I parked my Vintage Aircraft in GAC at #OSH16
Hey folks,
I have tried to give myself some time to let this settle but I really want to put this out there. I parked my Vintage eligible ’57 PA-22/20 up in GAC instead of south of the Seaplanes on Saturday before AirVenture. I was disappointed that even arriving on Saturday I was going to be far down the line, but when I actually stopped and climbed out of my airplane I was speechless. A couple of points that brought me to the decision to taxi all the way up to GAC from VAC.
1) No food, of any type. I couldn’t even see a vendor, heck I would have been happy with a vending machine!!! Yes, I believe there was a drink vending machine in the general vicinity but no food. The North 40 has a restaurant plus the ability to easily walk off the airport and eat, that distance being shorter than what I would have had to walk from where I would have been parked in VAC.
2) No stores. North 40 has a temporary convenience store and again the ability to walk off the airport far more easily than down south.
3) Extremely sparse facilities. I saw a couple porta potties and couple rows over and a shower trailer way off in the distance. The North 40 has TWO permanent shower facilities, one of them is the largest shower house on the entire convention grounds as far as I can tell. Also, both have flushing toilets that are supplemented with porta potties every couple rows. I know that show planes have been parking down south for years, a friend was down there at least back in 2010, but there have been no physical improvements down there beyond the perimeter road.
4) Sporadic transportation. Never waited more than a few minutes for a bus to pass in the North 40, transport there seems to be well sorted. I did not wait to see how long it would take to catch a bus down south, I traveled down there one time to find some friends and their aircraft and had to walk quite a ways before an empty bus stopped and offered to pick me up. I don’t know what route it was scheduled on.
This all leaves me with one question. Why does the North 40 have better facilities and amenities than show plane camping?
Jim
PS: Yes I registered as a show plane parked in GAC, no rules against that (yet). I don’t have my flying project judged but I have my mug and prop card if you care to see them. I even have a friend who won a VAA award several years ago while parked just inside the gate to the Super 8!
Another view from the south.
This year in particular I was amazed at how expansive the work and improvements in the North 40 have been. Our first two years coming we parked in the North 40 and all that was there was the original red bathhouse. Now it is great.
The past two years we have parked and camped in the south 40. In 2015 we arrived Sunday afternoon and were in row 136, not quite at the end of the line, but almost. This year, due to the weather, we arrived Sunday morning instead of our planned Saturday afternoon and ended up in row 125. Since things were expanded for the GAC overflow parking there we were no longer near the end 🤑.
I have to agree with many of the earlier comments.
1. No life sustaining amenities as we know them exist south of the ultralight zone/seaplane parking but a ton of camping planes do. Yes there are porta potties, and they did add a second shower trailer in the expanded area but if you did not happen to be there when the VAC gator was running around selling ice you had to haul it from the tallpines or red barn. Yes they seemed to be selling ice at the new registration desk In the south 40, but it had limited hours and was closed after, IIRC, Tuesday so we often lugged ice from the tall pines cafe after breakfast back to the plane. Special thanks to the VAC folks for running the tall pines and the ice gators!
2. I know the show doesn't officially open until Monday morning but I wish EAA would keep in mind that the place is pretty full on Saturday and Sunday before the show. We were less than impressed when we had dinner at one of the places near the Hilton Garden Inn, caught the bus to the North 40 gate then had to walk from there to row 125 in the south 40 because, according to the drivers, after 8 pm they were told to stop running ALL TRAMS AND BUSSES! The rest of the week they ran busses after hours to the south 40 until 11pm. But not on Sunday night.
3. Yes they did put in a new shower trailer in the expanded south 40, but I must say it has smaller stalls making it difficult to change without getting your clothes wet and were not nearly as nice as the other trailers near the seaplane bus stop they installed last year .
Now that I have ragged on things I have to be fair. The show was great. When the TRAMS and busses were scheduled they worked well, the drivers were great, very polite and accommodating. The new food choices in the main areas are also a welcome improvement although it would be nice if some of stayed open in the evening. Hopefully now that the North 40 has been upgraded, and overflow GAC parking has moved south EAA will begin to improve the south 40.
We had a great time and look forward to coming back.