Are you bugged by all the insects that splatter on your airplane as you make your way to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh? One group of pilots has done away with that problem, thanks to an enterprising young lady and her specialized service: the “Oshwash.” Fifteen-year-old Erika Wiebener of Albuquerque, New Mexico, got the idea for the service last year after arriving at AirVenture with parents John and Debbie with the Bonanzas to Oshkosh (B2O) contingent. “I was washing my dad's airplane and someone came by and said, ‘Hey, would you mind washing mine?' Because when we do our formation flight, we fly kind of low, so everyone complains that there's always big bugs that hit them.”

This year, when the B2O pilots gathered in Rockford to prepare for their group arrival, Erika promoted her Oshwash service, enlisting friend Danielle Mark to help her. Response was overwhelming. Thirty pilots, one third of those participating in the B2O flight, signed up.

“I had planned on it was just going to be me and Danielle, but we got so many planes we asked the boys (Daniel Fritz and his friend Allen) to jump in and help.”

The $10 Oshwash consists of complete removal of bug splatters from the leading edges of wings and cowls. And it's ecologically friendly.

“We don't want to mess with any solvents,” Erika said. “So just water and special scrubbing sponges that are soft so they don't scratch the paint. We just soak the bugs down first to get them kind of softened up and then start scrubbing.”

Among her satisfied customers is Leldon Locke, of Sherman, Texas, who had gathered quite a collection of splatters on his 1976 Bonanza A36 on the way to Oshkosh.

“There were lots of bugs,” Locke said. “She did a great job of cleaning them up and making the airplane look good for the show.” And the service was “friendly with a smile,” he said.

Not surprising, as Erika enjoys both her work and her clients. “It's nice because I'm with airplanes, and we all have common interests, so I like it,” she said.

Her profits will go toward a used convertible she recently bought in anticipation of getting her driver's license. As for a pilot's certificate, that's in the future, too. She's been flying with her father, a former Air Force F-16 pilot and the B2O's formation flight leader, “since I was 6. I haven't taken any lessons, but that'll probably be coming up soon though.” This is her ninth EAA AirVenture.

Noted her mother, Debbie, “This is probably the first year we've had so many teenagers, which is really nice to see.” The reason for the increase: “A lot of the pilots have been coming back year after year, and so their kids are starting to grow up, just like Erika has, and they start to hear their dad's come home and say, ‘Hey, there were teenagers there, they had a great time, you really ought to come, you'll have a good time.'”

That's something Erika can vouch for. “We go with all these other people who have airplanes and it's just really cool, I like it a lot,” she said.

As for any expansion plans beyond debugging Bonanzas, “We had 90 Bonanzas this year,” Erika said, “so if I could get a bigger crew and do all the bonanzas, that's probably my goal first.”

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