Oshkosh Parking

I have been to Oshkosh about 6 times, once in a Citabria, and the other times in a Bonanza. I have always camped in the North 40, except once when I was lucky enough to snag a room at the AmeriSuites the day before I flew to KOSH. That was a LUCKY find . A massive thunderstorm arrived about an hour after we got in the room and it POURED that night (this was probably 2005 or thereabouts). People were bailing water from their tents all night long.....

This year I will be flying my -8 to Osh and plan to camp. A couple of questions:

1. Which sign do I display for the ground handlers if I want to park with all of the RV's and Rockets that congregate close to the forum pavillions?

2. Assuming it is OK to camp there (is it?), how close are the showers to this area?

Thanks

Jim,

Bring a sign that reads "HBC", that will be all you need. Heck, there are only RV's at OSH, so parking next one won't be an issue.

Just kidding, they don't group the planes by type but most of what you will see in HBC will be RV's.

Showers are close, clean, and never seem to run out of warm water.

See you there.

PS. Bring tie downs. You can buy a used bicycle over at Good Will for making your beer runs. At the end of the show you can donate it back for more than you paid. Ya gotta love OSH!

PPS. Tyvek makes a good, light weight ground cover to place your tent on.

Oshkosh

1. display HBC for routing to home built camping

2. portable shower trailers were right there last two years

The other two posters hit it. Have a big HBC sign and show it to every orange vest that you see. The procedures aroutlined in the Oshkosh NOTAM. You do have the NOTAM, right?

FWIW- the area around the forums buildings are not for camping, the camping area is further to the west. The area around the forums buildings will probably be changing a little bit this year, but those details are still not quite finalized.

sprucemoose said:

You do have the NOTAM, right?

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Yes I have the NOTAM............... As noted in my original post this will be my 7th trip to Oshkosh. My question was so that I would know which sign I will need to display to park with all of the RV's.

Never too early for the Notam. It has been printed and parked on our coffee table for almost a month now. It is getting quite worn since we don't let non experimental pilots in the house . I figure, about the time that the pages won't stay together anymore, it will be time to load up and head to Oshkosh.

Tom & Bill, thanks for the insight. I thought 'HBC' would be the sign to get directed to the RV area, but wasn't sure. One thing for sure about Osh, you can count on rain one or more days or nights. As the Boy Scouts say....'Be Prepared' On my stuff to bring to Osh checklist (which grows each year), besides bugspray, sunscreen, handheld, cooler, chairs, flashlights, batteries, etc., etc., etc............I always have at least two pairs of sneakers/walking shoes. Learned that lesson the hard way during the first trip in 1995.....walking around in wet shoes ain't a lot of fun..... Speaking of bugspray....I think the mosquito must be the Wisconsin state bird. Those little b***tards are hungry, aggressive, and in large supply

scard said:

Never too early for the Notam.

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I had the EAA send me the booklet version of the NOTAM. A lot handier than having it printed it out on 8 1/2 x 11.

flickroll said:

Yes I have the NOTAM.

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Jim,

No disrespect meant, if you took it that way. I'm glad you have and read the NOTAM. I meant that kind of as a note to everyone who reads this. You would be amazed at the number of people who fly into Oshkosh without ever bothering to read the thing, or think because they read it 10 years ago they are good to go.

To dig a little deeper into your question- in the Homebuilt Camping area, we try to park like types together for the most part. However, because it is impossible to predict how many of which type will show up on what day (beyond some general guesstimates based on history) it is impossible to keep them all together. So you might end up with little islands of different types scattered around within the campgrounds. I can almost guarantee that if you show up in an RV, you will be camping with other RVs. Even if there is a Glasair stuck in between them once in a while for variety.

Headlamps

Bring a headlamp like one of these.

They are most useful when using a port-a-jon after dark.

sprucemoose said:

You would be amazed at the number of people who fly into Oshkosh without ever bothering to read the thing, or think because they read it 10 years ago they are good to go.

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Jeff, you are right....I am amazed at the number of pilots that totally disregard the NOTAM. Once when I departed OSH, it was a dismal IFR day and fortunately I had reserved an IFR departure slot. After I climbed through the low clouds I heard some bonehead calling Departure trying to trying to get an airborne clearance. The NOTAM specifically says Milwaukee Approach will not do that. In the first place I do not know how the guy launched from Oshkosh because the weather was so bad. But you should have heard the controller chew that guy out. The controller totally ripped the pilot a new one, and the pilot deserved it. It's just a good illustration about how we all must exercise extreme caution when operating around Oshkosh. You need to assume that most pilots are first timers and/or have not read the NOTAM. While 95% of the time neither is the case, it is a good assumption if for nothing more than to help point out the serious nature of operations around the airport on a busy (saturated) day. That said, I am always impressed by the professionalism of the controllers and calm manner in which they do their jobs.

One of our EAA chapter members works in emergency aircraft repair. He said that the biggest issue they have every year with the RVs is with RV-8s with horizontal induction systems (filter/inlet on the baffle). He said that it will rain and the water will just pour into the filter and down the snorkle and then when the pilot tries to start up he'll just suck water into the servo.

I would recommend that you -8 guys figure out some way to cover the filters if possible (maybe the cowl plugs would suffice?). Seems to me like it would be a potential problem with -6s and -7s with the same engine setup, but he says that for whatever reason they only tend to see it on the -8s.