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Oshkosh Newbie

drone_pilot

Well Known Member
I wasn't sure of where to post this so here goes....

I think I'm going to fly solo to Oshkosh this year, weather permitting. I've been studying the NOTAM and practicing holding altitude +/- 50' at 90 kts and landing on a given spot on the runway. It was really turbulent here today with low ceilings and some TS in the area. Today's performance has me wondering if I'm up to the task. Airspeed was varying wildly in the bumps and by the time I thought I had it under control, I had gained or lost 100 or so feet. The weather today was just not cooperating. The fixed pitch prop on my 7A seems to increase the difficulty level as well because as the nose on the airplane pitches up or down, the prop rpms vary. Any helpful technique or input is appreciated!

At Oshkosh, after landing on runways 36/18 LR, is the exit procedure the same as 9/27 where you roll into the grass to the left or right as soon as you are able? That is on the arrival procedures for 18/27 but see no mention of it for 36/18. There is talk about taxiing west of 36L etc but nothing I have seen stating how to exit the runway.

Should I purchase tickets and passes before I get there or is it preferable to get them upon arrival to OSH? I'll be in HBC if that helps.

Any war stories that help me know what I am getting my self into are appreciated also!
 
I've never been asked to taxi onto the grass beside 18/36 and have never seen anyone else do that either. I have done it/seen it done on 9/27.

As far as tickets go, I buy them after I arrive. Between weather, work and family issues, and the occasional mechanical problem, there is too much risk involved for me to buy tickets before arriving.
 
No need for tickets or passes, just the HBC sign in the window, they will fix you up when you get there. Last year I had to slow down to 70kts on downwind coming in at 1:00 PM on Saturday before the show started. If you cant keep separation with the guy in front of you just peel out and start over. I plan to get there early on Saturday morning this year to avoid the heavy traffic but weather can cause everyone to get there at once as we all know. It is a lot of fun flying in and camping!
 
Practice with the aircraft loaded as it will be on arrival. Getting there early in the day will be a great help as the traffic is much reduced. Plan on stopping an hour out for a break, check fuel etc. at that point you will likely know which runway is active. You can listen in to ATC live, https://www.liveatc.net/feedindex.php
 
Flying into Oshkosh solo for the first time is not something I would advise. Things can get very hectic in a hurry, with constant radio chatter, last minute runway assignments/changes, short approaches, spot landings, and flying much closer to other aircraft than you are accustomed to.

If you decide the risk is worth the reward, you will need to memorize the NOTAM instructions for all runways, because you will need your eyes outside the cockpit at all times. Try to pick an arrival time when traffic is likely to be lighter. Go only in really fine VFR conditions.

As to Runway 18/36, you will not be rolling into the grass, you will be using a taxiway (there are a lot of them), or landing long and high speed taxiing to the end.

Personally, even though I have landed at Airventure many times, I always want that extra set of eyes and ears aboard.
 
Reminds me of an advanced motorcycle safety course I took, everything was performed in a big lot under 40 MPH, an eye opener for sure, easy to go high speed and straight, but going slow and maneuvering around obstacles is a lot more difficult, practice slow flight at a safe altitude might help.
 
Note that 18R/36L only exists for about 1 week per year. Normally it is known as Taxiway Alpha.

The tower guys do a great job handing out rapid fire instructions WITH reminders so you'll be told if they want you turning or not. One less thing to remember.

Just remember to fight your urge to respond to the radio!
 
for me it is all about how busy the arrival is. getting there early is my first plan. otherwise if it is a bees nest then just land and wait awhile. :)

good luck. Mecca awaits.
 
Last year we arrived on Sunday. The Ripon arrival was closed and there were at least a hundred planes holding around the 2 lakes. We landed in Fondulac and waited. When we saw the ADS-B traffic departing the lake, we loaded up and took off. We were one of the first planes into Ripon after he lake hold cleared out. There is always something exciting, but stay on your toes and don't be afraid to peal out and rejoin at Ripon.
 
We flew into Osh our first time last year. At the advise of others I practiced slow flight at/near gross with maneuvers. I tried a variety of flap settings and settled on 1/3 flaps for 90 kts.

We planned to arrive early on the Friday morning before the show so as to avoid traffic but low ceilings and IFR caused delay.

After checking the WX and seeing the trend towards improving conditions, we took off from Austin in VFR. As we progressed the ceilings lowered to MVFR the further east we went. At about Dells the clouds broke up and the sun shined.

I have very little experience flying in MVFR low ceilings. The WX out west is mostly sunny. I wish I would have got some practice in low ceilings before going.

What I didn't anticipate was the rolling terrain with lots of obstacles such as antenna's and windmills. Then there's the birds, big ones and lots of them. They like to fly just under the clouds like you so watch out.

I'm grateful my wife was in back with her head on a swivel. She saw a few things I missed and she had the NOTAM in hand.

Once at RIPON it was pretty easy. I saw maybe five other planes as I was converging. We landed 36L and exited on the taxiway.

While we were securing our plane in the grass a beautiful multi colored RV-3B pulled up and tied down right next to us. It was Tsam.
 
Thanks for the input everyone. Jesse had mentioned the ADS-B traffic. I have ADS-B out so I am supposed to leave my transponder on. I HAVE A SkyView system. It this thing going to go nuts with traffic warnings?

Any suggestions for how to deal with that? I could see how the warnings could create added stress during the arrival.
 
Oshkosh

Don't over think it, less capable people than you do it all the time,
And transponder OFF.. If you don't go how you going to learn
And you regret not doing it all year, so saddle up and have fun
 
And transponder OFF..

That is incorrect IAW with this years NOTAM. If you are ADS-B out equipped you are directed to leave your Transponder ON. Non-ADS-B equipped aircraft are to turn their transponder to standby at or before Ripon.
 
Read the NOTAM

I can't say this enough. Read the NOTAM. Know It before you get there so you aren't fumbling around with a stack of papers in the cockpit at lower speeds and low altitude. There are also several videos you can watch on both the EAA website as well as YouTube that show the landmarks that you are looking for. My suggestions is to watch a couple of them with different runways. The last 2 years I have seen 2 different pilots landing on the wrong runway, one was landing against traffic and the pilot was obviously confused. It could have cost several fatalities but thankfully the Guys in the tower yelled on the COMs loud enough to get his attention to peel off and go around.
Play each approach in your head as to where you should be depending on which runway they are using. The first OSH I went to I used highlights on the NOTAM to pre-draw the expected flight path in the pattern. This will really help you.
Most likely it will be busy with many planes that are doing the same thing, and you can just follow someone, but make this will help you ensure who you are following is doing the right thing.

I agree that you should certainly go this year, just be prepared.

One last thing--- make sure you have plenty of fuel. If you feel overwhelmed for any reason, peel off and go to Fond Du lac or Appleton .
 
You know, I have flown into Osh several times, and I have never had any problem. I am no ace of the base, by any means, but if you just keep your eyes open, know the Notam, get in the conga line, and follow the controllers suggestions, you'll have no trouble. To me, it has always been pretty straight forward. I would recommend timing your arrival during good solid VFR, as marginal conditions could complicate things quickly. Have fun, you won't regret it... it's a Great experience!!
 
I can't say this enough. Read the NOTAM. Know It before you get there so you aren't fumbling around with a stack of papers in the cockpit at lower speeds and low altitude. There are also several videos you can watch on both the EAA website as well as YouTube that show the landmarks that you are looking for. My suggestions is to watch a couple of them with different runways. The last 2 years I have seen 2 different pilots landing on the wrong runway, one was landing against traffic and the pilot was obviously confused. It could have cost several fatalities but thankfully the Guys in the tower yelled on the COMs loud enough to get his attention to peel off and go around.
Play each approach in your head as to where you should be depending on which runway they are using. The first OSH I went to I used highlights on the NOTAM to pre-draw the expected flight path in the pattern. This will really help you.
Most likely it will be busy with many planes that are doing the same thing, and you can just follow someone, but make this will help you ensure who you are following is doing the right thing.

I agree that you should certainly go this year, just be prepared.

One last thing--- make sure you have plenty of fuel. If you feel overwhelmed for any reason, peel off and go to Fond Du lac or Appleton .

Al god advice - the only thing I might do differently is to think of places like Wautoma or Waupaca as fuel or simply diversion alternates. Friendly, much less traffic than Fond Du Lac or Appleton, usually have EAA Burgers or BBQ on hand for arrrivlas. Great places to wait out holding patterns over the lakes....

When it gets busy, go where everyone else isn't!
 
In 2015 I got to ride along in the right seat with a friend as he flew his new RV-7A into Oshkosh for fhe first time. It was nice to have had the experience of seeing it done first hand before doing It on my own last year. I got to see some pretty poor flying and a couple of really bone-headed moves, but thankfully I didn't embarrass myself by doing any of that myself.

The bad: It can be a little stressful and high pressure. The good: If your airplane is reusable after arrival, you won't be remembered as the worst landing of the day. Or even of the hour.

There are a ton of videos, some pretty good. Just be ready for anything, and don't count on others to do what you'd expect. Oh, and I stopped in Portage so I arrived with a nearly full tank, an empty bladder and recently stretched legs. I highly recommend thst.
 
Write the various frequencies in big font on a piece of paper. Because you will be expecting one runway, and then get switched to the other you weren't expecting. A bad time to be fumbling with radios. (pre-load them if you have the option).
And, as others have said, if you are at gross (+!) and aft CG, things get real mushy! Watch the flair when heavy. Don't let the bottom drop out! We get used to blasting around light at forward CG.
It can be a real task saturating experience, so have everything memorized and organized. And don't be surprised by those that don't! Have fun and enjoy the experience.
 
I've never been asked to taxi onto the grass beside 18/36 and have never seen anyone else do that either. I have done it/seen it done on 9/27.

I arrived last year during the Sunday madness and did the left traffic to 18R approach. We exited the runway to the right and taxied in the ditch seemingly most of the way back toward HBC.
 
DO read, learn, and follow the NOTAM. Fuel up nearby, take a bathroom break, grab a snack before heading in so there are no human or aircraft needs distracting you on the arrival.

DON'T anticipate that everyone else will be as prepared. This forum is littered with scary OSH arrival stories. They're all true, and it bears repeating that this can be an incredible joyride and it can be a nightmare. Three years ago, we flew in a '47 Luscombe, arriving about 10AM on Monday. We saw a few other planes once we were within 5 miles of RIPON but everyone pretty much fell in line except for the Bonanza behind us who probably should have been on the high pattern. Landed with zero incident, got the "Welcome to the show" from ATC, and were grinning at each other all the way to the tiedowns.

Fast forward to last year in the RV. We peeled off multiple times arriving with the massive herd on Sunday morning when the field broke VFR. People were just behaving badly. One guy was using the ATIS frequency as his air-to-air with his buddies. The controllers were yelling at everyone that people weren't maintaining enough distance and were calling out aircraft to circle out and return to the beginning. Halfway from RIPON to FISKE on our third attempt a Cherokee sidled up parallel to us and then muscled his way in over the tracks. We broke out and returned to RIPON for a fourth time and ended up following a Cessna 140-type who proceeded to fly the whole arrival and pattern at 60kts and then aimed for the wrong colored dot, so that instead of remaining ahead of us and in sight on short final, suddenly he was behind us and rolling out over our dot as we came in to land. Thankfully we were able to maneuver and it all worked out but it was far and away the most stressful aviation event I think I've experienced and I fly an airliner for a living. Having two sets of eyeballs scouring for traffic in the gloom and one person flying while the other person tuned radios and announced the next waypoint/instruction was the only way we made that work. I'm truly amazed there wasn't a midair that day.


As an aside, we focus a lot on the arrival and encouraging each other to be safe. Don't let your guard down on departure, either. ATC cleared us for takeoff last year and requested an early turnout from us due to the inbound Cathay 747, but I don't believe he was aware that the Tri-Motor was taking off the adjacent runway at the time. Had we not seen it just as we entered the turn things could have ended badly and I could tell from the look of shock on the Tri-Motor's pilot's face that he thought so, too.
 
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