Airventure: Good, Bad, and Ugly

[FlyingRon]

GOOD:

Great to be back.
Food service definitely seems to continue to improve in quality and diversity.
Vehicle-free areas much better enforced this year.
SOS brothers ran a very efficient food/beer service operation and had neat shirts this year.
Some new stuff in the airshow (loved the Blimp acro).
Very good housekeeping service on the yellow shower trailers, lots of hot water.

BAD:

The WIFI and ATT cell data was awful.
The Airventure app sucks when you can't connect to the internet (jeez, all that downloading and it doesn't have offline storage?).
Idiots who bring dogs to airshows and fireworks displays.
More accidents than usual on the runway it would seem.
All the food service shutdown very early (4PM? or earlier) on Wednesday.
Still too many vehicles around the exhibit halls during the middle of the day.
Someone needs to smack the PA announcer and tell him to not talk if he doesn't know something. Blimps are dirigibles. Semi-rigid airships are dirigibles.
Too many personal conveyances in the crowd areas.
Insufficient portapotties in the Vintage area (including keeping a good number of them locked up more all of the preshow).

UGLY:
New tram system is a disaster. None of the previous problems were addressed and it got worse:
1. Missing and inadequate signage.
2. Insufficient stops on the blue tram.
3. Yellow tram is silly short with too many stops.
Insurrection that happened in the parking lot exit lines necessitating Oshkosh police response.
Idiots who decided to pass other airplanes on the taxiway in the departure conga line for no apparent reasons.
Idiot pilots who drive their Cessna 310 through the crowd contrary to instructions/ marshalling to obtain a "perfect space" that nobody else was using.

[Mark17]

Hi Ron- Can you elaborate a little more on what exactly happened here? We didn’t go this year but wow! This sounds crazy! Why did this happen? Was it because EAA has shut down many of the parking lots and turned them into permit lots creating a shortage of public parking that’s actually close- Or was this a completely separate issue and had nothing to do with that? Whatever the reason this needs to be addressed.

“Insurrection that happened in the parking lot exit lines necessitating Oshkosh police response”.

[FlyingRon]

No, I don't think there were any substantive changes. Coming out of the close in lots (essentially between Scholler, the Main Gate, and Waukau road) you have to narrow down to one lane to exit. In the past, people were civil about merge. This year, they spent a lot of time fighting, blowing horns, and abusing the volunteer flaggers who tried to facilitate things. Finally, the volunteers decided they didn't feel safe anymore, and the Osh police came in. I came across the scene about thirty minutes later.

Unfortunately, be it COVID-related or anguish over alleged election injustices, many people in the public have dropped any pretense at being polite and reasonable.

[Kyle Boatright]

From my perspective in Homebuilt Camping.

- As always, a very well run event. The HBC volunteers do an incredible job.
- Had a couple of disappointing experiences with the food vendors. The Homebuilt Cafe served us two pieces of expensive pizza that were approximately the size of my hand. At that price, a full pizza would have been about $75. I understand event pricing, but c'mon... In addition, the Subway that used to be near the intersection of Homebuilts and Warbirds was gone. We really missed having a pseudo healthy option on that end of the field.
- The perimeter road on the W side of the field is very dusty. The solution is not to send someone down the road with a sweeper truck, throwing all of that dust into HBC.
- Is it possible to have a "silent" airshow? Maybe the Tuesday or Thursday show. No announcers. Just airplane noise.

[mazdaP5]

The silent airshow is down in south 40, lol.
Speaking of the airshow, if the dual airbox thing ever happened, I don't think I ever saw it. Or it was pulled off so well that I never noticed.

[Mark17]

Yea that’s too bad Ron. I think you’re right on the current political and Covid environment- common decency and overall respectful interactions seem to have gone by the wayside. Sad to see that carry over to Oshkosh. Hopefully next year things will be much better. We were sad to miss the show this year and are really looking forward to next year! Hopefully both Fifi and Doc will be there as well as the B-1, B-2 and B-52.

In all the years we’ve been coming to Oshkosh, the 1989 show with the Blackbird, 1990 with the F-117, 1992 with the Concorde and Glacier Girl freshly pulled from the ice, 2010 with the Collings Foundation F-4, 2016 with the Martin Mars and 2017 with Doc and Fifi and the AF Bombers have been my absolute favorite shows. 2019 the year of the Fighter was absolutely outstanding as well. Hoping to see the greats back and well represented in 2022! It would be absolutely tremendous to see Doc and Fifi, the B-1, B-2, B-52 as well as the Raptors and if the Blues wanted to make an appearance as well, that would be the absolute cherry on top! Love Oshkosh but let’s work together to ensure it stays the best show on the planet! EAA if you’re listening: BRING FIFI BACK to fly with Doc!

[Wickbuilder]

Tram service that was supposed to run late starting Monday never materialized. After working to close on the vintage flightline I was not happy having to walk to the North 40 again. If you are going to publish a schedule then run the Damn thing on schedule.
No Mask, No Uber...

[mazdaP5]

In all the years we’ve been coming to Oshkosh, the 1989 show with the Blackbird, 1990 with the F-117, 1992 with the Concorde and Glacier Girl freshly pulled from the ice, 2010 with the Collings Foundation F-4, 2016 with the Martin Mars and 2017 with Doc and Fifi and the AF Bombers have been my absolute favorite shows. 2019 the year of the Fighter was absolutely outstanding as well. Hoping to see the greats back and well represented in 2022! It would be absolutely tremendous to see Doc and Fifi, the B-1, B-2, B-52 as well as the Raptors and if the Blues wanted to make an appearance as well, that would be the absolute cherry on top! Love Oshkosh but let’s work together to ensure it stays the best show on the planet! EAA if you’re listening: BRING FIFI BACK to fly with Doc!

I've been coming since 81, and 2017 was an absolute banner year. The B-1 opening the Monday show, followed by the F-35, Fifi and Doc, the B-25 gathering, it was outstanding.

[Mark17]

Yea that was my favorite show for sure! It was just unbelievable and so cool!

[davevath]

What's with the airplane parking??? I had a friend show up on Wednesday and they taxied him down past hundred of open spaces all the way to the north 40 fence. Can't we use a spot twice?