Dave Doherty, president of the local Experimental Aircraft Association chapter, flies funky planes. Doherty and thousands of other experimental aircraft buffs will be in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for the annual EAA AirVenture air show, held July 20–26.
• An experimental aircraft is a special classification given by the FAA for aircraft that are experimental prototypes or amateur- or kit-built. It goes through a different certification process than factory-built planes like Cessnas.
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• I’ve been in the Experimental Aircraft Assocation since about ’65. There are more than 650 chapters and about 700,000 members worldwide.
• Most of the private airplanes you see are factory-built. One way to spot experimental planes is they’re usually smaller. They seat one or two and look sporty, more like sports cars. The performance is usually better than factory-built planes, and they’re just as safe.
• Building an aircraft is a lot of work. Aircraft can be built through a kit a manufacturer provides or from a set of plans, which is a lot more difficult. In the early ’60s, as a teen, I helped build one from a set of plans.
• The St. Louis chapter has about 100 members. We have a Young Eagles program where we fly kids ages 8 to 17 the second Saturday every month for free. There’s a scouting badge we help them get. We have guest speakers at our monthly meetings. They’ll speak on everything from how to build a metal aircraft to what it’s like to be a pilot of the SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest plane in the world.
• Our chapter gets involved in all kinds of interesting and unique aircraft. For the past several years, a 1945 B-17 bomber owned by the EAA comes into St. Louis for air shows, and we’re a host for it. It gives people an opportunity to see what a World War II heavy bomber looks like. We also have air show performers coming through with various performance aerobatic aircraft. One of our members has a Stearman used to train students during World War II to be pilots.
• I go to the EAA air show in Oshkosh every year. It’s called AirVenture. It has everything from powered parachutes to state-of-the-art fighter planes. The airport fills up with about 10,000 aircraft that week. About a third of them are exhibited for the public to see. I camp in a campground with about 50,000 campers. The shows are three hours a day plus a couple nighttime ones with airplanes doing fireworks. Most of the aircraft manufacturers are up there and have tents and forums. There’s a flea market for parts, full of the latest avionics stuff. If you like airplanes, it’s the place to go.
• I got into the hobby through my father, who joined the EAA back in the ’60s. When I was 2 or 3, my dad would build me model airplanes, balsa gliders. There are movies of me hurling them down a hill at age 2. I got bit very young.
• Flying itself is a wonderful experience. You get the freedom to go pretty much where you want to go. I enjoy looking at the scenery below and trying to sharpen my flying skills.
• Aerobatics is something many pilots don’t do but probably should. I have done some rolls and a loop, in another plane I don’t own now. Pilots should practice stalls and spins anyway, for safety reasons, so they know how those feel.
• I got to fly the B-17 for about six minutes. That was extraordinary. I once flew a World War II basic BT-13 trainer with a 450-horsepower engine. The Stearman that a friend owns has an open cockpit. I think I like the open cockpit plane best. I wore the leather helmet and goggles. I even had the scarf, but I didn’t wave it in the wind like Snoopy would! It brings you back to the 1940s.
• We have guys who pilot sailplanes. Those are planes without a motor, and they’re also called gliders. They have to get towed up to altitude, and then they ride the thermals. One of our chapter members owns a gyrocopter similar to the one that landed at the Capitol.
• My wife likes to fly. Sometimes she goes up with me.
• The plane I own now is a 1946 Taylorcraft BC-12D. It’s my hummingbird.
• I’ve never parachuted out of a plane. Maybe I’ll do it when I’m 80. I can’t understand jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.
