Negativity?

[Kiwi ZK-CKE]

Hi everyone, I am only a newbie to EAA and the forum, and from the far side of the planet, but I thought I might just raise this with you.
I joined EAA primarily because I am planning to visit Oshkosh in 2013. As a result I have hovered around these threads picking up tidbits and pointers about the Oshkosh experience. Pardon me for saying this as an "outsider", but anyone reading these threads would have to ask why anyone would want to attend Oshkosh at all.
I seem to see moaning about admission prices, Aircraft marshalling and parking, chairs, too much warbird content, not enough warbird content etc, not to mention minor wars over air racing!. Any event will have problems, and its good to discuss them, but to a newbie looking for info on the event, it is actually harming your organisation. Maybe a little a little care about how things are phrased? just a suggestion

Am I still keen to come to Oshkosh? You Betcha!

[rv8bldr]

Stuff deleted....

Am I still keen to come to Oshkosh? You Betcha!

And you should be! It is a blast and you will overdose on airplanes. The grounds and facilities are top notch, and in my opinion, worth the cost. The camping there is great. A bunch of us go every year and camp together.

You will have a great time. Trust me.

Cheers

[Hal Bryan]

You will have a great time. Trust me.

Hi Kiwi, and welcome to EAA and to our forums! First off, I second Mark's comments: you will have a great time! I had so much fun coming here every year that I decided to stay year 'round!

As for the tone of a few of the forum threads, I think you make a very valid point, and that all of us can benefit from an extra infusion of optimism around here! That being said, I come to work every day to make sure that we have channels like these available so that all of us can voice our opinions about our organization, with an ongoing good-faith commitment to keeping communications as open and as transparent as possible.

Regardless, I hate to tell you this, but you are officially *not* an "outsider" as of now. Thanks for a great first post and a thoughtful reminder, and again, welcome! I look forward to seeing you next year!

- Hal

[FlyingRon]

It's an outlet for them to bitch to people they perceive either are kindred spirits or are EAA or Airventure staff that can listen to their complaints.

Frankly, I've been going to Oshkosh (I refuse to succumb to the Airventure name, to everybody in the WORLD outside of Wisconsin it's just Oshkosh. To the locals it's "The EAA.") for twenty years. I've volunteered there for 12. My experience is 90% positive. Certainly I have made my gripes, and either I griped to the right people or they were just well founded enough that they fixed them anyway, but things have improved.

Oddly, I've never found anybody on the EAA staff or the volunteer staff that was unwilling (at the appropriate time) to listen to suggestions/complaints. Of course, some of it is purely one person's view. It may not be practical to act on them or they may be counter to other people's ideas of the way things should run, but I don't get the feeling that nobody is listening or the show as some systemic defect.

Yeah, I'm not the biggest warbird fan, but I don't dislike them. I hate the stupid "Masters of Destruction" / JetPowered Portolet type acts, but it's a big attraction as well. A lot of people find the acrobatic acts boring. The good thing is that there is enough of everything at Oshkosh to appease everybody. It's hard to say there's "too much" other than for the first few years you go, you're going to come away with the feeling that you "didn't see it all."

[Bill Greenwood]

Kiwi ,

If you like aviation, most any kind, but especially the fun side of airplanes, by that I mean to do it mostly for fun, not business, then you will enjoy Oshkosh.
Just watch out for ethanol in your fuel and the witch of the north 40 parking area if you go there. Most of the rest of it is pretty good, as are most of the people, and the town.

And why in hello are you waiting till 2013 to come to EAA. Get over now, its about 2 months plus away? Who knows what will be there over a year from now.

[Hangar10]

Yep, I agree that you will have a blast! This will only be my family's third year, but we look forward to this trip all year. If this event is anything like our last two, we are in for a great time.

[steveinindy]

It's an outlet for them to bitch to people they perceive either are kindred spirits or are EAA or Airventure staff that can listen to their complaints.

We're pilots. We bitch. It's what we do when not flying. It's like the old joke about Jews (such as myself, before anyone gets upset with me): "Where there are two Jews, there are three opinions." Substitute 'pilot' for 'Jew' and you've got it almost spot on why there is so much grousing and whining. The trick is trying to keep everyone doing so in a productive manner which is a lot like herding cats the vast majority of the time.

You will have a great time. Trust me.

Seriously. It's the most fun you can have with your clothes on or without leaving the ground as an airplane geek. I'm missing Oshkosh this year because of a family wedding but AirVenture is such the highlight of my year that it took my fiancee's mother promising Kat and I a free cruise to the Caribbean later in the year to get me to agree to not "scurry off to Wisconsin for that airshow" (her words). LOL

[malexander]

Everyone has their opinion on what could be better, or worse. The fact is, if you go to Oshkosh (I can't seem to get into the "Airventure" thing either), I'm 100000000% sure you'll find SOMETHING you like and worth far more than the price. My family has been going to OSH for the past 10 years, my daughters, ages 17 & 22, start counting the days til next year as we're leaving for home. They simply love the place. I can't think of any park, fun place, or venue of any kind where your kids (my little girls, used to be) can walk from the campground (Sleepy Hollow) by themselves. It's a different caliber of people all together.
Anyway hope you make it, and I know you'll enjoy it.

[Treetop_Flyer]

As with everything on the internet, there's a vocal minority who like to get their rocks off by griping about everything under the sun and stirring the pot.

The vast majority of us find Oshkosh to be a great experience and I can almost guarantee you will too! Everybody I have ever interacted with at Oshkosh has been friendly and ready to bond over anything aviation. Heck, last year I was camped about 20 or so rows from the flight-line and was running towards the flight-line with my D-SLR to get a shot of the 787 as it landed. Two American Airlines pilots in a golf cart pulled up and told me to hop on so I could get there and set up to get pictures before the 787 landed. Talk about service with a smile! Those guys were awesome. I didn't catch their names, but without them I never would have got the shots I wanted. Thanks to whoever you guys were.

Anyway, my point is that AT Oshkosh, you'll find the vast majority of people to be completely friendly and just downright awesome. On here...well...the vocal minority is...vocal.

[Mattmutz2]

I decided to stay year 'round!

Hal, do you have a residence here in Oshkosh? How many of the "leaders" do? From Hightower on down... It seems like people are using Oshkosh as an ATM.