Parking Problems at Oshkosh

[Jeff Point]

I don’t have any direct knowledge of the situation in the North 40 this year or the parties involved, but I am a parking chairman in the homebuilt area, and I have a few thoughts about this situation. I guess that means I’m dumb enough to be in charge of the folks who are dumb enough to get roped into this hot, thankless job. As several have noted, the majority of the volunteers are friendly and helpful, as it should be. As always there are a few bad apples, and since the volunteers mostly work with loose supervision, it is important that we get feedback on how people are performing. This year in particular I had several new volunteers and the feedback I got from pilots helped me to coach my charges along in the right direction. On the other hand, just like Cool Hand Luke, there are some men you just can’t reach, and I’ve had to un-invite volunteers from our ranks. Yes it does happen.

That said, before rushing to any snap judgments, I’d really like to hear the other side of this one. With all respect to the OP, while his descriptions of this volunteers’ actions are over the top, his account is clearly written in the light most favorable to himself. There are always two sides to every story. While we (the parking crews) try to make every reasonable effort to accommodate special requests, there are times when it just ain’t going to work. There can be a number of reasons for this, and when things are busy there isn’t time to get into a lengthy discussion about it. This is the World’s-Busiest-and-Most-Crowded-Airport, not the pancake breakfast at Peapatch Airport. There needs to be standardization, and things need to work in a certain way, in order to make everything work safely and efficiently. This applies to ground operations and parking just as much as it does to the Fisk arrival. When I see pilots who can’t follow simple hand signals or directions, I often wonder if they are the same ones who can’t seem to follow a simple 90kt conga line up the train tracks?

The method behind the madness may not be obvious or even make sense to you, with your limited perspective, but there are reasons for everything we do. And, some times that runs up against your desire to receive special treatment. While we try to accommodate as many people as possible, we also realize that, “there ain’t no making everybody happy.” However, we do take feedback like this and look for ways to improve on things for next year. Realize though, that one person’s “improvement” is another person’s step in the wrong direction.

To the OP and anyone else who has a grievance with the procedures- I strongly encourage you to seek out the appropriate person and make your complaint known. If there are any lingering gripes out there about the homebuilt area, I’d like to know about it (yes I know we need more showers, we’re working on that.) However, understand that the paid staff at HQ actually has very little to do with the parking operations, which are run and managed entirely by the volunteer corps.

[vaflier]

Flying Ron said , However, one should calm down before posting here. Nobody is inclined to do anything for people who shout (either in person or in all caps and bold font) or call people Nazi's no matter how poorly you are treated.

Ron, If you or anyone else felt that in my original post I was "shouting", then I apologise as that was not my intent. As far as the term "Parking Nazi" , this was a nickname given to this individual by someone whom I do not know. She was pretty well known in the North Forty by this nickname, which she truthfully earned. Her behaviour was reprehensible. It was my intention by posting in this forum to try and get the attention of Mr Hightower and perhaps gain a few minutes of his time to make him aware of the severity of the problem and seek solutions. You see my goal is not to place blame, but to bring a problem into the open and look for solutions that work for all. Someone else posted that some of the volunteers are dumb. I strongly disagree !. Everyone I came into contact with were intelligent people, including the young lady previousley mentioned.
As far as seeking out the apropriate person and making my complaint known, I did exactly that, and was told there was nothing they could do to help as they had already gone " up the ladder " and they were convinced that nothing would change. I followed their advice and spent quite a bit of time attempting to contact Mr Hightower, to no avail. Posting in this forum as I have done, is just a continuation of trying to contact the apropriate person. I would very much like to discuss this issue with him and suggest a possible solution to the problem, which I believe would work for all involved. I am less concerned with her behaviour, than I am with the larger issues of parking for next year. If we cannot gather with our friends then we will be less inclined to attend. This should not be a big problem to fix. It simply needs attention. So if you will allow me I will say again .


Mr Hightower, I would very much apreciate a few moments of your time to dicuss this issue. I await your call.

Randy Powell
EAA # 820213

[Kevin O'Halloran]

Randy
you are not alone
call me on my cell phone tonight
580 515 4658
Kevin

[Hal Bryan]

Hi Randy -

I just wanted to check in and let you know you haven't been forgotten. Rod is out of the office this week, but Adam Smith, one of our Vice Presidents and AirVenture point person, is planning on trying to get in touch with you today.

I know he read this thread over the weekend, and, since I sit pretty close to his office, I also know he made a few phone calls to some other staff yesterday in response to the concerns you raised.

Hopefully, you two will be able to talk today at some point.

Thanks -

Hal

[Bill Greenwood]

Hal, we had a little problem, not with the parking itself, but with one of the people.
We came in Sat about 5pm, and they had us land on the last dot on 36, all the way at the south end. I guess I could and maybe should have asked for 27, but it was busy enough that I didn't want to talk on the radio. So we had to taxi all the way from down south to the north 40 on the grass. No real problem, just worried about the prop clearance as we bounced along. The were flagmen all the way, lot's of CAP and some orange shirts.
We wanted to park near the motels where we were staying. The CAP boys pointed over by the terminal, but a nice guy, Jim in an orange shirt on a small cycle came up and we got to park where we wanted.
We took a few minutes to relax and then my co pilot tied down the plane. As I was getting the bags out, a guy drove up in a blue pickup that said security. He just sat there staring at us, or at the plane, a C-182 that had pulled into the line next to us. There were about 4 or 5 planes in our row, lot's of other spaces and empty rows.
We had bags, as did the family next to us, and it was hot; so I walked over to the pickup to ask if he might give us a ride over to the fence. I can't remember all he said, but he was not there to help, despite having an empty truck bed. He gave me some stuff about a plane not following flagmen directions, and parking wrong. Mostly he then clamed up and really I could not carry on a conversation with him, and even try to find out what the problem was. There were 3 planes already parked in the row when I pulled up beside them. He just did not seem like an EAA guy, and I 'd be willing to bet $100 that his normal job is to hassle people. I think he is some type of rent a security, had a real short military type haircut, and I think perhaps a cop uniform or similar. Not EAA.
I did ask him what the problem was, and how he knew about it, and he said he was called over the radio.
I really got a hostile feeling from him. Fortunately after a few minutes, Jim came back on his cycle, and I told him about the problem, and he went over and talked to the cop type and we left. The next morning all our planes were there as before, except the 182 was gone. There were a few more planes parked in the row behind us, still plenty of room.

[Hal Bryan]

I'm sorry to hear about the gruff treatment, Bill - I especially hate to hear about anyone not getting a ride when they need one. When I'm out on my cart, I'm almost always late for everything, as I take pride in never turning down someone's request for a lift. And I'm glad that Jim seemed to be in the proper spirit and was willing to help steer you where you wanted to go.

Anyway, I know Adam is actively reading and participating in the forums, but I'll make double-sure he sees this story in addition to the info he got from Randy.

[Paul8661]

This was my first time attending and flying into AirVenture. I arrived on Monday morning coming in on rwy 27 and was instructed to land on the green dot and exit to the left. The volunteers all provided very clear taxi instructions to the end of 27 then all the way back up to the approach end of 27 for parking near the main terminal building. I was then marshalled into a parking spot and after shutdown was greated by a fellow with a big smile, a handshake and a resounding "Welcome to Oshkosh". No complaints here.

[Kyle Boatright]

I was one of very few people who landed Tuesday after the show. I got taxied immediately to a great spot in HBC, and someone from a nearby campsite handed me a cold beer before I exited the cockpit. It doesn't get any better.

[Anymouse]

He just did not seem like an EAA guy, and I 'd be willing to bet $100 that his normal job is to hassle people.

This was a couple years ago, but I witnessed an interesting incident with one of the security guys. I was in the middle of a large crowd of people walking away from the Theater in The Woods. Jeff Dunham had just finished up a great performance and we were all headed towards the buses. All of a sudden, I spot this guy on a scooter going fairly fast (20 MPH??) zig zagging across the crowd. Folks were jumping back all over the place. I saw him go through the gate towards Camp Scholler and stop next to a kid (maybe 14??) on a bike. He told the kid (loudly!) that he had to get off the bike and walk it. Keep in mind that the kid was riding on the other side of the fence from the crowd. No one was anywhere near where a kid on a bike would bother them.

Not sure why the security guy thought he needed to risk injuring several people to chew out a kid that was bothering no one. (And yes, I understand that maybe riding a bike in that area wasn't allowed, but still!)

EDIT: The only other problem I had that year was that I was tied down in Homebuilt Parking pretty close to show center. People kept using the wing of my Tango for shade while watching the airshow, and not a single one of them paid the $20 I demanded for the use of the shade. The NERVE!! Sheesh!!

[vaflier]

Hal, Adam Smith did in fact call me this morning. I explained my concerns about parking, and offered what I felt might be a way to solve the issue. We also discussed the young lady and the poor treatment she gave to many people. I have also been contacted today by several other people who received the same or worse treatment as we did. Adam seemed to be very concerned with the issues which have been raised and honestly wants to fix the problems. I very much apreciate his time and his interest . He informed me there is to be a meeting in a few weeks to address these very issues and has offered to update me as to the outome of this meeting. My intention in starting this thread was not to publicly " blow off steam ", it was to hopefully instigate positive change to correct some very real problems. I hope my conversation with Adam will prove to be the start of that change. Time will tell. Airventure is a fantastic event and it would be a shame to see it tarnished by a continuation of these problems. To all the volunteers and staff, thank you very much for your efforts in making it possible for the rest of us to enjoy the worlds greatest event.

Randy Powell