2015: Good and Bad

[FlyingRon]

Good:

New shower trailers in Vintage with regular (stay on all the time) shower valves and heads, plenty of pressure and hot water, stainless steal stalls that were kept well clean.

New portapotty contractor with lots of TP, hand sanitizer, and even a mirror.

Food service contracted to others than Zaugs.

Operation Thirst extended operation days and way yummier (and healthier sandwiches)

More frequent trams.

Many more garbage cans.

Exhibit buildings filling up better.

I was only joking when I suggested this last year, but the Jet Powered portolet was kind of amusing.

Better enforcement of cart-free zones.

Dick Knapinski back on press relations. Was the first person at the EAA long ago who seemed to know what email was.

Bad:

New portapotty contractor not consistent in servicing. Seems to have skipped some of the units on some circuits.

Basler. Almost impossible to get their expensive fuel. Apparently this year (as with last year) they went with minimal servicing trucks. I had to cancel a day trip out because after 24 hours and mentioning to both a truck driver and the girls in the payment booth that I needed fuel, I was not serviced.

Wifi completely dead in the vicinity of the Hangar Cafe in Vintage.

[PaulDow]

As the webcast goes to blue screen, another convention ends.
I thought it's a nice gesture that the very last event of the week is a P-51 performance honoring Paul.

I wasn't able to be there this year, but the online webcams, EAA Radio, and live streams sure are a great advertisement to attend next year.

[Joe Delene]

Yeah, the fuel was slow for me. I had the tag hung on the prop from afternoon or so to almost noon the next day. I called them then talked to the truck about 3 hours or more before departure.

With the tailwind going South I ended up just going with the 20 gallons I had on board.

[rleffler]

The showers in HBC were great. It sounds like Vintage got the same type too. The pre-show hype on porcelain and air conditioned toilets got everyone excited, only to be disappointed to find out there was only one toilette for all of HBC/HBP. To make the situation worse, the number of port-a-johns were reduced too. It appears like the new vendor did a great job keeping them clean, but totally underestimated the numbers required.

i was disappointed in the vendor exhibits. It seems that quite a few of the small vendors didn't return this year. The economy is picking up, so I'm not sure why so many didn't exhibit this year. With some of the more aggressive non-aviation vendors being let into the main halls, it felt like I was at a state fair. I would have preferred to collapse all the aviation vendors into three buildings, then let the fly market vendors take over the fourth.

[slin]

We had a great time this year at Oshkosh - for us, it seemed even better than usual although part of that is just with our kids being older, they are enjoying more (and complaining less), and we didn't have a tent destroyed by weather this year, having missed the first Saturday's big storm.

For me personally, I was more pleased than normal with the forum & titw schedules - really enjoyed the Apollo 13 presentations, as just one example. I think the best part is just the friendly attitude expressed by nearly all the volunteers and most of the attendees. Just makes for a real friendly week.

My only real gripes this year had to do with the buses. (1) I thought the "after hours" buses that replace the trams were supposed to follow the same routes as the trams. But that appeared not to be the case. For example, the main "red tram" after-hours bus did not follow the normal route (i.e. did not go between the 4 exhibit hangars, where my wife and one daughter were waiting, expecting it to show up) and also stopped at the bus park, rather than continuing to the north 40 like the red tram normally does. Not a big deal to walk, but just would be nice to know what the actual routes are supposed to be. (2) Would be nice to see published somewhere - and maybe I missed it, but it wasn't obvious - the hours posted for some of the off-site buses like the Target/Grocery bus.

But these are very minor gripes and the week this year was really a ton of fun!

[troy_m]

With some of the more aggressive non-aviation vendors being let into the main halls, it felt like I was at a state fair.

Bob -- I walked through the exhibit hangars today and felt exactly the same way! I usually go through the hangars just to see what's available, and not necessarily to purchase anything. If there's something I might be interested in, I usually grab a catalog or make note of the company and do an internet search afterward. The more aggressive attitude of some of the vendors really annoys me.

[TedK]

Bob -- I walked through the exhibit hangars today and felt exactly the same way! I usually go through the hangars just to see what's available, and not necessarily to purchase anything. If there's something I might be interested in, I usually grab a catalog or make note of the company and do an internet search afterward. The more aggressive attitude of some of the vendors really annoys me.

Ditto. I don't know how many "Electrical Massage" vendors one needs but there were too many by an order of magnitude.

[Byron J. Covey]

i was disappointed in the vendor exhibits. It seems that quite a few of the small vendors didn't return this year. The economy is picking up, so I'm not sure why so many didn't exhibit this year. With some of the more aggressive non-aviation vendors being let into the main halls, it felt like I was at a state fair. I would have preferred to collapse all the aviation vendors into three buildings, then let the fly market vendors take over the fourth.

The issue of allowing non-aviation vendors into the event is a old as the event. Back in the early 1970's there was lots of consternation, but the EAA decided that the green and gray money from junk vendors was just as good as the money from aviation vendors. Like you, I would like to see only aviation vendors in the hangars, but the EAA overbuilt the hangars, so, I suppose, they will allow anyone that is willing to pay to exhibit there. It looked to me as if the hangars were missing a row of exhibitors as compared to the peak years.

Trams / transportation was good.

Didn't try any of the food - have given up, and bring a sandwich with me.

Much improved control of golf carts and other vehicles.

The free, narrated tram ride around warbirds was excellent for people with mobility problems.

WiFI? What WiFi? Worked OK early most mornings; after that, not worth attempting.

Noise from hilocopters (that are selling rides) over the Forums remains an unsolved problem. Seems as if the educational focus that was a cornerstone of the former EAA has taken a back seat to selling rides. (Do you ever get the impression that you are not a faithful EAA member if you haven't paid for a ride in the B-17 or Tri-Motor?)

Quality of forum subjects and presentations seems to have peaked and now is on a decline.

There was a sign in the IAC building that said "If you fly a Pitts, please sign the log." I do, and I did, and I got chewed out because I had not flown in with my Pitts. Another guy suffered the same tongue lashing when he signed a poster, per the invitation to do so.

Bathrooms and port-a-potties that I visited were clean. Best year ever for that.

I continue to be disappointed in the very light aircraft / ultralight aircraft participation.

Still people smoking where they should not. Only a total ban will solve that.

The Bozo on the PA system at 0700 each day, who screamed - some thought that he might be trying to yodel - should be eliminated.

The PA music is too loud, especially early in the day. I want to hear airplanes, not music, and certainly not the Bozo mentioned above.

A Piper Cherokee was parked in the Homebuilt area. Other factory airplanes were parked in homebuilt camping.

Many of us saw the flames and the smoke from the Piper that crashed. It would be nice to provide updates about the condition of the people in the daily paper. Might want to put some news there too, in addition to the press releases from exhibitors.

The weather was perfect, and I had a great time. Looking forward to "Oshkosh 2017."


BJC

[krw920]

There was a sign in the IAC building that said "If you fly a Pitts, please sign the log." I do, and I did, and I got chewed out because I had not flown in with my Pitts. Another guy suffered the same tongue lashing when he signed a poster, per the invitation to do so.

BJC

That area is run by the IAC volunteers, so maybe your "chewing out" was just good natured ribbing. Thicker skin maybe?

Kurt

[Inspector Fenwick]

The "bozo" at 7am is a recording of the yodeler from the days of old, which you obviously never heard. Glad he is back. He is tradition, which you, on the other hand, do not "get". Maybe you would like to put "Jerry's One Man Band" out of business, too. Also......EAA tradition. You probably like plastic airplanes, too.