I have talked to several pilots who are very hesitant to fly into Oshkosh for AirVenture. Here are some of my observations from the last five years solo flying in my RV-8A to hopefully dispel some of the concern. I typically shoot for a Saturday evening arrival because the distance I need to travel and have noticed the traffic tends to thin out after about 6:00. But things don’t always go according to plan. One year there was an accident that closed one runway causing aircraft to stack up all the way to Portage (many miles before the first waypoint at Endeavor Bridge). I knew there was no way I would get in before airport shutdown and ended up pitching my tent on the lawn of my fuel fill-up stopover. Went in early the next morning.
Besides all the recommended preparations from EAA I find listening to several frequencies (Fisk Approach, Tower, and ATIS) on LiveATC about a day before the event beneficial. You get a sense for the tempo of comms and learn from interactions with other pilots. During my fuel fill-up stopover I will again monitor ADS-B and listen to LiveATC before proceeding on. Sometimes the mass arrivals get rescheduled which stops the Fisk arrival.
This year I noticed a couple things that were notable.
- The percentage of aircraft on ADS-B is nearing a 100%. I suspect the non ADS-B aircraft are coming in very early morning. ADS-B is very helpful during the initial convergence to slot in the line. After that the eyes are on a swivel with quick cross checks to ADS-B display.
- In prior years I was always irritated by the big gaps in the line to Fisk. If anyone tried to cut into those openings they were called out by tail numbers and sent back to the start of the procedure. This year I noticed the controllers were using those gaps to resequence bunched up aircraft at Fisk instead of sending them back to the start.
- Speaking of big gaps. This year while early in the approach I saw big gaps ahead of the aircraft I was following – confirmed both visually and on ADS-B. I ended up passing a Stearman and later a big tire bush plane that were flying below 90 knots. Although technically not consistent with the procedure I believe it is warranted to avoid the “accordion effect” when the aircraft behind me would need to slow well below 90 knots to maintain spacing.
- I was told by RV veterans that they always took the “high” arrival (135 knots at 2300′). It appeared to me that the controllers were picking on the RVs they knew could fly the low and slow arrival. Many of them were sent back to the starting waypoint or were asked to do a 360 to resequence. Legitimate “high” aircraft like twins and Lancairs were given priority.
Every time I finally reach my camping spot I am filled with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment after flying into the greatest aviation event in the world!
Please post your additional thoughts….
Greg W
