She's been here 12 years, inspecting and repacking chutes at Warbird center

Every year we come to Oshkosh for the AirVenture extravaganza, and every year we find out about another hidden treasure that few seem to know about. This year, it was Associate Editor Juan Jimenez' turn to dig one up, in the process of trying to get his Softie emergency parachute inspected while at the show.

Juan came up from Puerto Rico, to which he recently returned with his family, and one of the things he wanted to do while at AirVenture was to get his emergency parachute inspected. Parachutes must be inspected every 120 days by an FAA-certified parachute rigger, and his was out of date by a few months.

After asking around, he figured he would have to drop it off at the Paraphernalia booth and wait for it to be shipped back, but when he went to do so, he found out about the hidden treasure -- Kelly, the friendly parachute lady with the Strong Enterprises t-shirt over at the Warbird area's auditorium. Turns out Kelly has been quietly, efficiently and much to the gratitude of many pilots, inspecting and repacking parachutes for the very reasonable sum of $40, with same day turnaround, for 12 years now!

How do we know it was a secret? Well, our publisher Jim Campbell didn't know about it, so it must be a secret. We think. Just don't tell him we said so...

FMI: www.strongparachutes.com