Airventure Parking Rant

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

May the force be with you
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Aug 8, 2013
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I am not a complainer but I think I am about to complain.

At Osh when you camp with your plane, they put you in rows like this


parking 1.jpg




I was directed to park on the end of one of those rows and one day I came back to this


parking 2.jpg



I had to fly to Appleton to pick up my wife and fly her back in and when I was asked how to do that, they explained that I needed to unstake my tent, move it into the taxiway, tow my plane to the adjacent taxiway, replace my tent, get my wife, return, move my tent back into the taxiway, pull my plane back into the space and then re stake my tent.

I asked why they are doing this and they said "We have a policy where we do not turn away vintage airplanes"


At the end of the day if I am going to be inconvenienced, where would I rather be than Airventure but this was a pain in the ass and added 30 minutes to both ends of my trip to get my wife. I don't know why they allow planes to be parked between rows.

20220726_080438.jpg 20220726_080743.jpg 20220726_080811.jpg
 
Seems like if they want to use end caps, they should do them like the past grands or leave space so that no one is blocked in.

Aren’t you glad you weren’t tail to tail like in the N40 though? I saw some where they actually put the horizontal stabilizer basically next to the wing of the other plane so there would be almost zero room for a tent.
 
Simple solution #1: don’t camp at Oshkosh
Simple solution #2: don’t leave while camping at Oshkosh
Simple solution #3: don’t go back after leaving

ok, so that’s a joke, but my point is that they aren’t optimizing for your situation because it’s not very common.

An Uber would have been cheaper and easier.
 
Your not a complainer? Not only did you complain but you want to great lengths to make two separate graphics in order to complain. No BrYan with a “Y” I think you have complaining down to a science! ;) Actually that process is a PIA. Not sure about EAA’s explanation because the 182 in front of you is not vintage. Plus unless they saw a Stearman or similar plane how do they know you are vintage on approach. Finally your other option would have been to have Eren take an uber and tell the driver to drive the Fisk approach.
 
AdamZ said:
Not sure about EAA’s explanation because the 182 in front of you is not vintage.
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Vintage is defined by the EAA as pre-1970. That 182 is Vintage. The paint isn't...

My 182 is a 1959, but has a 2016 paint scheme. When I put my Vintage Air Camping sign in the window, the lineman got off of his scooter and took a closer look at my plane, then smiled and gave me a thumbs up.
 
With complaining skills that good you should go pro. I hear American is hiring lots of pilots into that DFW base.

but. Yeah that’s dumb
 
If you were to arrive a few days earlier...your spot would have been much better. ;)
 
Originally they were end-capping every other row so you could still get out reasonably. I think they filled up to the point where they had to do this. I think they should have been Tee-ing the vintage parkers together, to leave more space for the vintage campers.

That being said I actually ended up liking being far south in the suburbs, it was quieter and still very close to showers/market etc. I was also only 2 rows infront of you :)
 
I'm pretty sure they purposely make it difficult to minimize the number of planes coming and going. I couldn't imagine leaving and having to come back. I think my flying to Oshkosh days are over though, camper life from here on out.
 
Grum.Man said:
I'm pretty sure they purposely make it difficult to minimize the number of planes coming and going. I couldn't imagine leaving and having to come back. I think my flying to Oshkosh days are over though, camper life from here on out.
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just booked a hotel for next year. Still going to fly in and park on the field but my desire for temp control and running water is high.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
just booked a hotel for next year. Still going to fly in and park on the field but my desire for temp control and running water is high.
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I don't mind sleeping in a tent. For me the stress of getting in, dealing with the crazy traffic, and risk of damage to my plane due to weather out weigh the novelty. I've flown in for the past 5 shows, I consider that box checked. It's an 18 hour drive and honestly I've had more fun hanging out in Scholler than I ever have camped next to the plane. Not to mention having transportation to go off site is golden.
 
Grum.Man said:
I don't mind sleeping in a tent. For me the stress of getting in, dealing with the crazy traffic, and risk of damage to my plane due to weather out weigh the novelty. I've flown in for the past 5 shows, I consider that box checked. It's an 18 hour drive and honestly I've had more fun hanging out in Scholler than I ever have camped next to the plane. Not to mention having transportation to go off site is golden.
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Yeah I just flew in for judging. No need or desire to do it again. Then again, the people I met camping nearby was definitely the highlight of the trip - but since I'm local it's generally just a day trip or two to get my fill.
 
Been there done it a half dozen times....I've driven in the last three years (13.5 hr drive) and loved it. Having a car is golden. My experience driving.....no worries with weather, no worries with my plane getting damaged or stuff stolen, no worries about sleeping in an air conditioned dry bed, no worries with showering, no worries about having a clean bathroom, no worries eating at nice restaurants, no worries coming and going same day .....just no worries and all fun. I park across the street from the red barn....$10 day. Close and easy peasy. The only thing that sucked.....WIFI and cell service.

I bring in stuff and leave it at friends camp site....on the flight line. lol :D
Grum.Man said:
I don't mind sleeping in a tent. For me the stress of getting in, dealing with the crazy traffic, and risk of damage to my plane due to weather out weigh the novelty. I've flown in for the past 5 shows, I consider that box checked. It's an 18 hour drive and honestly I've had more fun hanging out in Scholler than I ever have camped next to the plane. Not to mention having transportation to go off site is golden.
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I didn't go this year but still got the arrival text updates and looked at flight tracking occasionally. Really cemented my desire to never fly in again.
 
Grum.Man said:
I don't mind sleeping in a tent. For me the stress of getting in, dealing with the crazy traffic, and risk of damage to my plane due to weather out weigh the novelty. I've flown in for the past 5 shows, I consider that box checked. It's an 18 hour drive and honestly I've had more fun hanging out in Scholler than I ever have camped next to the plane. Not to mention having transportation to go off site is golden.
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We do kind of a hybrid now. We used to camp with our plane and with the Pavilion in HBC there’s an awesome gathering place for more social interaction than in N40. However now we rent an RV that’s put on our campsite for us which still allows us fly in (7 hr flight with 1 stop from Tampa vs 18-20 hr drive). This has worked great for us the past 2 years.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I am not a complainer but I think I am about to complain.

At Osh when you camp with your plane, they put you in rows like this


View attachment 109259




I was directed to park on the end of one of those rows and one day I came back to this


View attachment 109260



I had to fly to Appleton to pick up my wife and fly her back in and when I was asked how to do that, they explained that I needed to unstake my tent, move it into the taxiway, tow my plane to the adjacent taxiway, replace my tent, get my wife, return, move my tent back into the taxiway, pull my plane back into the space and then re stake my tent.

I asked why they are doing this and they said "We have a policy where we do not turn away vintage airplanes"


At the end of the day if I am going to be inconvenienced, where would I rather be than Airventure but this was a pain in the *** and added 30 minutes to both ends of my trip to get my wife. I don't know why they allow planes to be parked between rows.

View attachment 109261 View attachment 109262 View attachment 109263
Click to expand...

I sympathize with you. On Wednesday, I took the shuttle down to the end of the South 40 and was kinda disturbed to see planes parked like that at the end of the rows. It was obvious that ingress/egress was not high on the priorities of the volunteers that were parking planes. There's GOT to be a better way.

OTOH, we were on the NE side of MSN's Charlie on Sunday at 5:45 CDT, nervously heading toward the stagnation point of triangles where planes were getting in line, when the MSN approach controller announced that the Fisk arrival was closing again. We made a bee-line to FLD and camped there thinking we try the Fisk arrival again in the morning. The camping (and people) at FLD was so pleasant that we stayed there the rest of the week and I'd consider camping there again next year on purpose.
 
tsts4 said:
We do kind of a hybrid now. We used to camp with our plane and with the Pavilion in HBC there’s an awesome gathering place for more social interaction than in N40. However now we rent an RV that’s put on our campsite for us which still allows us fly in (7 hr flight with 1 stop from Tampa vs 18-20 hr drive). This has worked great for us the past 2 years.
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The Pavilion is a treasure in HBC for sure but not owning/flying/or building an RV really makes you feel like an outcast haha.
 
Perhaps you wanted to subject Eren to the joys and excitement of a proper OSH airventure arrival, but there are bunches of us here that have cars and would happily assist you in picking up your wife.
 
Or....take the bus or Uber. They're running from Appleton to OSH.
Brad Z said:
Perhaps you wanted to subject Eren to the joys and excitement of a proper OSH airventure arrival, but there are bunches of us here that have cars and would happily assist you in picking up your wife.
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FWIW... the Canadian couple camping next to us at FLD introduced us to a guy named Alan who drove us up to Oshkosh and brought us back for $30 each way.
 
Brad Z said:
Perhaps you wanted to subject Eren to the joys and excitement of a proper OSH airventure arrival, but there are bunches of us here that have cars and would happily assist you in picking up your wife.
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I wanted her to fly the Fisk approach. She was grinning big when they called us at Fisk in the Comanche and Said "White Cirrus, Rock your wings, welcome to Oshkosh!"
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I also plan to cover all my Piper stickers with Vans stickers and park in homebuilt.
I've got this all figured out.
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They were stacking them in thick in HBC, too. On Monday I was on the end next of a row next to a coned-off drive aisle - in fact, they wouldn't let my dad park next to me because they 'had to keep that aisle open'. When we got back to camp Tuesday afternoon, there was no such thing as a drive aisle - it had all been filled in.
 
The failure was on the part of @SixPapaCharlie for trying to fly out during the show. It is a royal pain in the six no matter where you're parked. Then again, Mrs. SixPapaCharlie was such a doll that I think it was certainly worth all the extra effort.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
just booked a hotel for next year. Still going to fly in and park on the field but my desire for temp control and running water is high.
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Please please utilize GAP and not GAC next year. We had 2 mfer's in N40 row 515 who used up prime CAMPING spaces near the green shower house and didn't camp. 1 registered (was actually 1st in the row behind the green shower house) but didn't have a camp setup next to the plane. At least he paid and maybe he was camping with a buddy in the N40 but c'mon man. Another, supposedly an EAA employee with a Maule, never did register and appeared to be camping with buddies in another row, I think. The Registration folks hounded the rest of us parked nearby about telling this dude to register...man I'm still fuming about that.
 
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Grum.Man said:
The Pavilion is a treasure in HBC for sure but not owning/flying/or building an RV really makes you feel like an outcast haha.
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I'll buy you a t-shirt so you can pretend to be in the cult.
 
mfer? Oh, I know, mfer means mighty fine camper!
 
baboss said:
Please please utilize GAP and not GAC next year. We had 2 mfer's in N40 row 515 who used up prime CAMPING spaces near the green shower house and didn't camp. 1 registered (was actually 1st in the row behind the green shower house) but didn't have a camp setup next to the plane. At least he paid and maybe he was camping with a buddy in the N40 but c'mon man. Another, supposedly an EAA employee with a Maule, never did register and appeared to be camping with buddies in another row, I think. The Registration folks hounded the rest of us parked nearby about telling this dude to register...man I'm still fuming about that.
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That's good info. I would not have thought of that. Thanks!
 
I was just reading an article this AM that attendance broke the record....
It seems eventually all good things get to a point where it's too crowded.
I know some would say that happened with Airventure a long time ago.
It's been a bit of time since i was there last but I enjoyed that Airventure was BIG. With the crowds and volume come good things...like lots of planes to look at and good folks to enjoy them with.... but the place is only so big.
This might be a sign its really getting to the limit, what do you think?
 
They will buy more land.....and expand. I've seen it continue to grow over the years.
 
I have to admit that I was wrong. I was convinced high avgas prices would dramatically reduce fly in attendance. Guess a percentage of those new owners driving up plane prices are attending OSH. Probably bodes well for GA overall. Word is they bought another farm to the south and are going to expand the S40 to the west, so hopefully they won't have to pack them quite as tight next year.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
just booked a hotel for next year. Still going to fly in and park on the field but my desire for temp control and running water is high.
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Camp Scholler rent an RV you get the convenience with little hassle We had two of our RV's delivered to the field. Running water, shower options and generator for AC Easy bike ride anywhere outside the grounds and to any Airvnture gates.

It was nice meeting you this week.
 
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