Time for some father-daughter bonding

If you love baseball, visiting every major league park in the country would not seem like a waste of time. In fact, to other aficionados of the sport, the countless hours of travel and exorbitant sum of money required to achieve that goal would seem to be a worthwhile investment for the privilege of sitting in the hot sun, on a hard seat, eating a $6 hot dog.

If you love aviation the must-see-before-you-die experience is Oshkosh. Okay, so the real name is EAA AirVenture,  https://www.eaa.org/en/airventure and it's sponsored by the Experimental Aircraft Association. To anyone who has the slightest interest in flight however, all you have to say is Oshkosh and they know exactly what you're talking about. For one week in July the little airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin becomes the busiest airspace in the world. It is paradise for propeller-heads.

I grew up around planes. I saw planes almost every day of my life. This wasn't because my father was a pilot, or aircraft mechanic, but rather because our house was within spitting distance to Boston's Logan airport. We lived so close, if the wind was blowing from the South you would get a whiff of burned rubber from the wheels every time a plane touched down.

Interestingly, this is not the kind of environment that instills a love of flight. A love of soundproofing, maybe, but growing up in a suburb where planes were as much a part of the backdrop as light posts and elm trees, you didn't dream of planes you had nightmares about them. Mostly about parts falling from the sky and landing on your head.

It took time and distance for me to appreciate what aviation, specifically soaring, could be; a liberating and exhilarating respite from a hectic earthbound life. At 5000 feet, 70 MPH in a glider feels as if you're standing still, suspended over a serene landscape. I'm fortunate that my daughter has also taken an interest in flight, though she is coming at it from a different perspective. Sara is determined that someday we will build a flying suit together. She fully acknowledges the limitations imposed by the laws of physics, and comprehends the not insignificant financial investment required, but it's her dream, and I'm not in a position to shoot it down. To that end we're both going to make the pilgrimage to Oshkosh this year. Me on a quest to find that combination of lift, thrust and drag that results in the perfect ultralight plane, and Sara to prove to her dad that it is possible to design a flying suit. We've decided to blog about our experience during the trip. Sara will hopefully learn about writing and telling a good story, and I will have well-documented evidence in the event the father-daughter bonding experience doesn't go as planned and one of us comes back in a pine box.

The adventure starts July 25th!