Fly 'n Things

If you intend to spend the whole week at Oshkosh, you needn’t worry.

There are pros and cons: which three days you spend at Oshkosh during Airventure. I’ve always spent the last 2-3-4 days at Oshkosh during Airventure. This is the first year, I spent the early part of the week at Airventure.

Campsite: Whether it is Camp Scholler or North 40 — arriving towards the end of the Airventure on a Thursday or Friday yields an excellent campsite. North 40 spans from the edge of the Warbird area and entry gate around the end of runway 9, all the way back past mid field of runway 9/27. Last year, due to weather delays we arrived on Saturday morning, almost towards the end of the convention. Our campsite was perfect, close to the warbird area and entrance gate. Close to the showers and cafe.

Coming during the early part of the airshow, this year we ended far away from everything, almost mid field on the opposite side of the field. This required that we use the free transportation to get to the entrance gate. On the positive side, we were close to the Hilton hotel, which boasts a nice restaurant and bar. Breakfast, lunch and dinner had decent menus. It was also a good spot to stay away from the elements! It rained on Tuesday and Thursday 🙂

What I’ve realized is people who come during the early part of the week stay till Thursday. So there is a good chance if you arrive later on Thursday or Friday you just might get a good camp site!

After having seen an Airbus 380, Boeing Dreamliner, and WhiteKnightTwo, this year the Boeing Square looked bleak. The airshow during the early part of the week was pretty thin as well. For a good airshow, it seems Friday-Sunday towards the end of Airventure is the best time to be there. We did miss the Thunderbird show, expected to perform Friday-Sunday. Although we did catch their arrival on Thursday!

One familiar face missing this year was Burt Rutan. I always make it  a point to visit every Rutan seminar at Oshkosh. There were other inspiring people I did meet: a Concorde pilot from England, a flight examiner from the Women’s flight academy in Texas who offers cheap flight instruction and more in Texas, people who have been coming and volunteering for the past 30 or 40 years, dads with infants and more.

One thing I did realize though was that the SpaceShipOne I touched, hangs at the EAA Museum at Oshkosh, WI and not at the Smithsonian Air and Space in Washington, DC 🙂 There is a splendid new section in memory of  Paul and Audrey Poberezny, co-founders of the EAA organization at the Museum at Oshkosh.

Although, I watched 3 day airshows and one night airshow, the night airshow was by far the best. And in truth, I have seen far better ones in the past.

If you can’t spend a whole week, I definitely recommend the later half of the week of Airventure.

No trip to Oshkosh is complete without visiting the Seaplane base, EAA Museum, Warbird, Vintage, Ultralight and other areas.

No trip to Oshkosh is complete without a ride in the Breezy, Bell Helicopter, Ford Trimotor, Ultralight, Seaplane or other aircraft.