Energy felt by EAA visitors

Jim Carleton didn’t know much about aviation, but by Tuesday, he’d driven a long time to the right place: the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture.

Carleton of New York City embodied the excitement in the air as AirVenture 2004 took off Tuesday.

“Flying is just exciting,” Carleton said.

“I’m really excited to learn more about aerobatics and I plan to attend a lot of the forums to learn about the future of aviation and some of its history, too.”

His to-do list didn’t stop there.

“I want to spend some time in the AirVenture Museum and I hope to get a helicopter ride,” Carleton said.

EAA officials said they couldn’t estimate the size of Tuesday’s crowd, but said it was healthy for the first day of the festival.

For Jerry Chavers, Tuesday brought the start of the big dance. Chavers said he’d arrived from Mount Holly, N.C., Sunday and strolled around the grounds Monday.

“But the big day is today,” Chavers said. “There’s a lot more to see.”

Chavers said he brought several digital camera memory cards he planned to fill with hundreds of photos of warbirds and aerobatic planes during the air shows.

“This is a picture-taking opportunity here,” he said as two P-51 Mustangs roared down the flight line.

Work brought Washington, D.C., resident Brian Charles to AirVenture.

He said the massive gathering of aircraft of all shapes and sizes will keep him here for the rest of the week.

“It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Charles said. “It sure beats wearing a shirt and tie.”

Charles, a support technician for Veracity Engineering, a Federal Aviation Administration support contractor, said he’d seen air shows back home at Andrews Air Force Base, but they no longer compared.

“This is way beyond my expectations,” Charles said.

Marthajane King said the energy and excitement of AirVenture was in the air as aerobatic stunt planes buzzed by during Tuesday’s air show.

“You just feel it in the air,” King, of Fort Worth, Texas, said.

“The airplanes are going, people are everywhere, you catch bits of conversation everywhere.”

King flew in with her husband, Danny, in an RV-8 for their 15th year at AirVenture. She said the event was pure Americana.

“The airplanes, the people, the atmosphere, the brats,” King said. “This, to me, is what America really is.”

Chavers, in contrast, was attending his first AirVenture and said he couldn’t have picked a better year to venture to Oshkosh.

“It doesn’t get much better,” he said. “It’s not cold and it’s not raining.”