My family and I got the opportunity to travel to Airventure 2026 this year. My objective this year was to get an engine timeline and secure an engine that would get here within the next year to year and a half. I also wanted to review the new Garmin Axis avionics suite to see how I would best want to deploy the solution to meet our mission, safety, and cost requirements.
We changed our strategy this year by actually staying at Camp Scholler this year instead of staying at a campsite off the airport. It was definitely nice to not have to pay for parking and to just ride my bike down to the show to see things when I had the time available. I could then go back to the RV for meals, rest, etc and then go back to the show afterwards. We got one of the improved electric/water sites so all I had to worry about was managing the black/grey tanks. The lots in that area are sized well and I didn’t feel like it was crowded too much for the scenario they are supporting. I will say it is best to get west of Stits Road as we were just west of Stits which was another major and busy road similar to Schaick Ave. I was surprised that the noise was manageable and easy to deal with or just not that loud. The only issue that we saw over and over again were individuals that go way too fast or don’t even use common rules of the road. Camp Scholler residents tend to treat these roads as a free for all. There are individuals that walk in the road rather than the grass side and don’t move over which slow down the vehicles. We also see bicyclists not acting like a motorist and running stop signs, zig zagging in traffic on the opposite side of the road as well. It is just total chaos bicycling or traveling on those roads so that is something to consider. That is why I want to get east of Stits because if you use the east/west roads south of Lindburgh you will get better results in terms of normal, compliant road goers. My over all experience with Camp Scholler was positive. Just remember to get an electric site on the east side of Stits, make sure to dump your tanks before the Friday/Saturday rush (which saved me a TON of time) and bring bikes with lights on them so that people can see you in the chaos. It was super fun to just sit out on our “patio” and watch aircraft fly over and hear the sounds of the jets thundering overhead. Then taking a 5 minute bike ride down to the airport to get to the flight line and watch arrivals. We were there for almost 2.5 weeks so it was fun to see the build up of the event. It was also nice to be able to come and go from the camp to go into Oshkosh and see local events, get our supplies at a normal price, etc.
I was worried leading up to Airventure that there would be restrictions on flights throughout the week because of the Canadian forest fires, but luckily that cleared up enough on Friday afternoon and then on Sunday afternoon as well. The rest of the week was pretty clear after that so it was good that was taken care of. Here is a picture of the worst day of the smoke. You could barely see the sun and it definitely smelled like burning wood too.
I worked the week before Airventure at the campsite on Starlink and I’d go bike around and look at the ground while they were building it out. It was cool to see it all come together and get more time to talk with people in the campground about what brought them to Airventure, etc.
Friday through Sunday I got a chance to watch the arrivals and also to go up in a helicopter with Cailey to view everything. I got some great pictures of planes but these are just some of the RV-10s that I caught coming in.
The first few days were basically a mad dash from one vendor to another. I talked with Barrett Precision about an engine and how quickly they could get it. They stated it would be about 10 months but that it would probably be a narrow deck engine which she said wouldn’t be any issue in terms of performance or reliability, but after discussing with a gentleman that had a narrow deck engine on his plane and had gone through a rebuild on it said the cylinders cost almost 6x the cost of a wide deck engine. He said he could get a normal cylinder for $500-800 but the cylinders for his new narrow deck were almost $3k a piece which I feel is way too much. I talked with G&N Engines and they seemed to be more of a broker for new engines if you weren’t doing a rebuild through them. I also talked with another company based out of Florida and he was thinking of getting a different model of engine which I just don’t want to mess with that type of customization on my very first build. I decided to go through Van’s to finalize the engine search and purchase. Luckily the times are now back down to 18 months which if it goes the way it did with the fuselage and finishing kit where I paid cash up front and those who were in front of me in the line couldn’t pay the full price yet, I could end up with my engine much quicker than that.
I also worked with Aircraft Spruce and Garmin and settled on the modules that I still need to purchase with the new Axis system. I won’t buy my Axis panels just yet since I want to get that closer to the time I receive my engines, but I purchased my engine monitor/analyzer, as well as the GAD 27 electronic interface unit for the plane. I am not going to go the VPX route for my power distribution and circuit management as I want to go with something tried and true with just normal circuit breakers. I also ordered some interior parts from Aerosport to complete more of that. Once I get the canopy and doors completed I will work on getting the interior as well. I’m just going to go the dark grey and black route. I liked Van’s RV-10 interior so I’m going to replicate that.
One cool thing that we got to see the reveal on was Van’s Aircraft’s offering for a full avionics suite for the RV-10! I don’t think I’m going to go that route because they are relying on a single IFR/NAV receiver unit and customizing it wasn’t an option (which I get for people who aren’t comfortable with this whole process) but it was definitely cool to look at!
Overall, it was super fun to get to spend time with my wife and Cailey and enjoy what Airventure has to offer. I could also go back on my own while they were at the RV to look at the other shops and get my own fill of the sights and sounds. We plan on going back next year which hopefully will be my last time to drive to Airventure and in 2028 I’ll get to fly in!
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