Fathers and sons sharing their first visits to AirVenture … and accidental friends.

Father and son Tom and Adam Crossley are enjoying their first taste of AirVenture.

Tom Crossley and his son, Adam, are sitting beneath their wing in the campgrounds near the northern edge of the field.

They’re from Foxboro, Massachusetts, and this is their first time to AirVenture.

"We’ve been talking about it for five years now."

"I’ve been flying for five years now." says Tom, then pointing to Adam. "He’s soloed. He’s a couple hours away from his license."

Adam heads off soon for his first year at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University where he’ll be studying to be an air traffic controller.

On this first time to the fly-in they’re looking "to get to talk to a lot of other pilots and meet some interesting people and maybe go to some of the forums."

They’ve been here for less than a day, but they already have some strong impressions.

"We’re impressed by the size of it," says Tom, "the number of airplanes, the organization of it."

"There’s a lot of nice people here, too," says Adam.

Their home field is Mansfield Municipal Airport (1B9).

"It’s a small airport, 3,500-foot paved, and 2,000-foot grass. So it’s a nice, hometown airport. Everybody knows everybody. A friendly atmosphere. That’s where I learned, and where he’s done all his learning so far."

Their plane is a 1975 Cessna 172, yellow, red, and white. They’ve added the Power Flow exhaust system.

"Give that a plug," says Tom, "it’s a great addition. It boosts the climb rate so much more."

Tom is one of five partners in the plane’s ownership. It’s a good arrangement for him, because his partners don’t do a lot of flying, so the plane’s always available for him and Adam.

One of their regular flying destinations, back in Massachusetts, is to Katana Airport on Martha’s Vineyard.

"You can actually leave midday, fly over all the traffic. Katana’s a grass strip; you taxi right up to the beach. Spend the day on the beach. Have lunch there. Fly home. It’s a nice little trip to make."

Sixteen-year-old Sean Krauss is sitting in the shade of his dad’s 172. He has a laptop computer, and he’s surfing the net on EAA’s new wireless Internet service out in the North 40. It’s a brave new world.

Sean and his dad, William, are here for their first AirVenture fly-in.

They made the trip on Sunday from their home in Montvale, New Jersey.

They’re still trying to digest all the sights and sounds, but they’re already deep into the bragging rights that come with visiting the greatest aviation celebration.

From the simple: "It’s a beautiful day here, but it’s raining back there now."

To the sublime: "It’s unbelievable. It’s awesome. I already called my boss, he’s an air buff. I’ve been telling him about all the warbirds here. He’s going, ‘How many P-51s are there?’ He’s a big enthusiast. I’ve got to rub it into him."

They flew to Oshkosh in their newly purchased 1980 172P. William just bought it in January. He got a good deal from someone who suddenly needed to sell the plane.

"I was in the right place at the right time."

He does a fair amount of flying back home.

"This is my longest trip. Occasionally I like to do a cross-country, but mostly we fly up for lunch or something like that.

"We like to go up to Orange County. Sullivan County. Monticello. It’s nice up there. It’s quiet up there. There’s nobody around. We go up there for lunch."

Their home field is Greenwood Lake (4N1).

"There’s always a crosswind at Greenwood Lake. So it gives you training on crosswind landings. It’s a small airport. I’d say there’s probably about 25 planes there. It’s a nice airport. It’s quiet."

Carol Herrick is from Brighton, Michigan, and Kevin Frank is from St. Charles, Illinois. This morning they’re sitting beside the planes parked in the North 40.

When asked how they know each other they say, "Our planes are parked next to each other."

Carol and Kevin are examples of one of the most wonderful unintended consequences of coming to AirVenture: You make new friends.

Carol and Kevin are part of a group of "Oshkosh friends" who have been arranging to park together in the North 40 for years.

"We had the misfortune," says Kevin, "of having parked next to each other many moons ago, and got stuck."

As we talked, Carol’s husband, Bill, returns to the campsite. The easy joking between these three is a sign of the kind of comfortable friendships starting and thriving here.

Kevin has been coming to the fly-in since 1991. Carol’s been coming a bit longer. "Bill first came in ’87," she says. "I came the first year in ’89."

When asked what they’ve been looking forward to this year, we think Carol was only half joking when she says, "We were really looking forward to seeing the new tower completed."

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