Tips for Oshkosh

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Member for

12 years 11 months

Posts: 17

Hi Guys

I will hopefully get to attend Oshkosh next month for the first time. It looks quite an event and a little different from most airshows that I have attended before.
I will be there with work all week but should get some free time to wander around and take in the aircraft.
Any tips for the event, both during the day and the entertainment afterwards?

B

Original post

Member for

17 years 7 months

Posts: 27

I went in 2008; my wife (a professional aeroplane-hater since birth) came with me. We flew there from Vt. in a Piper Cub on floats. Having arranged a hire car, so that she could avoid the show and go shopping, the memsahib joined in and then changed our "going-home" arrangements to spend an extra day at the show. The hire car was uncollected in the end.

Best fun I've had in 20,000 hours + flying.

Spend as much time as you can there, it really is extraordinary. The atmosphere is quite unlike any show I've ever been to in Europe/England.

People are unbelievably friendly and very willing to chat or explain things. You will still find the odd character to whom you may not warm but hey - there are thousands of others to choose from.

We spent some time with a bunch of Aussies whom we shared a bench, resting for a few minutes in the heat. Firm friends inside of 5 minutes. Lots of laughs.

One of the tents has a board on which you can post your business card, a note with your name on it etc. and your contact no. I stumbled across it, left my name on it with a no. and was amazed at the number of people I knew who were at the show and made contact.

Take LOTS of sun cream and light clothing. Plenty of water is a must, but there were lots of places to buy drinks, food etc. A good wide-brimmed light-weight sun hat is ESSENTIAL. Good sunnies too, though there are plenty for sale.

I really got a lot out of some of the demo booths. In particular, the "how to cover your home-built/restoration project" in Poly-fibre was really good.

One of my American pals was incensed by the number of booths selling non-aviation materials, jewellery etc. It isn't all aviation, (say 98%!) but to my mind, it wasn't a problem.

Expensive I guess, but if you are working there you may have defrayed some of the cost of accommodation, entrance tickets etc. I have a feeling, if you are a member of the EAA you can get a deal on tickets, but that may be wrong.

Enjoy the experience; I'd simply love to go again.

Ndege.

Member for

16 years 3 months

Posts: 1,813

Spend as much time as you can there, it really is extraordinary. The atmosphere is quite unlike any show I've ever been to in Europe/England.

Take LOTS of sun cream and light clothing. Plenty of water is a must, but there were lots of places to buy drinks, food etc. A good wide-brimmed light-weight sun hat is ESSENTIAL. Good sunnies too, though there are plenty for sale.

Absolutely agree with Ndege, it is has an atmosphere all of its own.

Go prepared for it to be HOT !! Drink plenty, you do not realise how much water your body looses.

Also, take a ride where ever there is one available. There are plenty of vehicles running around the whole site. It is very BIG place and you can soon wear your legs out !!!

Enjoy, even if you are working ............. !!!!

Planemike

Member for

13 years 7 months

Posts: 21

Tips for Oshkosh

Having been several times over the years I can only offer the following advice:
Make the most of it because there is nothing like it anywhere else.
As per other comments drink plenty of water (there are fountains everywhere) and wear a good pair of walking shoes. Even if it's cloudy it's usually warm. There can be the odd thunderstorm but take that time to look in the exhibitions.
Take advantage of the tractor/trailers that patrol round the site. Free!
Stay until late because the light is better and the crowds thin out.
Think of your favourite aeroplane and there'll be one of every model and every colour. There will also be a hundred you've never heard of before!
Definitely, definitely visit the seaplane base. Two dollars return on the yellow school bus. Everything from microlights on floats to Grumman Albatross. (Get the tour boat ride round the 'harbour' which I think was a couple of dollars donation).
Take twice as much memory for your camera as you think you'll ever need.
Don't expect an airshow like here. Very rarely a published itinerary (except "warbirds on tuesday" or similar). You will miss lots displaying or arriving that you've always wanted to see but didn't know were there.
The Warbird Park is my particular favourite and we always started and ended there to see what else had arrived, fourteen Mustangs and forty Harvards is not unusual.
You can wander almost anywhere in the aircraft parks but don't put a foot over the crowd line or you'll be jumped on by the 'crowd line police' on their scooters.
Don't listen to the commentators on the tannoy - they'll drive you nuts.

Otherwise I can guarantee the time of your life.