north.

By the time John and I landed at Hartenbower Hectaries Airport, the rest of the crowd had already taken off for Sandwich-Woodlake Landing Airport where they would spend the night. We on the other hand had enough for one day and welcomed the offer to stay at Hartenbowers. A little, privately owned grass strip in the middle of, you guessed it - a corn field, even had a shower!

Day three started early for us. The other fliers were in much faster planes so they tended to wait around until after 9am to get airborne. If you fly Ultralights, you know that the best time to be up is from sunrise till about 9am. By 9 in the summer the winds and thermals are starting to kick up. Early in the morning the air is clear and calm.

Flying to Sandwich was great...except I could not find the airport once I got there! "I see it over here", I shouted to John over the CB, only to find I was turning final on a hog farm whose metal buildings looked like hangers and the hog runs looked like the runway..kinda from a distance.

Four days and a lot of sweat went into the Oshkosh trip. That first flight will always be a story I will think of when I am trying to nod off to sleep. When we landed, there were television cameras and lots of people lined up along the fence to watch. And you know what? It was the best landing I made on the whole trip! I was worried that I would crash and burn in front of all those people. We even made the cover of the EAA magazine that year. Of course since we were not "real" planes we were not included in the video they make every year. But for the more than 50 pilots that landed at Oshkosh that day, the scene will be played over and over again in their minds.