EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019

Discussion relating to 2019 airshows/fly-ins/exercises/other events. Post news before the event and post your photos afterwards! Please create only one thread per event.
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DanODell
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Post by DanODell » Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:45 pm

Any first-timer recommendations for lodging or important things to know? I'll be driving up from Ohio for the show.

Thanks, Dan
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RyanS
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Post by RyanS » Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:17 pm

DanODell wrote: Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:45 pm Any first-timer recommendations for lodging or important things to know? I'll be driving up from Ohio for the show.

Thanks, Dan
Where to start....

Check for lodging ASAP. Every hotel within 45 minutes or an hour will be $200 a night or more. Appleton has more hotels than Oshkosh and is about 20-30 minutes north. Beaver Dam and Green Bay are usually the range for more normal rates.

You can camp on the airport if you're into that, lots of people say it's part of the real Oshkosh experience but it's also camping in the middle of summer so it can get rough. I need lots of outlets and internet so it's not an option for me anyway but they do have shower buildings.

If you want a middle ground, you can pay a reasonable rate to use a dorm room at the college in town. I have not done that.

The show grounds are much bigger than a normal airshow, and you will find it impossible to see everything you might want to. It'll be pretty overwhelming on your first visit! Learn the map and use the trams when you can.

EAA has gradually eliminated public parking near the main gate which is extremely frustrating. We found the Gold lot to the south was our best option last year as we sit toward that end (show right) anyway.

If you want to go for more than a few days, it is advantageous to pay for an EAA membership and the weekly band vs. buying daily admission. You can also go in on the Saturday and Sunday before the event officially opens (Sunday requires a wristband) and watch the best arrivals of the week. The final Sunday is pretty much a ghost town. It's easy to get on the front row even if you show up late.

Happy to answer any questions!
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kalamazookid
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Post by kalamazookid » Wed Jan 23, 2019 2:34 pm

DanODell wrote: Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:45 pm Any first-timer recommendations for lodging or important things to know? I'll be driving up from Ohio for the show.

Thanks, Dan
Book your hotel now (or as early as possible). I always book mine for the following year when I check out. Can always cancel later. There are still some deals to be had, but they may be harder to find. I usually stay about an hour away and pay in the $120-150 range per night. That's part of the reason I only go the first three or four days of the week - a full week is pricy.

One thing to realize is that no matter where you are or what you're doing, you're going to be missing something somewhere else - especially if you have interests in more than one area of aviation. You can't try to see every single thing because you're just going to run yourself ragged. I learned that the hard way during my first visit. If you want to look at airplanes, pace yourself. If you're interested in seeing airplanes in different areas, I'd plan on a full morning in each area to see it well - but that's just me. My interests are warbirds and vintage, and I usually spend two full mornings before the airshow looking at warbirds and one perusing the vintage area. Trying to walk that far to see both in a day, then get back to my seat in time for the airshow is too much.

If you're more into sitting on the flight line and spotting/shooting, you won't have this problem. If you're going to be north of Boeing Plaza, try to be as close to it as you can. If you want to shoot warbirds in the air, it's best to be south of Boeing Plaza or you will have lots of photos of the aircraft turning away from you. The north end is usually better for warbird takeoffs during the airshow though, but keep in mind that not all of the aircraft use the main runway. Another thing to keep in mind with spotting is that not everything you want to see will use the main runway. You may want to spend some time watching and shooting down by the warbird area. There are also plenty of flight ops that take place after the airshow is done. I routinely stay in my chair until 7:30 before leaving the grounds. If you're going to be there Monday night, there is usually a special arrival or flyover for the concert that is worth sticking around for.

Parking wise, I'd say study the maps to see what works best for what you want to see. I arrive early enough to park in the Blue Lot because I like being in a central location, but there are other lots that have easier access to the flight line or other specific areas of interest. If you want to park in the Blue Lot, you really need to plan on arriving by 8:15 a.m. Any later than that and you will probably be parking elsewhere.

With regards to daily airshows, Ryan does an awesome job posting the flying schedule when he gets it. It's worth checking in here around lunch time. That way, you can plan bathroom breaks or when to leave your seat if there's a long stretch of flying you're not interested in. I've also heard you can find the schedule posted on the Homebuilders HQ building, but I've never personally seen it. There will be different themed days for the airshow throughout the week. Most of the best military flying is on the weekend, but I've never stayed that long. The warbird shows tend to have a different focus each day. Monday is mass formation arrivals, then later in the week you'll have a fighters show, a vintage jet focus, and maybe something focusing on another particular theme.

Oshkosh is a ton of fun. There are virtually no barriers and it's great to be around people who know airshow etiquette. That part of the experience is one of the things I appreciate most.

Probably a longer post than you bargained for, but I hope this helps!
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Post by claybird » Wed Jan 23, 2019 5:42 pm

A few different views on lodging- I've stayed at further out places like Appleton and Sheboygan, it works well and you can get rooms booked a lot closer to the show dates if you are somewhat uncertain on which days you'll be able to make it. (Sheboygan is a really neat little town in it's own right, wouldn't mind staying there sometime when I'm not in a hurry to be somewhere else.) If you're going to do this more than a night or two, the rooms and extra fuel and extra time traveling start to add up though. I have a friend from South Dakota who has come over for years and stayed in the dorms, he's happy with that.

All that said, we decided last summer for the first time that we were going to take the kids and camp. Camping is not really our thing to go do for vacation, but it was a great experience. Just had a simple tent with four of us. The showers and other camp facilities are very good. The transportation is good. If you want to go to the grounds at first light, you can be there in no time from your site. If you want to have a couple beers on the grounds, you don't have to worry about driving anywhere. (or you can beat everybody out of a night show and be having a cold one at your campsite while everybody else is fighting traffic for an hour to get out.) Weather is obviously the downside, but they're set up as well as any place of the sort can be for drainage and such. Anyway, that might be more than you want to tackle on the first visit to OSH but certainly don't dismiss the idea out of hand. (Bonus night airshows too, we were directly under where the STOL guys fly their circuits in the evening.)

Other points- yes, the flying schedule is posted every day at Homebuilt HQ. Flying happens ALL day until sundown, many of the best photo moments happen early or late when not so many people are around. Heck, just standing down at warbirds and watching the other runway can be a good airshow in it's own right with a huge variety of arrivals and departures.
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DanODell
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Post by DanODell » Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:06 pm

Thanks for the info everyone. This helps a lot.

Dan
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RyanS
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Post by RyanS » Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:30 pm

The last couple posts hit on a factor that I neglected to mention, which is that the day does not play out like any other airshow. It essentially has three phases to the day. The airshow itself is from 2:30 to 6pm each day, so much later than usual.

Before and after the show slot is when the arrivals and departures happen. This can be quite entertaining as you never know what will come in. Warbirds, GA, and military are all mixed together. The two large runways are both in use and you can only watch one at a time. You can easily spend the entire morning spotting and then stick around after the airshow until the airport closes at 8pm. Planes will be flying the entire time.
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Ryan Sundheimer
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Airshow0wen
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Post by Airshow0wen » Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:27 pm

Julie Clark will be flying at Airventure 2019

https://eaa.org/en/airventure/eaa-airve ... erformance
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kalamazookid
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Post by kalamazookid » Wed Jan 30, 2019 2:31 pm

Mig Alley Airshows will have the F-86 and F-5 there. Assuming they will participate in the jet warbird day again.
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Post by kalamazookid » Thu Feb 07, 2019 8:54 pm

50th Anniversary of the Boeing 747 announced as one of this year's focal celebrations.
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Matt

XL446
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Post by XL446 » Fri Feb 08, 2019 7:46 pm

kalamazookid wrote: Thu Feb 07, 2019 8:54 pm 50th Anniversary of the Boeing 747 announced as one of this year's focal celebrations.
That's the kind of anniversary celebrations you will only see at Oshkosh - and I'll be there again this year.
Wonder what that will mean in terms of airframe appearances, however. Just the (undoubtedly too high and too distant) flypast of the E-4B originally scheduled for last year? I've been thinking for a couple of years they should invite more of the testbeds - like they unexpectedly did with the Honeywell 757 last year. So what about:
N787RR (Rolls-Royce engine testbed)
N747GF (GE engine testbed)
C-GTFF (P&W engine testbed and an SP to boot)
N747NA (NASA/SOFIA and an SP to boot)
I'm sure a VC-25A on the ground and available for public inspection wouldn't go down well with the current user.
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