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Oshkosh Ripon Arrival Video (3 Tries)

pmccoy

Well Known Member
All-

Another year at Oshkosh has come and gone. Thanks to everyone for making it another great show this year. I had lots of fun chatting plane side, and I may have had one or two beers at the RV Social on Monday afternoon - :)

My approach in from Ripon was a bit interesting this year. I got bounced back to Ripon twice. The first attempt was all the way in to downwind on 27, when the B-52 landing closed the airport for 10 minutes. I was bounced back to Fisk and then Ripon. My second attempt only made it to Fisk. Just after my third wing rock, a flight of 4 Kitfox was turned into my flight path. I edited out the swearing from my video as I dove under them, then ATC saw what was happening and started spinning me out of line, eventually just sending me back to Ripon for a second time. On my third attempt, fourth wing rock, it was smooth flying the rest of the way in. The only issue being downwind getting strung out over the water on 27 for arriving IFR traffic from the East.

Side Note: my hobbs passed 300 hours on the trip home.

Click Here for the YouTube Video:



I had a BIG tail wind on the trip East ( not so much going home ). 120 IAS knots, 13,500 Altitude (Oxygen), 218 MPH ground speed.
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A few scenic shots after passing by Moab, UT. Spent the night after landing at Canyonlands airport (KCNY)
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Man, that is too much experience on the Osh arrival! :p

You did well remaining calm and collected!
 
Nice job!

You showed a lot of patience (well perhaps some of it was editted ;) ) with all of the unexpected changes.

One thing I noted is that there were a few times when the controller asked you to talk. It's obvious that it is a challenge to many pilots to NOT talk on the VFR arrival, except on the rare occasion when they ask you to. You flew a very professional arrival, well, two very professional attempts and one very professional arrival.

This video should be very educational with the emphasis on what might happen. It's important to know the published arrival procedure, but it's also important to be prepared for the unexpected changes that might arise.

Thank you for sharing with us.
 
Pete,

As a newer low-time pilot your video shows me what I might expect should I decide to fly to Oshkosh.

You provided an excellent example. Great video! I appreciate you taking the time to post.

Thanks,
 
Wow.

With all that "back and forth" you deserved your choice of spot in the HBC! ;) Nice work keeping your cool.
 
Crikey! I've done the FISK approach many times, and never had that happen.

We've been put in the Green and Rush Lake holds a few times, but nothing like what happened to you. To you rookies watching this video and thinking "Man, I'm never flying into OSH!", please note that this experience is very atypical.

The norm is a very easy, piece of cake approach.
 
Peter,

Wondering if you would let me know what route you flew, stops you made, etc to Oshkosh? I live in Hemet and have dreamingly planned out the flight from here to OSH a couple times, but would love to hear what you did and how you broke it up, since you've done it a couple times now.....and any tips or suggestions.

Thanks!
 
Wow! Thanks so much for the video! I'll be watchin this several times before my first trip in my plane next year! Best Video I've seen yet to get me familiar with the procedure!
 
Superb Video

Thanks for that demonstration of cool, calm & collected.

The pix of canyonlands are superb, as well.
 
Great example

Pete, you set a great example for us to follow. The controllers got see what a class act the RV community portrays.
 
Pete,

I enjoyed the video. Glad to see you make it there again. Maybe next year I'll get out there.
 
I think the Oshkosh arrival is just pure luck. Last year I didn't see a single plane from Ripon to touchdown. This year planes were all over the place, especially after I got turned back. Arrival about the same time on the same day... go figure. Just luck of the draw as to how many planes are showing up at the same time.

SoCalFlyBoy... here is my route from California this year. It was North past Las Vegas, landing at Canyonland (KCNY) for leg 1. The next leg was North East up and around the tallest peaks of the mountains and an East turn landing at Alliance NE (KAIA). Last leg of day one was an Easterly course over NE and into Iowa. I picked Le Mars, IA to spend the night solely on the fact that there are three hotels across the street from the airport (KLRJ). That left one three hour flight on the morning of day 2 to get into OSH. Of course the weather didn't agree with that, so I sat and waited for an hour in Portage WI (C47), before flying the final leg into the show.

Thanks to all for the kind words on the video. I enjoy making them, so it' nice to hear that a few of you also like to ride along and watch. Thanks.
 
Great job of flying the aircraft!

This is a great example of why you do not want to arrive at OSH with minimum fuel.
 
Pete,

I enjoyed the video. Glad to see you make it there again. Maybe next year I'll get out there.

Nice video! Bruce, remove the "maybe" from your quote. Really hope to meet you one day as I use your website frequently for reference while building :)
 
Pete,

Thanks for posting. You definitely got put through the wringer. Great video and great job keeping your cool.

Dale
 
This certainly was some challenging flying. Listening back to the audio calls from ATC, there are a couple of times where I respond to what may have been called out for a different Yellow RV (Yellow RV with Red Nose). We have lots of RV's in the traffic flow. Knowing the call is for you when they don't ask for a wing rock can be a bit confusing.

In the end it all worked out fine. Just keep your eyes and ears open. Do what ATC is asking, and keep looking looking looking for traffic. The holding pattern can get tricky and full of planes. When we turned back from 27 on the initial attempt, I had a guy flying back directly over the tracks, going back to FISK. Certainly not my choice for location, but I was looking and keeping an eye on that plane as well as several others.

On my initial fly in over Ripon, I had two planes cut in over the tracks in front of me. I left that out of the video, but something to consider as you get close to Ripon and you start seeing planes to the left, right and yes.. look up for those overhead.
 
Sweet vid.

I still think being able to have folks on 122.75 way down at Green Lake would be an additional option to get everyone sorted out.

I went in twice this year -- Tuesday and Friday -- and it was really quiet both times. But listening to LiveATC.net before I got there, well, I don't know what more the aviation community can do to get these numnuts who can't be bothered reading the NOTAM out of our hair.

Why did they have you do a turnout? "Traffic over the airport" doesn't make it entirely clear. (Update: ah, I see now, the B-52 arrival)

Why didn't they have you hold over Green Lake?
 
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This certainly was some challenging flying. Listening back to the audio calls from ATC, there are a couple of times where I respond to what may have been called out for a different Yellow RV (Yellow RV with Red Nose). We have lots of RV's in the traffic flow. Knowing the call is for you when they don't ask for a wing rock can be a bit confusing.

I thought I bought a mini bike at an auction one day. I had raised my hand each time another did, I went to pay and it was gone. More serious when you and them rock wings and get the all clear at the same time. :eek:

Again, great job in the cockpit, and always arrive with 1 hr of fuel.
 
Why didn't they have you hold over Green Lake?

Bob- we were getting conflicting direction from the controllers. When they first turned me back, they said to go back to Ripon. After switching over to the FISK controllers, they put us in a holding pattern around Rush lake. The plane I was following ended up going all the way back to Ripon, so I just kept in trail behind him. I didn't want to break the line and jump back to the tracks when they released the hold, but I guess that could have been an option since that is what Rush lake hold has you do at the end of the lake.

It worked out fine. I was having a blast flying the plane, and I no longer have any issues with the Ripon arrival. I had lots of practice this year. :)
 
Well, you did very well. My first year flying into Osh, they sent out out over the lake to the point where I think we actually exited the Class D airspace.

It's interesting to hear how some controllers are able to stay ahead of things and some fall behind and struggle to catch up (and can't).

tough environment for everyone, but there are just some who are head and shoulders above the rest. We were lucky on our first flight in this year. We got one of 'em. (Video here)

Anyway, loved your video. That long final was as close as I got to Ardy and Ed's this year.
 
Hey Pete,

Great stuff...Way to sort through the chaos and keep focused! It's gotta be hard to fight the urge to verify instructions back over the radio, but I can see how the frequency would be absolutely choked otherwise, with that many planes in the air.

I'll be doing lots of "baby steps" before I attempt Oshkosh. But someday...
 
return altitude

Nice work, Pete. When you were turned back the first time at the airport, did you maintain at or below 1300'? I would think a "departure altitude" would be a good idea. I don't remember seeing a "return altitude" in the NOTAM.
 
What a great question and hope the EAA board folks who patrol the board consider asking the FAA to establish a procedure. My only concern would be if you maintain the 1300 all the way to the edge of the Class D (as current procedure requires), you're going to be climbing into traffic as you get closer to Rush Lake.

Watching this video reminds me of the incredible trust we have in these controllers when they turn us in the middle of traffic.
 
Nice work, Pete. When you were turned back the first time at the airport, did you maintain at or below 1300'? I would think a "departure altitude" would be a good idea. I don't remember seeing a "return altitude" in the NOTAM.

Steve-

The Notam doesn't have any specific procedure for how to return to FISK. I assumed that I was still on an arrival hold, so the normal 1,800ft at 90 knots is what I did. It was a bit confusing as several aircraft made left turns out of the 27 approach and downwind at the same time. Everybody was on a different track back towards Fisk/Ripon. It was busy, but not to bad. I could see several aircraft, and ATC was calling them out as soon as they could see them. The sequence was at least 35 minutes, which I edited down to 15 minutes for the video. I tend to make the video about the procedure and calls to me. There were dozens of calls to other aircraft getting people in line.
 
Great instructional video. I hope EAA asks you for rights to publish and disseminate. Some additional procedures also might be added to the NOTAM for these situations, by the FAA. Seems the risks grow a bit when you are instructed to go back and re-join. Opposing traffic closure rates and so on....
I flew high performance demo aircraft over OSH for a number of years, and it always made me nervous.
 
Sticky

Moderators could we please get this thread made in to a sticky and placed in the safety forum or somewhere pertinent with the other "Flying in to Oshkosh" threads. Pete did a wonderful job with this. I've flown in to Oshkosh 7 or 8 times now and I still learned a lot from watching his video.

Thanks,

Joe
 
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