I leave the AirVenture grounds excited and inspired this year, and perhaps more than I have ever been post-AirVenture before. I met a 14-year-old girl who is building a Zenith and the engine that will power it…not only that, but this bright young woman has done her homework and is incorporating modifications as she goes, to fix trouble spots that other builders have found. When all is said and done (hopefully this fall!) she will register it as a Sabrina Mark I.

 Equally as inspiring, I got the chance to sit down with Barrington Irving, the 23-year-old from Miami who just returned from a 97-day flight around the world in a Columbia. The passion and drive that got him that far will serve him well as he continues on with his Experience Aviation learning center—an effort to motivate children to follow their dreams and address the shortage of youth pursuing aviation careers. (You’ll read more about them, and some of the other wonderful people I met this week in future issues of Sport Aviation and Sport Pilot.)

And probably the most surprising thing I saw this week were two simple billboards facing southbound drivers on Highway 41. The one on the right: a display for Cirrus Design. A little further down on the left: an advertisement for the new Cessna SkyCatcher. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen an aviation industry advertisement on a billboard before…certainly not in Wisconsin anyway. I hope they inspired even just one new pilot this week…or even just planted the seed.

I wish everyone safe travels home, and I’m already waiting with eager anticipation to see what kind of exciting, inspiring, and innovative things are in store for us all next year!

Kelly Nelson is EAA Publications Associate Editor.

EAA's employee family is a noisy lot when we gather together, no matter the occasion...except for this morning. You could have heard a pin drop in the Eagle Hangar  at 7:30 a.m. as we gathered to begin the "official" mourning for our friend and co-worker Gregg Deimer, who died on Wednesday, July 25. Gregg fought a tough fight against cancer, but even his character...and he was a character...couldn't beat it. We'll bury him on Tuesday, but we'll never forget him. And, we'll help Trish, his widow who works for NAFI and is our friend and co-worker, too, through her grief.

So today if you see some EAA employees hugging each other and sharing tears or if they're just not their usual jovial selves, just know there's sadness here.

Gregg and I had a repartee we'd often exchange in the hallways when we'd been at work a little late. We'd exchange the words from Saturday Night Live bit: "You go home now; you been here four hour; you been here too long."

Godspeed Gregg, you're home now. We hope you're enjoying the peace and happiness you so richly deserve, and may you be boring holes in heaven with your clipped wing Cub.

Mary Jones is editor of EAA Sport Pilot.

I must admit I was bummed when it started to rain yesterday during theafternoon air show. I was hanging out with a family of four on their first time at AirVenture. The two young boys were performing some incredible aerobatic moves with their toy airplanes, complete with the "vroom, vroom"  sounds while watching the real ones in the sky above. Then the rain came.

People ran for cover under the nearest planes. I¹m not as fast as I used tobe, so I had to go some distance before finding a vacant spot. It so happened to be under the Ryan Spirit of St. Louis replica NX211.

As I hunkered under the protection of the wings, I overheard some WWIIveterans sharing stories, a man from Montreal describing his flight to Oshkosh this year and another man explaining what AirVenture was like 32 years ago when he came as a boy with his father.

As I looked across the field of airplanes, I noticed there were thousands ofpeople visiting with each other under wings. Strangers talking to strangers, becoming friends, becoming family. Because of the rain, thousands of friendships were made.

A few minutes later the rain stopped and the show resumed. If it rains today during the show, I¹m looking forward to who I might meet under a dry wing.

Brady Lane is EAA Publications' multimedia journalist. 

At EAA AirVenture, there is a great sense of camaraderie. The place where this feeling is at its height is when a huge group of EAAers gathers along the flightline to witness the spectacle of another great air show.

As an aerobatic plane begins its ascent into the sky, there is sensation of excitement and a little apprehension. As the plane does figure-eights, stalls and turns upside down, the kids in the audience ooh and aah and the adults are thinking that same thing in their heads.

Everyone looks to the blue and wishes that they could learn to do THAT. After meeting aerobatic pilots Vicki Cruise and Debbie Rihn-Harvey (they took silver in the 2007 world aerobatic competition, and Debbie is the current U.S. unlimited world champion), I know that this career is one that takes hard work and the ability to accept the risks that come with flipping nose over tail while we watch from below, head over heels.

You can find out more about aerobatic flying at www.IAC.org.

Katie Hipschman is the daughter of EAA Publications’ director. She is almost 14, and agreed to provide a teen’s perspective on EAA’s convention for a fee paid by her dad that was much lower until she consulted with EAA’s vice president in charge of development.

I happened to look over my shoulder as I left the AirVenture grounds late yesterday, and I saw a remarkable sight

A formation of warbirds, the Goodyear blimp, and a synchronized team of aerobatic airplanes ... all sharing the same airspace. That's a whole lot of aviation (the historic, the huge, and the merely thrilling) to take in in one quick glance, and I'm pretty sure Oshkosh is the only place on earth you'll see something like it.

Phil Norton is an EAA Publications Art Director.

Last night I ostensibly was going for a relaxing dinner with my friends Jim Moss and Cheri McCunagle, who belong to Chapters 538 and 1217 in the Phoenix area, and their (and now my) friends Tom and Katie Velvick. We met up with more EAA chapter members from Chapters 538 and 1217 and some members of Chapter 1232 of San Rafael, California at Wendt's Bar and Grill south of Oshkosh for some perch (brain food, you know.)

Well, before the evening was over, I was starting to feel like Joe Friday. You can't go anywhere with EAAers and not find someone who has a story worthy of the magazine. Tonight I met David Ward of the San Francisco area who's attended nearly every convention since 1971. He has several aircraft, including a Breezy that he built "around the world." Breezy parts traveled with him from Chicago to California, to Dubai in the United Arab Emirate, back to Chicago before it was finished over a about a 10-year period. And now it's with him in California. By the way, it was David's 66th birthday, and the folks at Wendt's provided a nice looking chocolate and mint torte for a special dessert. It looked yummy, but David ate it all. Darn! Happy birthday anyway, David.

Then, as the evening progressed, I learned that Katie Velvick purchased an RV-4 in 1997 before she'd even taken her first flying lesson. She finished her certificate in 2000. She'd decided she wanted to learn to fly after a friend took her flying in...well, it was a warbird aircraft...I didn't take good enough notes. But, she knew that airplane was too much aircraft for her. Then she saw an RV-4 at her local airport and didn't stop hanging around until she got a ride in it. And the rest is RV history.

She and Tom flew from Phoenix to AirVenture in her RV-4, N7053L, which is parked in Row 302 in Homebuilt Camping. Tom's RV-4...and their mutual RV-6A...are under construction back home. This is Katie's first visit to AirVenture, and she seemed to be loving it. "EAA provides the community and support we airplane lovers need to keep going." She seems to be loving AirVenture, too.

Time to go home; tomorrow's another day, and there'll be more stories.

Mary Jones is editor of EAA Sport Pilot.

Bring a bag. You'll get a ton of information and free stuff and you need someplace to carry it all.

Bring water. Soda Pop gets warm fast and will just make you thirstier.

Bring a cell phone. If you are in a group of people and you want to split up, make sure someone in each group has a phone. If not, set a meeting time and place.

Bring money. There are some great vendors in the Fly Market, you can pick up pins, patches, or even your own flight suit! (I already got mine!) Or you can get a popsicle during the heat of the day.

Wear comfortable shoes. Don’t save your brand-new flip-flops to try at AirVenture. Blisters aren’t fun!

Check the weather. Make sure you dress for the heat; nobody likes heatstroke.

Wear sunglasses or a brimmed hat, or both!

Bring sunscreen This is a must; don’t think that you won’t get burned just because you sit on the trolley. Make it 15 SPF or better.

Don’t be afraid to ask. EAAers are the nicest group of people you could find. They are always willing to point your way, explain technical jargon, or tell you the name, owner and ENTIRE history of that plane over there. They want you to get excited about aviation! Overall EAA members are friendly people and they make AirVenture an event to be proud of.

Katie Hipschman is the daughter of EAA Publications’ director. She is almost 14, and agreed to provide a teen’s perspective on EAA’s convention for a fee paid by her dad that was much lower until she consulted with EAA’s vice president in charge of development.