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Thread: Airventure: Good, Bad, and Ugly

  1. #11
    Airmutt's Avatar
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    Hey Ron, you probably should have noted that everything shutdown early on Wednesday due to the threat of severe weather. I was 30 miles NW and… the lightning was spectacular and scary at the same time. We got wind, my wx station clocked 52 mph. We got hail about quarter sized too but fortunately it wasn’t coupled with the wind. The really bad stuff didn’t hit us until around 2200.

    On the traffic subject I was stunned to see what was the old Orange Lot sitting practically empty on mid-day Friday. Apparently the Warbirds were given a permit only section but there were less than 4 rows of “permit parking”. What a waste of valuable parking real estate.

    Personally it seemed that the number of scooters, gators, golf carts and whatever was up. Rental scooter etiquette was nonexistent. Pedestrian awareness was pretty poor too.
    Dave Shaw
    EAA 67180 Lifetime
    Learn to Build, Build to Fly, Fly for Fun

  2. #12

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    I wish I could attach a photo...a few years ago I saw four guys in their 20s each riding a rental motorized scooter. I know that not all disabilities are visible (mine aren't) and I know that young people can be disabled...bit four of them? All together? Way down the flightline? I don't hink so. I wonder if there is any legal way for EAA to rent scooters only to people who already have disabled permits. ADA is very restrictive in what can be asked, but it really annoys me to think that someone with a true disability might not be able to rent a scooter because some lazy person got there first.

  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wickbuilder View Post
    Tram service that was supposed to run late starting Monday never materialized. After working to close on the vintage flightline I was not happy having to walk to the North 40 again. If you are going to publish a schedule then run the Damn thing on schedule.
    No Mask, No Uber...
    There was a lack of volunteers for the trams this year apparently causing them to need to end service earlier than planned. I know one tram driver I spoke to had been working for six hours already that day. Thats a heck of a shift for someone just volunteering.

  4. #14

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    Aug 2014
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    This was a somewhat good Airventure but had some mixed feelings about some things. My son and his family were not able to attend so I missed my grandkids. They had ONE request….bring us this years AeroShell “Cow Poster”, but AeroShell was a no show. No reason given and they were listed with a booth but it was empty. We always do the Aviators Club on Wednesday to sit for the night show which was canceled due to weather but couldn’t slide our Wednesday to Thursday. We always pick up “swag” which seemed scarce this year. I blame it on COVID as businesses were hurt from last year.
    If I could sit down with the powers that be I would have a few requests/suggestions….
    1. Stop all seminars and forums during the air shows….it’s hard to hear some of the speaking anyway but when the jets are flying it is impossible. Becomes a waste of time.
    2. The App was useless due to a lack of internet and phone service.
    3. Seminars and Forums don’t seem to match the advertising on the buildings. More than once I had to ask where a certain forum was and saw the same question from many others. Just some type of signage viewable from more than arms reach.

  5. #15
    So much noise this year. You couldn't get away from it. The PA system's decible level was so high during the airshow and the announcer seemed to scream the entire time. We don't need the PA system to be blasting away 24/7. Silence is Golden.
    The crowds seemed larger this year. My guess is that the heat, humidity, crowds size and noise levels stressed everyone to the breaking point that civility and courtesy went out the window, not becaue of covid or politics.

  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by deftone View Post
    There was a lack of volunteers for the trams this year apparently causing them to need to end service earlier than planned. I know one tram driver I spoke to had been working for six hours already that day. Thats a heck of a shift for someone just volunteering.
    I'm a tram conductor, we volunteer early in the year to work 6 hour shifts and get scheduled a few weeks before the event starts - either on the 8-2 or 2-8 shifts as tram management needs that day. While they DO seek to send out all the trams each day, it is indeed 100% volunteer staff dependent. Two volunteers per tram (driver and conductor), two shifts per day and at least one relief team of two for each color route. It's a LOT of bodies to keep the tram system operating every day. Now add in unplanned illness, absences, emergencies, mechanical breakdowns and the occasional volunteers that simply never show up and you can appreciate it can quickly become a logistical nightmare for our bosses, who are remarkable by the way.

    I'm also one of those pesky wonky-kneed geezers who this year brought his own Chicago-rented mobility scooter. It was a godsend and allowed me to see everything I wanted to see, and go anywhere I wanted to go pain free and in a timely manner. I posted a couple quick pics in my "Day 5 of 9" commentary here - http://eaaforums.org/showthread.php?10053-Day-5-of-9 . I can also attest that I saw EVERY make/model of legit mobility scooter in use at AirVenture. There's a whole lot of us 'less than nimble' folks in EAA -lol. I also saw several that kinda 'stretched' the mobility scooter definition, but I'll leave deciding which is which to someone else.

    I did also see young kids running golf carts like they were dune buggies, even a pair of 'yoots doing a power slide donut by Hangar B. NOT setting a good example IMHO.
    Last edited by CHICAGORANDY; 08-02-2021 at 07:55 AM.
    "Don't believe everything you see or read on the internet" - Abraham Lincoln

  7. #17

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    Jul 2016
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    It was definitely good to be back and had a great time with my son. As expected!

    I had a failed back surgery 10 years ago, so must use a mobility chair for the days at Oshkosh. My son was saying I forced him to average 10 Miles a day! I can walk some, but not all day. Anyway, to get from Scholler and back I need to use one of the special needs buses with the lifts. The wait times this year were really bad. 1/2 hour to 45 minutes late morning at Stitts and Lindberg. And typically an hour+ in the evening. And that's calling the dispatcher. The only two drivers I saw told me there was only one special needs bus in Scholler the whole week. There use to be three. The drivers said there were two others, but one went from the bus park to museum only, and I believe another did parking lots and maybe north 40 only? Previously the 3 in Scholler went where they were needed. For instance, I could be picked up and request to go to the museum and back. I do have the dispatchers number so call them when needed.

    So EAA if you listen here, if this change was the result of the study done in 2019, it is not working well for those of us in Scholler. At least the few others I saw agree. You should change it back or at least put two buses in Scholler. Plus remember parents with strollers also use these buses. If it was the bus company that made the changes, they should talk with their drivers!!

    Again not a huge complaint, but it did work much better in past years. Maybe rethink the changes?

    Thanks. And Ron it's hard to believe you saw that stuff out of the parking lot.....

    Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

  8. #18
    mazdaP5's Avatar
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    The good was very god: Airventure and the hospitality of the city and people of Oshkosh. The event ran very well for all of the rust from the year off.
    I love EAA Radio in the mornings, as well as the broadcast of the theatre in the woods.
    Night at the museum was very welcome, it could have gotten ugly if that storm hit.
    My B-25 ride was priceless.
    The bad: Weather was nasty, hot and humid. Long term forecasts lied!
    Lot's of flat tires on the runways, don't know what's up with that.

    The ugly: a few DUI in the campgrounds, and that truck that ran off of the road down at the southwest corner.

  9. #19
    FlyingRon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Airmutt View Post
    Hey Ron, you probably should have noted that everything shutdown early on Wednesday due to the threat of severe weather. I was 30 miles NW and… the lightning was spectacular and scary at the same time. We got wind, my wx station clocked 52 mph. We got hail about quarter sized too but fortunately it wasn’t coupled with the wind. The really bad stuff didn’t hit us until around 2200. .
    It didn't even start raining until 2200. It was a beautiful evening as I walked from Vintage up to the SOS brothers for dinner and back.


    And here's the true ugly thing (at least for me). Just got the word that one of our volunteers who worked with me in our operations building has tested positive for COVID. He had gotten his vaccinations in January. I got mine in March, but I'm heading out to get tested tomorrow. I've also got to pull up the volunteer data and find out who volunteered with him during the week. (It's a good thing we track that. We did it for other reasons but this is going to be important).

  10. #20

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    As a tram driver, I got to work well past the 6 hour shift we normally drive because of the shortages at least once. As for the routes and stops, If someone had actually asked the people who operate the tram system what they would suggest instead of a bunch of coledge kids who had never been to Oshkosh before then maybe the stops on blue line would have been better. We were told that Vintage wanted the stop by Spencers and Subway eliminated because it caused problems there. Also, would be nice if roads crew would go around and fill pot holes and cracks.

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