AirVenture 2022 - The Good, Bad, and Ugly

[Jeremy S]

I forgot to mention the cellular service problem. 3 of us in my group had Verizon. My friend with an iPhone had no issues, but the two of us with Samsung phones basically had no service most of the time. Maybe the iPhone could sense the tower being overloaded and was pinging a different tower thats farther away?

I don't recall have phone issue in past years.

[CHICAGORANDY]

Sincere HUGE kudos and THANKS to the EAA brass who listened to our long-standing annual complaints about poor tram signage. The new color-coded tall TRAM pylons on both sides of the road were a big hit with tram workers and attendees alike. Having each tram pylon list the next stop for that tram was also appreciated.

Next on the Tram Volunteers' wish list is of course making an attempt to re-pave or at least pothole patch the roads we use. That long stretch of 'road' from the Vintage corner to the South 40 bus stop is a real challenge and bone shaker. We must slow down to a near stop frequently to go over some of the biggest ruts to avoid launching riders into the air, and very little of the route could be called 'smooth'. When you are working on that tram for 6 hour stretches it is a bigger issue than a casual mention might suggest. I'm sure the situation on the Yellow and Red routes is similar. Being able to maintain a constant speed would also improve the tram turnarounds so more attendees coud be transported.

[jb1842]

Camp Scholler-The shower houses do need an upgrade. It would be nice if they added flush toilets. The port a potties were well maintained for the most part, but sweating in a plastic bubble gets old real quick. And they aren't the most user friendly for small children. A regular toilet would be very welcome.

And if we are spending our membership money, how about adding some electric only sites? I would be happy just for electric to run the AC and keep the drinks/food cold. New RVs have gotten away from propane appliances, and house batteries aren't as good (unless you drop a lot on upgraded batteries and solar panels/generators) at keeping a charge. I think adding electric only sites and charging maybe $10 more than a regular site would be a real winner. It might take a couple years to make back the money on the investment, but they will make it back.

[FlyingRon]

The weather (other than that firset blow) was pretty good this year. Mostly around 80 during the day and cooler at night.
The show seemed pretty good.

The downside for me was the apparent problems with EAA security staffing. Many gates weren't manned at all. In fact, I was standing at the unattended pedestrian gate near the Binder house and some security supervisor came up and started talking to me like I was working there. I pointed out that I was just waiting for a friend to go to dinner and that there had not been any security person there for the ten minutes I had been waiting.

That gate is a major path for those in Scholler to get into the Vintage area. Oddly, while there are bike racks at the Theatre in the Woods area gate and at the Ultralight area, there are none here. A few days when there was actually someone manning the gate, he abrasively told people they couldn't leave bikes, etc... chained to the fence near there because "it looked tacky."

While Margy and I were doing the exhibits we stopped by Honda. Sitting in front of the Honda "tent" was one of their side-by-side off road things that are starting to become the rage around our airport. I walked close to it to peer inside it (it had one of these NASCAR-style nets for a side window) and some abusive guy in a yellow security shirt ran me (and others nearby) away from the exhibit.

Internet/phones worked pretty well this year though both Verizon and ATT were unusable on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. Internal communications were hampered this year by the EAA contracting out to some lowball bidder for rental radios that yielded some no-name Chinese junk that had a mix of several DOA units and the rest not reliably communicating with the repeater.

At least this year they didn't take the portable toilets away before the show was over, though the rate of service during the peak days (again Wednesday and Saturday) wasn't up to the task and there were long lines in the busiest of areas (like the bank between the Vintage and Hangar Cafes).

[FlyingRon]

Sincere HUGE kudos and THANKS to the EAA brass who listened to our long-standing annual complaints about poor tram signage. The new color-coded tall TRAM pylons on both sides of the road were a big hit with tram workers and attendees alike. Having each tram pylon list the next stop for that tram was also appreciated.

The new signage was a big improvement. I still think they should list all the stops (similar to most mass transit systems) ahead rather than just the next one. The Scholler gate turnaround is still a mess. There's too much stuff going on there with all the exhibit freight, vehicle traffic, and people trying to just walk through that area without boarding the trams.

[FlyingRon]

I forgot to mention the cellular service problem. 3 of us in my group had Verizon. My friend with an iPhone had no issues, but the two of us with Samsung phones basically had no service most of the time. Maybe the iPhone could sense the tower being overloaded and was pinging a different tower thats farther away?

I don't recall have phone issue in past years.

It's always been a mess. It has gotten better. In previous years it's been near unusable during the actual show. This year, it only really crapped out completley (at least ATT and Verizon) on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. We had a mix of phones and none worked.

[mcmurphy]

The good: The weather this year was the best I can remember. The tram service was good, with one notable exception. Even at it's worst Airventure is the place to be.

The bad: 1) I arrived at Camp Scholler on Sunday afternoon and soon discovered I hadn't packed any mustard. Went to two camp stores and both were sold out and they never got any in. How do you run out of #$%&* mustard and not restock the shelf for the rest of the week?
2) 3 out of the four blue water fountains that I tried to use did not work. I don't know if the airport or the EAA are responsible for their upkeep and maintenance but either way the fact they they weren't working is unforgivable.
3) The blue tram line needed twice as many units as they had. If you were wanting to go northbound you were walking because every single northbound tram was full and people rarely got off.
4) The shirt and hat selection from the EAA shops was terrible. I usually get a t shirt, polo shirt and a hat every year. The polo shirt selection was basically an overpriced ad for Nike. Someone needs to fired for this.
5) The USAF didn't show up for their 75th birthday party. No B1, B2, B52, F22 et al.
6) No Ford presence. Kind of like having Bob Hope not being part of the USO shows during the Viet Nam War. They may have had a good reason for not being there, but it just didn't feel right. I can't help but think that there were some behind the scenes shenanigans by the EAA.
7) No notice of Proposed Rule Making concerning MOSAIC by the FAA. We have been told to expect something soon since there was a supposed "set in concrete" Congressionally mandated deadline of Dec. 31st 2023. The FAA administrator when asked about MOSAIC had one of his lackeys stand up and say "it's been really hard" and then announce that the NPRM will be made public in August of 2023. I was very disappointed that Jack Pelton didn't press this issue any further because of how it will affect many of the people attending Airventure.

[FlyingRon]

Here's the post-show ugly. I got a message from the EAA asking my opinion, but goes to a 404 page on surveymonkey when clicked.

Further, the post has an obnoxious privacy invasion (tracking pixels) as part of their commercial spam provider.

[FlyingRon]

Additional ugliness. Despite previous lawsuits and consent orders the EAA still persists in failing to comply with basic ADA requirements. We again had disabled members abused by security at the gates and this year an elderly and quite obviously disabled couple (one was using a walker) were told that there was no "handicapped parking" and were relegated to the overflow lots. While there were shuttle buses to take them into the show, these (as in previous years) disappeared after the night airshow. We were fortunate in securing a lift for them from near the Hangar Cafe to their car (which they weren't even sure exactly where it was... thank you Jim Brown for doing this). I don't know what would have happened if we hadn't intervened.

This isn't the first time this has happened. A few years ago I luckily had access to a golf cart to run a woman and her children out to the gray lot after the shuttles vanished.

While the south 40 shuttle bus appeared to thankfully be in operation, in the half an hour I sat with these people, I saw no evidence that the bus that is supposed to replace the trams after hours (which according to the schedule circulated was supposed to still be running) ever came. Many people inquired about this from us, but most just gave up and walked out.

[Tom Charpentier]

7) No notice of Proposed Rule Making concerning MOSAIC by the FAA. We have been told to expect something soon since there was a supposed "set in concrete" Congressionally mandated deadline of Dec. 31st 2023. The FAA administrator when asked about MOSAIC had one of his lackeys stand up and say "it's been really hard" and then announce that the NPRM will be made public in August of 2023. I was very disappointed that Jack Pelton didn't press this issue any further because of how it will affect many of the people attending Airventure.

Work on MOSAIC took up most of our week in Advocacy, and the announcement of the August 2023 NPRM for MOSAIC is actually significant progress. Yes, there is the September 30, 2023 Congressional mandate tied to UAS regulation, but that only applies to the UAS components that have been part of the MOSAIC package.

An announcement of an NPRM date was by no means guaranteed at the beginning of AirVenture week. Over four days we met with officials from the Department of Transportation and many offices within the FAA including Flight Standards and Aircraft Certification, both of which are key players in the development of MOSAIC. While the details of the rule will continue to be developed over the next months, public comments made during the event by the FAA indicate that the rulemaking will be "narrower" than first envisioned. EAA staff advocated strongly that changes important to EAA members, chief among them those surrounding LSA, remain as part of the slimmed-down rule (in some ways, a simpler rule could help us in the long run). In addition to our meetings, we used AirVenture’s unique setting to show officials the actual airplanes that would be affected by the new rule.

While not having an NPRM released at this year’s event was frustrating on one level, having a specific date set for an NPRM and the opportunity to advocate one-on-one with the DOT and FAA regarding the benefits that will be gained by MOSAIC highlights the tremendous value of AirVenture and the EAA community.