I am trying to decide whether to fly in. It has been about 15 years since I last flew in, and it terrified my wife. I am planning to go on Sunday and will be staying at Green Bay.
If you're staying in Green Bay, why not fly to Green Bay? If nothing else, do what you were saying before, fly your wife to GRB to pick up a car and have her drive to OSH and meet you.
Sunday afternoon is busy, but Sunday evening is generally pretty calm. Lately I've taken to flying in after 6 PM on Sunday, which puts me north of 9/27 and just east of the Hilton.
[/quote]I understand that the Waco gets to park in the vintage area even though it isn't. That would leave it in an easy to get to place (and hey, I am a vintage member)[/QUOTE]
Vintage, this year, is defined as anything manufactured prior to 1971. It will not be long before ol' 71G (a 1971 model) can go in the Vintage area. Sigh.
If a pax gets really upset I would consider internalizing your own anxiety as much as possible. They really cue off anything you are exuding. It's a normal flight, you fly the airplane; and you both watch for traffic. If there is traffic you respond accordingly and not excessively.
GREAT advice for any pilot flying with a nervous or less-experienced flyer. Avoid saying things like "Oh crap" when you just forgot to turn the transponder on, for example.
However, I spoke to a 10k hour CFII who said he has flown in to AirVenture for the last time, as he characterized it as formation flying with amateurs. It seems he was coming in from Fisk with folks who flew at whatever altitude they wanted, with little regard for the NOTAM.
That's pretty rare. It happens, but for the most part people do OK, and the controllers are excellent at dealing with the few who don't.
I've been in there numerous times and had little trouble with anything. Yes, there were some jokers, but they were easily avoided. I recommend it to anyone.
What he said.
I never thought about coming in the evening - I would imagine you were going against traffic with some departing day-trippers.
The real thing to watch out for when there's a lot of departures going on is if they're landing and departing on runway 27. Too many people ignore the altitude restriction on departure (500 AGL/1300 MSL until clear of the class D), and they'll be flying right up through the arrivals coming down the railroad tracks to enter the right pattern and land on 27 (who are at 1000 AGL/1800 MSL). Keep your eyes open and watch for that specific error.
I was somewhat more referring to the grounds and surroundings, which can be a challenge for those of us not keen on animal flesh.
Just saw a press release from EAA a couple of years ago that they're working on having more food options at the show, including things for vegetarians.
Someone find a radar track of the arrival, Fri afternoon.
It would just be a big blob - Primary targets only, as the OSH arrival is transponders-off within 30nm to avoid overwhelming the ATC radar. I would imagine they probably filter primary targets out as well. Sure would be interesting to see, though.
Really gets going about 20 minutes into the video, approaching RIPON.
FWIW, that was recorded on Friday of the show, somewhere around 11 AM ± 1 hr.
You were in Wisconsin, my friend! Beers and brats? Check. Beers and cheese? Check. Beers and salads? Was there a RAIM outage or something? 
