Page 1 of 11 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 107

Thread: 2015: Good and Bad

  1. #1
    FlyingRon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    NC26 (Catawba, NC)
    Posts
    2,627

    2015: Good and Bad

    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.
    Last edited by FlyingRon; 07-26-2015 at 01:52 PM.

  2. #2
    PaulDow's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Connecticut
    Posts
    351
    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.

  3. #3
    Joe Delene's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    327
    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.

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    251
    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.
    --
    Bob Leffler
    RV-10 Flying
    www.mykitlog.com/rleffler

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    27
    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!

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    62

    2015: Good and Bad

    Quote Originally Posted by rleffler View Post
    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.

  7. #7
    TedK's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Pax River MD
    Posts
    365
    Quote Originally Posted by troy_m View Post
    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.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by TedK View Post
    Ditto. I don't know how many "Electrical Massage" vendors one needs but there were too many by an order of magnitude.
    And the sunglasses vendors offering to clean your glasses.

  9. #9
    FlyingRon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    NC26 (Catawba, NC)
    Posts
    2,627
    Yes, add the ASSAULT by the electrical stimulation salesmen to the list of the BAD. The EAA should ban this behavior. One should be able to walk through the exhibits without being verbally and physically harassed by these jackasses. Particularly bad was booth 1058 "Smart Massage." Frankly, I was one step away from physically taking a swing at the guy to get him off of me. There's probably good reason not to allow guns on the grounds, as killing one of these criminals would be justifiable self-defense.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Wachapreague Va.
    Posts
    247
    From what some of the vendors had to say it apears that some of the aviation vendors were not there due to the high cost of renting a booth in the hangars. One vendor told me they paid $6000 for a small booth for the week. No wonder some of the smaller aviation related vendors were not there . I do not go to Oshkosh to buy massage chairs, tens units, television theft boxes ( yes I consider getting free tv to be copyright infringement and therefore theft , just my opinion ). I go to see aviation related business and products. There needed to be more dupsters in the north forty and this was corrected late in the week. Wifi in the North Forty was useless all week, way better last year. I realize that the proliferation of devices is just exploding and perhaps this was the problem. You could really see this in the evening when trying to charge devices at the abth houses, there wasnt an empty plug to be found most of the time. Just a sign of the times I suppose. All in all an enjoyable week except for the storm which blew up my tent on Saturday. Oh well I got my laundry washed my airplane washed and my shower all before getting out of bed on Saturday morning, what a time saver.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •