AirVenture First Come First Serve Policy - Time for a Change

[turbopilot]

I am a long term EAA member (0068108) since 1971. I have always lived on the west coast. During that time I have flown many airplanes (including two homebuilts) to AirVenture. In the 1990's I had several instances where I flew all the way from the west coast only to be turned around at Fisk with the airport being closed. Very frustrating after flying all that way to be stopped short with a full airport.

So I gave up flying my own airplane to AirVenture and just flew in commercial. Not being able to find lodging anywhere around Oshkosh I would often stay in Madison and rent a car to AirVenture for a couple of days. Lots of driving and not much fun.

So now I have a nice RV that I would like to take to AirVenture. The problem is you cannot secure a camp site ahead of time, no matter how far you are coming to attend the event. I just watched a YouTube video where a fellow EAA member from Green Bay was setting up his camp site one month before the event because that is how the rules work. This fellow has secured a prime camping spot with this routine every year for 30 years and was quite proud of his record.

Obviously I cannot do this living on the west coast. My only choice is to drive 2,100 miles then take whatever is available generally a long way from AirVenture in Camp Scholler.

We need a system of reservations or some kind of lottery that allows folks traveling a long way by airplane or RV/tent to know with certainty that they have a place to enjoy AirVenture. The present system of first come first serve is biased to fellow members who live close to Oshkosh.

I have been communicating with a fellow EAA member who lives in Australia. He is flying to the US, then renting an RV to experience AirVenture. He is bringing his wife and would like to have a quality experience. But he just has to take his chances with the rest of us about how good that experience may be with all the quality spots at Camp Scholler taken by those who squat on the best spots a month before the event begins.

This must change.