Oshkosh 2018: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I'm not sure how to enforce it, but vendors should not be allowed to drive their carts along the flight line unless their exhibit is out there or they are on some kind of vendor business. Driving the family around, especially with a little kid on the driver's lap, which I see more frequently every year, needs to stop. I also saw some carts driven by people who appeared to be too young to have a driver's license. I get that a golf cart is not a car, but with the crowds around, many of whom appear to be clueless about looking for traffic...it's only a matter of time until someone gets run over.

Still waiting for an Eisenhower jacket...

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Originally Posted by delta2ul

. I can remember seeing Paul P. in his red Volkswagen quite often out and about on the grounds; giving members his familiar thumbs up. I can't remember every seeing Mr. Pelton out and about at all. I'm sure he has many demands on his time....
Still, I can't wait for Oshkosh 2019!

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I've seen him around. His cart has Smiling Jack painted on the bonnet. Hightower's cart was painted like a Stearman.

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Originally Posted by BeagleOne

I'm not sure how to enforce it, but vendors should not be allowed to drive their carts along the flight line unless their exhibit is out there or they are on some kind of vendor business. Driving the family around, especially with a little kid on the driver's lap, which I see more frequently every year, needs to stop. I also saw some carts driven by people who appeared to be too young to have a driver's license. I get that a golf cart is not a car, but with the crowds around, many of whom appear to be clueless about looking for traffic...it's only a matter of time until someone gets run over.

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You had some very fine people on both sides of the road. :>)

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Originally Posted by delta2ul

I can't remember every seeing Mr. Pelton out and about at all. I'm sure he has many demands on his time....
Still, I can't wait for Oshkosh 2019!

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I 100% agree with this. For this one week per year Jack needs to be out and about, making himself available to the membership, not hanging out with Corporate sponsors.

OK; I'll step up to defend Jack's visibility. Let's be pragmatic:

For most of us, for several decades Paul was more of the "ambassador" of EAA; Paul was over 60, Tom was running things for the most part, and if he wasn't, other staff did. He (Paul) had the luxury of time to get out there. Remember - he hated the "corporate-ness" of what Convention had become, so it was an escape for him to do what he loved - talk to folks.

I don't think Jack spends an inordinate amount of time with sponsors as opposed to members. He just has too many requests for appearances. Something big going on? He's there, regardless of whether it's member-centric or sponsor-centric. We've just gotten so big, we need to clone Jack.

In another thread we talked about choosing board members; one slant on it was that in the corporate world, EVERYONE expects a bit of schmoozing. We all want to feel "special," that we're big enough to garner a visit from Jack. Note that he doesn't spend a lot of time with any one venue. Do we all rush around the grounds from 0700 - 2200 without stopping? How many of us just pull up a bench or prop under a wing to just look at the airplanes for an hour or so during the day at Oshkosh? You're being a hypocrite if you do - you want Jack around all the time, but you don't want to give him a chance to sit back and relax for a bit.

Is Jack perfect? No. But in the post-Paul world, I'll take Jack over Rod every time.

Well its been almost a month and life is getting back to normal. 2018 was my brother Glenn and my 46th year attending Oshkosh! The first year I sat on his shoulders to watch the show. Now he won't let me! LOL!
Over the years we have seen many things change, some for better, some for worse. Here is my list for 2018:
Good: This was Glenn and my first year volunteering in the Warbirds area working with the Tram Tour. Glenn did announcing in the tent and I did Warbird Membership sales. Originally I signed up to be a driver, but wasn't needed. Hopefully next year. We both has a blast meeting and connecting with the people that go with the hardware. It was an amazing experience!
-An absolutely amazing number of Warbirds and current military aircraft on the ground and in the air!
-Being I spent most of my time volunteering, I really enjoyed the Trams to get around and cover as much of the grounds as I could.
-As always, the Seaplane Base is the best kept secret and a relaxing and beautiful place to visit.
Bad: I still miss the missing man formation that ALWAYS used to happen at the conclusion on the Warbird shows! To me it is one on the most important parts of the show!
-The "Drifting"... This is an air show, not a car show. I dont appreciate the noise of screeching tires drowning out everything in the area of the Ford tent. I want to hear the music of aircraft, not screeching tires!
Ugly: Like somebody mentioned earlier, old saggy tattoo ladies LOL! :)
I'm looking forward to 2019! Hopefully my schedule will allow me to volunteer again as I did this year!

Thanks for volunteering!
My worry with the drift cars is that if something breaks loose, the spectators are awfully close.

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Originally Posted by John Leidel

Well its been almost a month and life is getting back to normal. 2018 was my brother Glenn and my 46th year attending Oshkosh! The first year I sat on his shoulders to watch the show. Now he won't let me! LOL!
Over the years we have seen many things change, some for better, some for worse. Here is my list for 2018:
Good: This was Glenn and my first year volunteering in the Warbirds area working with the Tram Tour. Glenn did announcing in the tent and I did Warbird Membership sales. Originally I signed up to be a driver, but wasn't needed. Hopefully next year. We both has a blast meeting and connecting with the people that go with the hardware. It was an amazing experience!
-An absolutely amazing number of Warbirds and current military aircraft on the ground and in the air!
-Being I spent most of my time volunteering, I really enjoyed the Trams to get around and cover as much of the grounds as I could.
-As always, the Seaplane Base is the best kept secret and a relaxing and beautiful place to visit.
Bad: I still miss the missing man formation that ALWAYS used to happen at the conclusion on the Warbird shows! To me it is one on the most important parts of the show!
-The "Drifting"... This is an air show, not a car show. I dont appreciate the noise of screeching tires drowning out everything in the area of the Ford tent. I want to hear the music of aircraft, not screeching tires!
Ugly: Like somebody mentioned earlier, old saggy tattoo ladies LOL! :)
I'm looking forward to 2019! Hopefully my schedule will allow me to volunteer again as I did this year!

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We all appreciate the volunteers, I'm going to check about volunteering in in the Ultralight area. And the old lady sagging tattoos, well, thirty years ago it was probably a different story !
Bob

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Originally Posted by Joda

I'm not sure how the tram or bus drivers are trained, but those of us here at EAA HQ are told that the convention is primarily a pedestrian event. We are NEVER to use our horn or force our way through. The people on foot come first. And yes, it does get frustrating sometimes when it seems some people are purposely walking in the middle of the road to make someone wait for them. But hey, that's the way it is! No horns is the rule I was always taught. I think that's pretty universal around the grounds.

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When I was fortunate enough, during the Poberezny days, to have the use of a golf cart during the show, I was asked to make sure not to pass by walkers if I had an empty seat. There were days that I even spent most of the time helping people get over to the museum from the Brown Arch. I could not make it to AV this year, but last year I was saddened to see many more golf carts and VWs running back and forth with only a driver. I tried to flag a couple of 'em down and they just whizzed by. I know some of these are now bid-on and perhaps people feel it is only for them. That is a sad state.

John
Georgetown, TX

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Originally Posted by John Craparo

When I was fortunate enough, during the Poberezny days, to have the use of a golf cart during the show, I was asked to make sure not to pass by walkers if I had an empty seat. There were days that I even spent most of the time helping people get over to the museum from the Brown Arch. I could not make it to AV this year, but last year I was saddened to see many more golf carts and VWs running back and forth with only a driver. I tried to flag a couple of 'em down and they just whizzed by. I know some of these are now bid-on and perhaps people feel it is only for them. That is a sad state.

John
Georgetown, TX

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Well said John. Truly well said. It gives me hope for our country to know that there are still people who care about other people and put others before themselves. Thanks for sharing your story and experiences. If more of us had your same viewpoint, not only EAA would be better but our Country as a whole would be better for it.