Airports Around Oshkosh

MickYoumans

MickYoumans

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2J5 / KBXG - Georgia
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MickYoumans
I had originally planned to fly into KOSH and camp with my plane in VAC. One of my coworkers and his son want to go to AirVenture with me. It will be fun having them come along, but I will not have room for my camping gear. I think the best solution for us will be to fly into a nearby airport where we can get a rental car and hotel rooms, then just drive to AirVenture. What are my best options under the circumstances? I will be coming up the east side of Chicago along the lake front. I have flown into Green Bay before and left the plane at Austin-Straubel, but I would prefer a much shorter drive. The guy that went with me that year had a daughter that lived in Green Bay so we stayed there so he could also visit her.

What airports in the area will be easy to get in and out of during AirVenture with adequate plane parking and available hotel rooms. Do any of these airports have shuttle transportation to Oshkosh instead of renting a car?

I appreciate any help and recommendations you can give me.
 
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Fond du Lac? I remember hearing about a shuttle from there to Oshkosh. Not sure about hotel rooms though...
 
I have used Appleton,and Green Bay . Both have charter bus service to the main gate at the air show. Appleton has plenty of hotel rooms ,a little more expensive than Green Bay . If you use Appleton bring your own tie downs.
 
For what it is worth.... it REALLY is awesome camping at OSH. You will want to experience it. Ship the gear. You won't regret it.
 
My wife and I have stayed in West Bend a couple of times. We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites but they seem to have caught on to Air Venture and raised their rates. Last year we flew commercial and stayed in German Town. I'm guessing rooms in Fond Du Lac are rather pricey.
 
Exactly, what are the logistics of meeting up with your bags with a parcel service, in a couple hundred acres and hundreds of rows of airplanes, thousands of lookalike pilots?!
Perhaps one would ship to a downtown Osh UPS depot and catch Uber over there, retrieve & return?
Might need a goood contingency plan for that!
Maybe there is something already set up at OSH for this?
 
I have landed in Fond du Lac. Iirc there is a temporary tower during Airventure. It was uneventful. There is a shuttle to OSH.
 
I've flown commercial into Appleton a few times (it has a tower all the time) and a lot of people park there. There's bus service from the terminal down to the show. I've taken it a few times but on other times I've chatted it up with my fellow passengers on the flight and found someone who was renting a car and heading to Oshkosh anyhow and rode along with them.

The closest fields don't have shuttle service to my knowledge. Brennand is the closest. He does actually own a nice bus but I don't think (at least in previous years) that he has operated a shuttle. I went up there one morning with one of my co-volunteers to take a shower (they have two real nice showers in the terminal) and got stuck there because the airport closed down because of a crash on the field. We shot pool for a while but I eventually just tied my plane down and had someone drive up from Oshkosh and retrieve us.
 
Ship it there and fly in. Anything south of Fond du Lac is a long drive after a long day there.
 
mkosmo said:
Fly in to OSH, park there, and get a dorm room. UWO is still listing rooms available: https://gcc.housing.uwosh.edu/guests/eaa/reservations-rates
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I really appreciate all of the feedback from everybody! I'll get with my friend and see what he thinks of the various options, but right now I'm liking the idea of flying in to KOSH and staying at UWO. We could still have the experience and thrill of flying in, plus the cost isn't bad either. I didn't think there would be any lodging left in Oshkosh this late in the booking season.

Please keep the ideas and information coming. Thanks again!
 
I have flown into ATW some years ago and taken the shuttle bus to OSH. At that time there were only so many runs and after a certain time there were no more that day, check times and days of operation. The ride from ATW to OSH is 20-25 minutes, from GRB to OSH is about 45 minutes. There are lots of hotels in ATW right off Highway 41, which is about 1 mile from the airport and runs right into the OSH airport. They do book up early, just like OSH, like the first of the year. Whether you're at FDL, ATW or OSH you are responsible for tie downs.
Check the EAA web site, I'm sure there is lots of info about camping, hotels and other things you may need to know.

DO NOT stay at the American Motor Inn on the east side of Highway 41 and about 1/2 mile So of College Ave. I made that mistake years ago,... once,... it's a dump.
 
There is nothing .... repeat NOTHING ... like camping at Oshkosh. Either under the wing or in Scholler. I dormed it for twenty five years and can tell you from experience that it is not anything like camping. You can get information on shipping your stuff to the field at the eaa website. That little dipsydoodle changes every now and again.

You are coming from ... CHICAGO? Hell, why don't you just walk up? :p
 
weirdjim said:
You are coming from ... CHICAGO? Hell, why don't you just walk up? :p
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No,no...I'm coming from Augusta, Georgia. The first day I will be flying to Dayton Ohio and go to the Wright Brothers museum that afternoon. The next morning we are going to the Air Force museum, then on up to Oshkosh by way of the east side of Chicago along the lake front.
 
I've driven to Brennand and back a few times. It's so close that you're not going to find hotels there that are likely any different than if you flew into OSH directly.
 
You couldn't beat me off the grounds with a stick. Once you stay there, you really "get it".

It's one of the only places on the planet I wake up with a smile early in the morning, because the alarm clock is the sound of Merlins or radials departing, more than one at a time. Multiple. At the same time.

Or a morning military jet arrival doing a low pass and then an overhead break.

You ain't gonna get that in a hotel in Appleton or Green Bay.

And that's after hangar flying over adult beverages until 2AM. For a week.

And then the helicopter rides start and the sound of them doing their pattern doesn't stop until the afternoon air show closes them down. And the Tri-Motor starts making its rounds. And the blimp starts cruising around a little later on. And the ultralight folks start doing laps.

Can't wait! 100 days to go.
 
denverpilot said:
You couldn't beat me off the grounds with a stick. Once you stay there, you really "get it".

It's one of the only places on the planet I wake up with a smile early in the morning, because the alarm clock is the sound of Merlins or radials departing, more than one at a time. Multiple. At the same time.
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And the yodeling. I never thought I would enjoy yodeling, but now it's the sound of home and I smile just thinking about it.
 
I like the flying into OSH and then maybe doing the dorm rooms, if camping is to hard to gear up for. If you do the dorm rooms, they should have rides of some type. You may be able to get by without the rental car.
 
There are a number of airports in the area that have shuttle services and whatnot. You should be able to land out and make some arrangements. Kinda misses the point, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
 
The Oshkosh runs their city buses back and forth from the "bus tower" at the airport to the UW dorms. It's not a problem (other than some lines right at the end of the airshow). I stayed in the dorms on my first trip and a few times we've taken the bus up into town to meet people during the show.
 
ATW/Appleton and is about 30m to OSH on 41 from an Appleton hotel. They don't quite have a full time tower, drops to CTAF at 11PM. The airport itself is 24hrs, and the FBO has someone there all night normally. Show parking has to happen during daylight hours if I remember proper. EAA time might be different, they probably have more people on staff, but I can ask.

You can ride the shuttle, or drive a rental. They usually have someone cooking (brats, burgers) for a charity at the airport if I remember right. No camping. Self serve 100LL available.


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Should I get struck by a meteor, I would sure want to make sure I get my $.02 in on this subject. FLY IN AND CAMP. Ship your gear to USPS, UPS, or FedEx (check the Airventure website for more info on how to do this). No way would I go all the way to central Wisconsin and NOT sleep where the fun is. No Way. Breakfast at the Tall Pines. Yodeller at 7am. T-6's rolling out before that. I stay in Vintage but have flown up in other aircraft in the past and ended up in the N-40. Still more fun and ambiance than we deserve. Bring what you can and then get to where your gear is. But you will need your tie downs. You might be surprised that maybe someone in your area is DRIVING UP with room to haul your stuff. If you have the room, bring or ship a folding wagon for your gear retrieval trip. Don't get too fancy.. If you forget something, you will find what you need a short distance away. My first trip was in a Cherokee. We thru a tarp over the wing and slept on the ground under the wing. They hauled us around on farm wagons pulled by farm tractors. You climbed on when it went by. The showers were....well....interesting. DO IT!!!!!! I have spoken.
 
Some of us just leave our stuff in Oshkosh. Jay Honeck has a trailer full of stuff that stays there. I split a storage locker just off the field with ten other of the Vintage Volunteer crowd. Whoever gets there first bums a vehicle from one of the locals and goes and retrieves all the stuff. Some times I get there early and set up everybody's tent. Other years, I've arrived late and found mine all set up and ready to go.

Oshkosh is community. There are many years it takes us a week to get north of the Red Barn.
 
As far as cost is concerned, spend every cent on the camping experience at KOSH. A week, a month, a year, a decade later you will have no regrets. As was said earlier, the sounds of radial engines first thing in the morning can't be beat. The thrill of an overhead jet flying. Watching aerobatic performers practice right over your tent. Black coffee, cool breezes, a summer shower, cheese curds are all memories that last forever and are worthy any and every penny you spend and are worth any and every effort you put into getting there.


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drjcustis said:
As far as cost is concerned, spend every cent on the camping experience at KOSH. A week, a month, a year, a decade later you will have no regrets. As was said earlier, the sounds of radial engines first thing in the morning can't be beat. The thrill of an overhead jet flying. Watching aerobatic performers practice right over your tent. Black coffee, cool breezes, a summer shower, cheese curds are all memories that last forever and are worthy any and every penny you spend and are worth any and every effort you put into getting there Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Amen

Jim

.
 
oregonboy109 said:
Fond du Lac? I remember hearing about a shuttle from there to Oshkosh. Not sure about hotel rooms though...
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Just landed there on Saturday and struck up a conversation with the guy behind the desk about oshkosh. He mentioned they put up a temporary tower there to handle traffic and also bring in temporary showers and bathrooms for the planes that line up and camp there due to not wanting to do the Fisk arrival or when camping gets closed. He also mentioned they have a shuttle that takes you back and forth to the main gate every hour.

Nice facility, have to keep this in mind.
 
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