Multiple Sessions Scheduled Throughout The Week For Potential Builders

By Tom Woodward

EAA was founded under the premise that building an airplane would be a learning experience. In fact the FAA's 51% rule was designed to insure that the builder would be knowledgeable about most aspects of the airplane they build. With that in mind, we often overlook the educational value that AirVenture has to offer because we are blinded by the quality work that others have done, the high-dollar corporate jets and the plethora of tractors, cars and airplane jewelry.

If you want, you can fill an entire week attending seminars on every subject from the craft of building an airplane, to the "Top 10 Pilot Mistakes". Here is just a tiny fraction of what you can fill your head with;

• History of Radial Engines
• WWII History
• Hand Prop Your AC
• Commercial Pilot Careers
• Mechanics and The Law
• Aerial Photography
• Flying To National Parks
• iPad 101: tips and Tricks

And the above list will only take you through the 10am hour! You can learn to rivet, weld, apply fabric, paint, and polish. You can work with wood, metal, fiberglass and other materials that will aid in the completion of your airplane. You might not be an expert at the completion of the seminar but you won't be intimidated either.

Lycoming puts on daily seminars. I sat in on one that spent over and hour talking about valves and valve related problems. Now you might think you would rather be watching the air show, or frankly even getting a root canal but I can tell you that I was engrossed, both because of the subject matter ... valves have given me problems in the past ... and the speaker, James Doebler. Professor Doebler (yes he is a professor of Technology at Pennsylvania College of Technology) is a man who you can tell in just a few minutes, knows more about engines than Charlie Taylor himself. His delivery was soothing, his grasp of part names uncanny (I found out that thing I often referred to as a ‘whatgamacallit’, wasn't), his knowledge of the subject matter had depth and his presentation flowed. Tomorrow I'm going back to disassemble an engine and then put it back together. This is what AirVenture is all about.

If you haven't attended a forum or workshop find one that interest you and go have a look. You just might learn something!

FMI: www.airventure.org/attractions/forums.html