Airventure thoughts

[mcmurphy]

It's time for my annual thoughts on Airventure week. Once again the blue tram route was overwhelmed along with other tram routes. I think the guy in charge of trams and three of his buddies ought to try to get a seat on a northbound blue tram at the Ultralight barn. In 90 degree heat. With no breeze. I see the attendance was posted as 704,000 people. How many new trams have been added to the fleet lately? Are we going to see any improvement in the future?
I am really upset that the powers that be took away camping spots in Camp Scholler and used them for car parking. Then they opened "Scholler South West" out in the middle of nowhere with no bus service to the show, except for one spot as much as a quarter mile away from some of the sites. Unlike Camp Scholler there were no buses cruising through the camper area. Also no ice or food available nearby. Why couldn't they use that area for car parking?
Over all it was a good week. Things seemed to run smoothly, although I thought there were too many non-aviation booths in the exhibit hangars. Maybe give smaller aviation businesses a break on booth prices? I think there needs to be some serious thought about how the EAA is going to handle the continuing growth in the future.

[mazdaP5]

I suspect that bringing traffic in from 41 would be much easier than from Knapp or Ripple, but yeah, I hate when they adjust and move Scholler. They really need permanent structures for showers down on that side of camp if they keep moving. It does look a little appealing since there is a south 40 gate now, but it's all still so far away from show center.
My forever gripe is that EAA closes off the Eagle Hangar for the one week that I'm ever in Oshkosh to view it. I pay for that museum, I'd like to be able to see it.

Overall though, Oshkosh was great. Even the heat index days had a nice breeze and was quite tolerable.

[CHICAGORANDY]

As to the South end of the Blue Route massive woes? You might want to send your complaints directly to the EAA brain trust that created, new for 2025, the 4,000 car Purple Parking lot with NO, ZERO, NADA provision to transport the 6000-8000 people issuing forth from said cars North or Southbound. Same goes for the new camping area. EAA management is also the source for any new additions to the tram fleet, not the tram chairfolks.

Do also understand that almost every day, EVERY tram we had was in service on both shifts, often meaning there were few, if any, volunteer teams left to provide breaks for the afternoon shifts. I assure you that volunteers for 2026 will ALWAYS be welcome.

[steve]

That's not entirely 100% true about the purple lot. I drive the Home Built Camping (HBC) Welcome Wagons and all the drivers were briefed by our director and then we drove to the purple lot to learn the ins 'n outs of the route, all before opening day. We only have 4 vehicles and we all know that's a drop in the bucket as far as providing good service to and from the purple outback. We do our best.