@KaiGywer and everyone - sacrilegious question. What do you do there? I can't buy a plane. I'm in a club and wouldn't really buy avionics or anything.
Air show - I get. I've been once. Loved the air show and walking around warbirds.
Is that what you do? What do folks do there all week?
I would spend my entire summer there if I could (and if it lasted that long).
First and foremost: People! Oshkosh is filled with old friends, new friends, and friends you just haven't met yet. (h/t to the late, great Dave Higdon.) Pilots are generally awesome people, and there are countless stories of people going to Oshkosh knowing nobody and becoming lifelong friends with whoever randomly camped next to them. I am reminded me of a Facebook post I made several years ago saying something to the effect of "I've only been in Oshkosh for three hours, I've already seen friends from five continents, and I've laughed so hard I cried. Twice." Don't know anybody? Just come up and poke around in the areas that interest you, and maybe volunteer, and the not knowing anybody won't last long. And you may not have seen me in about 20 years but I'll be there!
Literally any aspect of aviation you can think of is there, from radio control (heck, control line!) all the way up to transport and military. It's still 90% GA, and all of the coolest things are there. Like new stuff? All the new stuff is there. Like old stuff? The oldest planes that still fly will be there (there was an aircraft there a few years ago that was built in 1909, and FLEW IN). Like normal stuff? It's all there. Like weird stuff? It's all there too. New, vintage, factory, homebuilt, certified, kit, experimental, civilian, current and vintage military, private, commercial, fixed-wing, rotorcraft, airships, balloons, ultralights, land, sea, big and small. Don't know what interests you? Just come and look around for a while and you'll find something.
There are many hundreds of informative forums. Want to learn some aspect of homebuilding? It'll all be there, from bucking rivets to forming composites. Want to learn about flying a particular type of aircraft or kind of operation, or improve your safety, or have more fun flying? It'll be there. Last year I really enjoyed Guil Barros' (from YouTube channel BuildFlyGo) stories of flying his RV from here in Wisconsin through the Caribbean and South America to his native Brazil and back. This year,
@rwellner98 is going to do one on how to cook good food while camping in the backcountry. And there's a zillion others.
If you like anything about aviation, Oshkosh is the place to be - And it should be on every pilot's bucket list to at least go, and hopefully fly in at least once (if they're willing to study carefully on how to do it correctly, that is)!
Hoping to eventually get to meet people both from here and other online forums though (or just simply convince someone to go there with me)
