Oshkosh 2018: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

[skyfixer8]

I would add to Chicagorandy's post. Remove the VIP driving privileges from anywhere a tram has to go. These people cause more traffic jams with their stopping in road to chat with friends coming from opposite directions, stopping to look at a plane or just tying up traffic no matter where they go. Same would also go for the vendors and distributors on gators, golf carts and scooters weaving in and out of traffic. And YES, the roads are a mess. I am not sure what arrangement EAA has with the airport, but what would it take to at least fill in the pot holes and small ditches in the roads, or even better, repave entire grounds with just an overlay. Not dig it up and remake. Section of road from ultralight runway to Vintage is in need of major repair.

[thellmer]

Good:
1. I was a volunteer from Monday through the Sunday, all day, in the Member Center. Loved every single minute of it and enjoyed helping all the staff, other volunteers, and guests who stopped by.
2. The two days of overcast skies (Thurs & Friday) were fantastic! It was nice to catch a break from the sun and heat for part of AirVenture.
3. Overall friendly people everywhere who came out to enjoy aviation. That's what it's all about!

Bad:
1. Security check at the main gate every bag, almost every pocket, EVER DAY. I even went through the SAME gal's line with my Volunteer name tag on for the first six days hoping I could finally catch a break, but no luck. Last year (2017) I was probably asked to stop to have my bag searched once every other day. Guess they clamped down on it this year. She seemed only interested in if I "had any alcohol". Was a repeated comment daily. If that's all they care about trying to prevent.... :/ I DO appreciate everyone's safety and security, but with a backpack, a lunch bag, and a camera bag it was a PITA for me to unload all my crap to "find the alcohol" and then pack it all back up on the next table or on the ground just past the security tent.
2. People walking down the drive paths (anywhere cart and vehicles are allowed) randomly all over the road. I felt bad for the CARTS, regular golf carts, trams, and buses who had to check up constantly for people who just veer off the walking paths and into the roads.
3. The two guys who managed to get away with riding their little hoverboards around. I saw them a couple times this week down Celebration Way and other places. Absolutely positive they didn't have handicapped stickers on them.
4. Most non-aviation vendors. The massage chairs can go. Same with the company that was selling workout equipment. Really? I mean, sure, EAA made money selling the booth but c'mon. I could see letting the foot massager and orthopedic-type vendors slide, as anyone who had foot issues from walking the grounds for any great length of time could have been in need of a set of insoles or something.
5. Letting main aircraft display vendors starting having West Ramp towing their aircraft down Celebration way to stage in Boeing Plaza before the airshow ended. Happens EVERY year. They've got to fight against the mass of people walking against them trying to leave the grounds, not to mention some aircraft with larger wingspans that require objects along the sides of the road to be moved or laid down (further safety issue). And THEN watching a handful of WRR's yell at these innocent attendees to get off the pavement and into the grass and out of their way of the airplane. Really??

Was talking to a few people about the thought of making the show Sunday to Saturday instead of the current Monday - Sunday. Start the show on the previous Sunday, keep the Wednesday and Saturday night airshows, and let people enjoy the last day in full knowing they don't have to necessarily be to work the next morning. Then let the main aircraft guys depart all day Sunday without the crowd around. They'd have to deal with all the Penske rental trucks and semi tractor/trailers, but eh, lesser of two evils.

[Joda]

Was talking to a few people about the thought of making the show Sunday to Saturday instead of the current Monday - Sunday.

It's all been tried before. The EAA convention has run from Monday through Sunday each year since 2005, and that is the current plan for the foreseeable future.

From 1977 through 1984 it ran from Saturday through Saturday. It ran from Friday through Friday from '85 through '88.

In 1970, when they moved the convention from Rockford up to Oshkosh it ran Saturday through Friday. Then in '71 through '73 it ran from Sunday through Saturday.

In 1974 it ran from Wednesday through Tuesday, and in '75 it went Tuesday through Monday.

The granddaddy of them all was 1976, when it ran Saturday through the next weekend Sunday. 9 full days!!

Friday through Thursday was tried from '89 through '92, then Thursday through Wednesday from '93 through '96. It was Wednesday through Tuesday from 1997 through 2000, and then Tuesday through Monday from 2001 through 2004.

Each of these schedules has pluses and minuses. No matter which one you pick you can find a weakness. All things considered, the current schedule works about as good as any.

[mazdaP5]

It's all been tried before. The EAA convention has run from Monday through Sunday each year since 2005, and that is the current plan for the foreseeable future.

From 1977 through 1984 it ran from Saturday through Saturday. It ran from Friday through Friday from '85 through '88.

In 1970, when they moved the convention from Rockford up to Oshkosh it ran Saturday through Friday. Then in '71 through '73 it ran from Sunday through Saturday.

In 1974 it ran from Wednesday through Tuesday, and in '75 it went Tuesday through Monday.

The granddaddy of them all was 1976, when it ran Saturday through the next weekend Sunday. 9 full days!!

Friday through Thursday was tried from '89 through '92, then Thursday through Wednesday from '93 through '96. It was Wednesday through Tuesday from 1997 through 2000, and then Tuesday through Monday from 2001 through 2004.

Each of these schedules has pluses and minuses. No matter which one you pick you can find a weakness. All things considered, the current schedule works about as good as any.

I think the closest to a fix would be to eliminate the Wednesday night show, that would put a premium on staying. It would probably also reduce early attendance. It's fine how it is.

[robert l]

How is a tram going to go faster ? Has Mr Pelton ever been on one while trying to make its way through a crowd of people that refuse to get out of the way? They are farm tractors. Lucky to get more that 7 MPH from them.

I couldn't understand why the bus drivers didn't make use of the horn !!! I sure world, and the tractor drivers should have Air horn's !!! People just seems to ignore the busses, golf carts and tractors while they are intent on getting somewhere ! All the drivers did an excellent job of navigating around people, objects and the narrow roads in general !!! Thumbs up for the drivers
Bob

[Kyle Boatright]

I think the closest to a fix would be to eliminate the Wednesday night show, that would put a premium on staying. It would probably also reduce early attendance. It's fine how it is.

Aren't there Wednesday and Saturday night shows? That allows EAA to have two "peaks" during one week. I know I wouldn't stay an extra 3-4 days to see a night show, but they are interesting enough I'll hang around through Wednesday evening.

Honestly, the current schedule is fine. No matter what day you start the show, there will be a rush to get there because "everyone knows" the best deals and most of the showiest* planes will all be there early in the week.

[CarlOrton]

I think the closest to a fix would be to eliminate the Wednesday night show, that would put a premium on staying. It would probably also reduce early attendance. It's fine how it is.

I will readily admit I'm the junior member in terms of consecutive attendance: 14, since 2005.

I don't think having one less nighttime airshow, or even *any* night airshow will add/subtract from the attendance. Back in 2005 and for awhile, there were no nighttime airshows (or if there were, it was only Saturday). Most folks seemed to fall into one of two camps: Those who were there Sunday thru Wednesday, and those Wednesday thru Sat/Sun.

There will always be folks who have to split their attendance to make "life" work, be it jobs or semi-tolerant family.

[PaulDow]

It's all been tried before. ...

While watching TV last night, I searched through the Sport Aviation back issues for this information, only to see Joda already posted the relevant information. (Sigh)
Oh well, since I already compiled it, here's the details.

A couple of interesting things I saw was that admission was free for members in the early days, and in 1995 the dues were $35. I know people complain about the commercial aspects of the event, but it sure makes our 2018 $40 dues look real good.

	Year	Dates	Days	Number Days
Milwaukee
	1953	Sept 12-13	Sat - Sun	2
	1954	Aug 7-8	Sat - Sun	2
	1955	Aug 6-7	Sat - Sun	2
	1956	Aug 3-5	Fri - Sun	3
	1957	Aug 30 - Sept 1	Fri - Sun	3
	1958	Aug 7-10	Thu - Sun	4
Rockford
	1959	Aug 6-9	Thu - Sun	4
	1960	Aug 3-6	Wed - Sat	4
	1961	Aug 2-6	Wed - Sun	5
	1962	Aug 1-5	Wed - Sun	5
	1963	Jul 30 - Aug 4	Tue - Sun	6
	1964	Aug 4-9	Tue - Sun	6
	1965	Aug 2-7	Mon - Sat	6
	1966	Aug 1-6	Mon - Sat	6
	1967	Jul 30 - Aug 5	Sun - Sat	7
	1968	Jul 28 - Aug 3	Sun - Sat	7
	1969	Jul 27 - Aug 2	Mon - Sat	7
Oshkosh
	1970	Aug 1-7	Sat - Fri	7
	1971	Auf 1-7	Sun - Sat	7
	1972	Jul 30 - Aug 5	Sun - Sat	7
	1973	Jul 29 - Aug 4	Sun - Sat	7
	1974	Jul 31 - Aug 6	Wed - Tue	7
	1975	Jul 29 - Aug 4	Tue - Mon	7
	1976	Jul 31- Aug 8	Sat - Sun +1	9
	1977	Jul 30 - Aug 6	Sat - Sat	8
	1978	Jul 29 - Aug 5	Sat - Sat	8
	1979	Jul 28 - Aug 4	Sat - Sat	8
	1980	Aug 2- 9	Sat - Sat	8
	1981	Aug 1 - 8	Sat - Sat	8
	1982	Jul 31 - Aug 7	Sat - Sat	8
	1983	Jul 30 - Aug 6	Sat - Sat	8
	1984	Jul 28 - Aug 4	Sat - Sat	8
	1985	Jul 26 - Aug 2	Fri - Fri	8
	1986	Aug 1 - 8	Fri - Fri	8
	1987	Jul 31 - Aug 7	Fri - Fri	8
	1988	Jul 29 - Aug 5	Fri - Fri	8
	1989	Jul 28 - Aug 3	Fri - Thu	7
	1990	Jul 27 - Aug 2	Fri - Thu	7
	1991	Jul 26- Aug 1	Fri - Thu	7
	1992	Jul 31- Aug 6	Fri - Thu	7
	1993	Jul 29 - Aug 4	Thu - Wed	7
	1994	Jul 28 - Aug 3	Thu - Wed	7
	1995	Jul 27 - Aug 2	Thu - Wed	7
	1996	Aug 1 - 7	Thu - Wed	7
	1997	Jul 30 - Aug 5	Wed - Tue	7
AirVenture Era
	1998	Jul 29 - Aug 4	Wed - Tue	7
	1999	Jul 28 - Aug 3	Wed - Tue	7
	2000	Jul 26 - Aug 1	Wed - Tue	7
	2001	Jul 24 - 30	Tue - Mon	7
	2002	Jul 23 - 29	Tue - Mon	7
	2003	Jul 29 - Aug 4	Tue - Mon	7
	2004	Jul 27 - Aug 2	Tue - Mon	7
	2005	Jul 25 - 31	Mon - Sun	7
	2006	Jul 24 - 30	Mon - Sun	7
	2007	Jul 23 - 30	Mon - Sun	7
	2008	Jul 28- Aug 3	Mon - Sun	7
	2009	Jul 27 - Aug 2	Mon - Sun	7
	2010	Jul 26- Aug 1	Mon - Sun	7
	2011	Jul 25 - 31	Mon - Sun	7
	2012	Jul 23 - 29	Mon - Sun	7
	2013	Jul 29 - Aug 4	Mon - Sun	7
	2014	Jul 28 - Aug 3	Mon - Sun	7
No August Era
	2015	Jul 20 - 26	Mon - Sun	7
	2016	Jul 25 - 31	Mon - Sun	7
	2017	Jul 24 - 30	Mon - Sun	7
	2018	Jul 23 - 29	Mon - Sun	7

[mcmurphy]

I just got home from a week at Oshkosh and I miss it already. Seems awfully quiet here without Bell 47s and other aircraft flying around. The good stuff about the trip could fill a couple of pages, but I'll just mention a few. Camp Scholler gets better every year with all of the improvements being made. I think EAA needs to consider taking steps to increase the area for camping. When I arrived early Saturday afternoon I was amazed how many campers were already there. I was also pleased to see the number of golf cart and other vehicles that were offering rides to people. Remember-no empty seats! Also kudos to EAA for chapter camping. I had a great time attending and camping together with my chapter friends.

The bad stuff list is a little larger, unfortunately. There were a lot of young kids riding mini bikes and such. I saw one young mini-biker zoom up and down Lindbergh for a couple of days. I also saw one girl driving an ATV with three kids younger than her along for the ride. That seems more dangerous than anything we might have in our backpacks. There are also too many vehicles driving around the congested areas near Boeing Plaza. I saw a car drive past a sign that said No Cars, Golf carts or Gators. I pointed at the sign and said "no cars". He ignored me just like my wife does.
The prices for food in the camp stores is just too high. $3.25 for a bottle of Pepsi? Next year I will leave the Airventure grounds to make any purchases like that.
My biggest gripe is about what happened after the Saturday night airshow when everyone was walking back to parking and the campgrounds. A line of about 8 cars decided they needed to leave from near the exhibit buildings and drive through the crowd to go south on Knapp Rd. I was literally pushed out of the way by the bumper of the first car. I guess there must have been some very important people in those cars to be in such a rush. I suggest we find out who they were and make sure they never come back.
My last gripe has nothing to do with Airventure itself. I just want to say how terrible the roads were south of Oshkosh. The trailer behind my vehicle carrying my golf cart was hammered to pieces during the trip around Chicago on a road I had to pay to drive on! And lastly, not enough soft serve ice cream!!

[robert l]

The good for me was the volunteers, and that started for us Saturday night, the 21st. My previous stop along the way was Merrillville, In. which leaves about a 3 to 3.5 hr. drive the next day. Well, in my infinit wisdom, I told my buddy, it's 5 pm and we are already in Merrillville, what are we going to do for 4 or 5 hrs before bed time ? Well, we could have gotten a good meal, a shower, some tv and good sleep. B U T N O O O O !!! I said, lset get north of Chicago and get a room. North of Chicago I called AAA, how about finding us a room along I 294. No luck, then I tried all the other apps, no dice. So, our only option at that time was to keep driving. We arived at Camp Schollar at 9pm, got checked in and started looking for a camping spot in the rain. 50 yrds. down one of the muddy roads and the Ram 1500, two wheel drive with street tires pulling a vintage pop up camper succumbed to the lack of traction and we were stuck. I walked over to one of the volunteers and they said they would call someone. In a few minutes a guy came and said he would get us out in the morning. The next morning two guys came with a HUGE John Deere tractor but there was no place on the front of the truck so we un hiched the camper, pulled it aside and one of the guys came back with a 4 wheel drive pick up and hooked up the camper. The tractor pulled us out backwards onto solid road. We told the guy with my camper to just find a spot and we would follow. 15th and Butternut is where we ended up, what a great spot. We could see the air show and all the ultralight traffic came right over us. Thank you, Nate, Dan and David, what great help they were and all the while with a smile !
The bad, we slept in the truck that night, all wet, couldn't let the seats back because the back was full. All this after driving 19 hrs. and almost a thousand miles. More good, the next day it cleared up !
The ugly, when it got cold, my buddy had this blue think he called a snuggy. Not like any snuggy I've ever seen before, this thing was like a fleece onesie, zipper and all. Not a pretty site.
Bob