Oshkosh 2024 - Who's going?

Been to every show since 1998. I spend Saturday and stay the night at Brodhead since I also own a Pietenpol, then get to Oshkosh on Sunday. I have a camper I stay in during the show. I was thinking about leaving early and then flying my Pa28-235 back on Friday with my son since I have always wanted to fly my own plane to Oshkosh
 
I have a stupid question:

For Airventure tickets, can a non-member use a ticket that was purchased at the member price?
Tickets are tickets as far as I know. Basically, you're looking at a colored wristband made of Tyvek. The only difference between wristbands is color - there's a different color for each day.
 
yep it’s the same wristbands for everyone—EAA members are limited as to the number of bands they can buy at the member price. But once purchased they can be used by anyone.
 
The EZ Weather pre-Osh weather briefs are back again this year. I copied this post on the EAA Forums from Dr. Dennstaedt:

"Starting on Monday, July 15th, keep an eye out for The Daily EZ Weather Brief, AirVenture edition with live analysis of the weather for anyone planning to fly to the event or if you want to learn more about how to interpret all of those pesky forecasts. The program will be daily at around 3 pm EDT each day live on the EZWxBrief YouTube channel (@ezwxbrief) with the last episode on Friday, July 19th. Schedule changes for these episodes will be posted on the EZWxBrief YouTube community page. If you cannot attend live, they will be recorded and will appear in the AirVenture playlist so they will be easy to find. Don't forget to subscribe to the EZWxBrief YouTube channel (@ezwxbrief) to avoid missing these daily programs. Please spread the word to other pilots on your own social media accounts and to anyone who might benefit from watching these daily videos. If you are coming to the event, I'll be in Hangar D (#4003). See you there."
 
Yeah, you must have missed the debacle last year. The entire taxiway system gridlocked. People stay for the Wednesday night airshow and then bug out first thing Thursday.

I posted a picture of the line of planes stuck on the taxiway with the poem:

One fine Thursday morning in Oshkosh,
The pilots all decided to spit,
But they all got stuck on Papa,
The airport had turned into SHAVING CREAM (Be nice and clean, shave every day, and you'll always look keen).

And hung it on our operations building window.
IMG_8183.jpg
 
Sucks to wait in line, but really, that looks so cool. I wish we could have that much GA traffic in other places!

Also, OSH controllers can really get departures out amazingly fast. Sunday morning, they use both sides (left and right of centerline) plus LUAW, so there's always one just into ground effect, one rolling, one waiting to roll, and one positioning themselves on the runway. Bam, bam, bam. Probably 10-15 seconds or so between departures - And that's on a single runway, so around 10 departures per minute from the field.
 
Kinda like a carrier launch! It is pretty cool!
 
Sucks to wait in line, but really, that looks so cool. I wish we could have that much GA traffic in other places!

Also, OSH controllers can really get departures out amazingly fast. Sunday morning, they use both sides (left and right of centerline) plus LUAW, so there's always one just into ground effect, one rolling, one waiting to roll, and one positioning themselves on the runway. Bam, bam, bam. Probably 10-15 seconds or so between departures - And that's on a single runway, so around 10 departures per minute from the field.
Especially easy when you don' thave any arrivals to interleave. You can just start emitting them at regular intervals.
 
I suppose you can always look at the dark side of anything. I'm more of a glass half full kind of guy. Where else are you gonna get greeted by taxi views like this?
Leslie, my girlfriend, will pull up her chair by the flightline and watch the mass exodus for hours. I think it's her favorite part of the show!
 
Myself and 2 of my son's will be flying in on Thursday after they open the arrival and camping in Scholler with some friends. Stopping in Janesville for early lunch and fuel if anyone is around.
 
Leslie, my girlfriend, will pull up her chair by the flightline and watch the mass exodus for hours. I think it's her favorite part of the show!
We do the same but on the front end. We like to set up chairs south of 27 near the Green Dot and watch arrivals on the first weekend.
 
Plans FINALLY set in stone-ish…
Arriving Sunday Mid-day with the camper, staying until Tuesday or Wed.
Staging in Madison Saturday night.
 
Booked a hotel in Madison Friday night for an early Saturday arrival. Haven’t decided if I’m going to volunteer in Vintage again this year after the shenanigans last year.
 
Booked a hotel in Madison Friday night for an early Saturday arrival. Haven’t decided if I’m going to volunteer in Vintage again this year after the shenanigans last year.
I’m planning to stay in Watertown Friday night, into OSH on Saturday.
 
Booked a hotel in Madison Friday night for an early Saturday arrival. Haven’t decided if I’m going to volunteer in Vintage again this year after the shenanigans last year.
What shenanigans is that? I see vintage is looking for volunteers amongst many others.

Also, anyone camping may want to consider this with a clamp for the button:
Adjustable Shower Head Holder,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T5SVXBB?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
 
Especially easy when you don' thave any arrivals to interleave. You can just start emitting them at regular intervals.
That was the problem departing on Thursday AM last year. Warbirds doing joyrides, the Trimotors selling rides, inbounds, military stuff coming and going. The Rapid Rabbit (or similar) C-47 that got to the first position to depart and held up everyone for 3-4-5 minutes because they weren't ready...
 
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Booked a hotel in Madison Friday night for an early Saturday arrival. Haven’t decided if I’m going to volunteer in Vintage again this year after the shenanigans last year.
What Shennanigans are we talking about. I work in the vintage flight line ops building and regularly talk to the chairman. I'll be there tomorrow through the bitter end. We do our best to make the volunteer experience good for everyone. Having an ******* fly is gyrocopter into a helo didn't help that year, but I got the EAA chaplain involved (fortunately Margy had his cell in her phone) as soon as I could and we ended up not only dealing with the witnesses (both our volunteers and the crowd) but also the wife of the deceased) and we did the best we could. If you have gripes, feel free to PM me and I'll pass them along.
 
What Shennanigans are we talking about. I work in the vintage flight line ops building and regularly talk to the chairman. I'll be there tomorrow through the bitter end. We do our best to make the volunteer experience good for everyone. Having an ******* fly is gyrocopter into a helo didn't help that year, but I got the EAA chaplain involved (fortunately Margy had his cell in her phone) as soon as I could and we ended up not only dealing with the witnesses (both our volunteers and the crowd) but also the wife of the deceased) and we did the best we could. If you have gripes, feel free to PM me and I'll pass them along.
I’ll PM you. Won’t air dirty laundry here. It has to do with the aftermath of that incident and the handling by EAA.
 
That was the problem departing on Thursday AM last year. Warbirds doing joyrides, the Trimotors selling rides, inbounds, military stuff coming and going. The Rapid Rabbit (or similar) C-47 that got to the first position to depart and held up everyone for 3-4-5 because they weren't ready...
Mentor Flight thought they were real special Thursday morning last year on 27, like they were the only ones that needed to depart. Overheating engines dontchaknow.
 
Meeting with our crew tomorrow to plan our trip. We are tentatively launching on Tuesday with 3 aircraft. Looking at about 10 flight hours from Tampa. TBD whether we push the whole way in one day, or stage somewhere nearby for a Weds morning arrival.

What say you all?
 
Meeting with our crew tomorrow to plan our trip. We are tentatively launching on Tuesday with 3 aircraft. Looking at about 10 flight hours from Tampa. TBD whether we push the whole way in one day, or stage somewhere nearby for a Weds morning arrival.

What say you all?
It's about 6.5 hours of flying for me plus the time for a fuel stop. I always like to fly to an airport close to OSH, then go in early the next morning when I'm rested and traffic is light. I highly recommend this approach.

A couple of years this didn't work out, and it may not again this year. I had planned to leave home on Friday, get to OSH on Saturday, but looking at weather, we may have to leave on Thursday. Part of what makes it fun is the unknown!
 
I'll be in Oshkosh the whole week. Apart from a couple of forum presentations, I am also doing a bicycle ride to Fisk again on Sunday afternoon, to watch the controllers there and the many aircraft arriving at AirVenture. Taking off from the Camp Scholler registration area at 1:00 PM. Everyone is welcome to join - see this Facebook event for more details.

Fisk Bike Ride.jpg
 
Meeting with our crew tomorrow to plan our trip. We are tentatively launching on Tuesday with 3 aircraft. Looking at about 10 flight hours from Tampa. TBD whether we push the whole way in one day, or stage somewhere nearby for a Weds morning arrival.

What say you all?
Whatever you do, be sure you're well rested and fueled up before you fly in. Don't try to fly the arrival at the end of a 4+ hour leg. You need to be sharp.

10 flight hours in a day in a commercial operation is the limit for 2 crew (single pilot is 8 hours). That should give you an idea of what the experts think is enough/too much flying in a day.

With 10 hours of flying, plus likely weather along the way, plus the world's busiest airspace and airport plus unusual procedures all at the end, I'd overnight somewhere and fly in the next morning.
 
We'll fly up from Tampa on Friday. Historically it's been a 7 hr IFR trip for us that includes a 20-30 min fuel/potty stop halfway up terminating with an IFR approach into OSH. In fact, I just reserved our IFR arrival slot a few minutes ago.
 
Whatever you do, be sure you're well rested and fueled up before you fly in. Don't try to fly the arrival at the end of a 4+ hour leg. You need to be sharp.

10 flight hours in a day in a commercial operation is the limit for 2 crew (single pilot is 8 hours). That should give you an idea of what the experts think is enough/too much flying in a day.

With 10 hours of flying, plus likely weather along the way, plus the world's busiest airspace and airport plus unusual procedures all at the end, I'd overnight somewhere and fly in the next morning.
Any suggestions on a good overnight camping location coming from the south?

Last year I stopped at Rough River, KY. That's an option for this year, though I would prefer further north.
 
Any suggestions on a good overnight camping location coming from the south?

Last year I stopped at Rough River, KY. That's an option for this year, though I would prefer further north.
Camping? My first thought is 63C Adams County. They are well set up for camping, with shower facilities in the terminal and a fire pit. Paved runways if you want that. Generally they have excellent fuel prices as well (showing $4.99 in ForeFlight right now). It's also just 18.2nm northwest of the Endeavor Bridge that starts the Fisk arrival, so it'll be a nice convenient spot to start the procedure.

If you want something a little farther south (though still in WI, near the IL border), C37 Brodhead is good. I haven't camped there and don't know about facilities, but they host a very popular antique aircraft fly-in there later in the year. There's a museum there I haven't been to yet. I would imagine it's fairly popular with the Vintage crowd on the way to Oshkosh as well. Grass runways and no fuel though. If you like the location I'd call the museum and get info on showers/camping facilities. https://www.kelchmuseum.org/
 
So if we arrive as a flight of 3 aircraft, we we be allowed to park together in GAC? How do the taxi guys know we are a group?
 
So if we arrive as a flight of 3 aircraft, we we be allowed to park together in GAC? How do the taxi guys know we are a group?
Yes. They won’t know. Since you’ll most likely taxi together in trail it shouldn’t be an issue to collectively arrive at the same row in GAC. Maybe lead can have a sign in addition to GAC that says something to the effect he’s #1 of a flight of 3.
 
Been getting the RV ready for weeks now, The last 4 days are always crunch time. So much to remember prepping a RV and loading a small trailer.
We hit the road tomorrow after work and plan to arrive early Fri morning. 8-9 hr drive for us. We go around Chicago.
 
Been getting the RV ready for weeks now, The last 4 days are always crunch time.
Same here. ;-) Planned to go to the airport today before work (while the hangar was <90F), but as soon as I headed that way, I saw a huge cell in that direction. Aborted the airport run and beat everyone to the office by an hour. Took a two hour lunch to compensate and finished all the stuff I'd planned to do before work. Final packing to be done tomorrow, hopefully off the ground before 6:30 AM on Friday to give ourselves enough time to comfortably arrive before the Cherokee mass arrival at 11:00 CST.
 
Same here. ;-) Planned to go to the airport today before work (while the hangar was <90F), but as soon as I headed that way, I saw a huge cell in that direction. Aborted the airport run and beat everyone to the office by an hour. Took a two hour lunch to compensate and finished all the stuff I'd planned to do before work. Final packing to be done tomorrow, hopefully off the ground before 6:30 AM on Friday to give ourselves enough time to comfortably arrive before the Cherokee mass arrival at 11:00 CST.
We're packing the plane this afternoon with a target launch of 0700 on Friday so we'll be a couple of hours behind you. Is your buddy that's driving still coming and need a parking spot? If so what are the dates?
 
We're packing the plane this afternoon with a target launch of 0700 on Friday so we'll be a couple of hours behind you. Is your buddy that's driving still coming and need a parking spot? If so what are the dates?
Yep, he'll need parking. He has his IFR checkride with the DPE on Monday and will arrive at Osh on Tuesday.
 
Yep, he'll need parking. He has his IFR checkride with the DPE on Monday and will arrive at Osh on Tuesday.
When is planning to leave as we're departing Friday the 26th?
 
Logistics question from a first-timer: When driving into the event, what's the best/quickest/easiest way to pick up a wristband band and use pre-paid parking? Where to enter, what signage to look for, anything to avoid?

Coming into the show, take hwy 44 exit toward the city, get in the right lane and turn right on Knapp road. I expect you won't be be able to miss getting in, there will be cones everywhere. Follow their directions to parking, it might help to put a "Prepaid" sign in your windshield in very large type, but probably you just have to stop and show someone your parking ticket.

There is some private parking, but you've prepaid, so you don't want that. Just follow the cones and volunteers will direct you. Wherever you park, there is a traffic loop that goes around the museum and comes back out on 44, it goes counter clockwise. There might be an out to go south along Scholler, the loop will be high traffic, especially shortly after the airshow.

Tickets are at the main gate, which is marked on the map as EAA AirVenture.

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