[FresnoR]

So I will be making my first trip to Airventure this year.

If I was to only be able to go for a few days, what days would be the best to go?

Is mid-week better because there are less people? or the weekend, with better air shows and such.

thanks for the advice!

-Rick

 

[NYTOM]

Early in the week is better

If your going to look at your favorite homebuilts, go early. A lot of show planes start leaving late Wednesday or Thursday. Also the vendors are loaded with goodies and if your looking for something special,your more likely to find it. They pretty much spread out the big attractions through out the week so the show itself never gets stale even on the last day. Yes there are more crowds early but they tend to be aviation people and not the unwashed masses that come up from Milwaukee and Chicago for the weekend shows.

 

[RickWoodall]

Early

This will be my third year, and we decided after the first year that the beginning is WAY better if you are a builder or any sort of true aviator. We camp, and last year arrived on the sunday morning. One of the best parts of the trip was my wife, my two kids and me all in lawn chairs sitting along the runway with the handheld on tower. VERY COOL. Better then any airshow..hundreds of planes, good bad and the ugly planes and pilots..great fun.
Everyone we have ever met is polite, fun and a true pleasure. Staying till the weekend you get burnt out sales people at the booths. Can you blame them? And some really rude non aviation people that kind of stole some of the magic last year for my kids by just being annoying during the whole airshow.

Go early and enjoy. ALSO if there for the opening you can run around like an idiot grabbing free Vertical Power and STEIN limited edition shirts. Haha, it was very funny to watch us all act dumb for a free tshirt. Spending 100K building a plane but made sure i was there early for a stupid shirt. Haha

Enjoy. Your mission may very but you asked so thats the facts sir.

 

[videobobk]

Like so many other questions, the answer is, "It depends." The opening weekend is very cool, with arrivals being fun to watch. But the vendors aren't open yet. Arriving Monday-Wednesday means everything is there and very few have left. Yet it is harder to get a good campsite. Late in the week you can find camping and the Saturday airshow is fantastic, but some planes may have already left.

My answer: It doesn't matter. You can't see it all in a full week anyway, so why worry about when to get there? Go when you can get the most time there and don't worry about what you might miss seeing. It is all great! I have gone almost 20 times and there are still things I have never seen (only been to the seaplane base once, never to the Pioneer Airport.) Camp if you want to make the most of your stay (IMHO.) DO try to buddy-up with someone who knows their way around and you will save a bunch of time. Start planning for 2010; you'll want to come back.

Bob Kelly

 

[Bob Axsom]

The best day is Sunday at Quad Graphics in Lomira, WI

The best day is Sunday at Quad Graphics in Lomira, WI. There is one event that occurs every year recently and it will occur this year. It is all out real, not staged or choreographed and it is over in an hour or less and it will never be seen at Oshkosh and that is at the finish line for the AirVenture Cup Cross Country Air Race. Then, you can drive up the road to Oshkosh, walk the lines, visit the vendor booths, sit in on the programs, etc.

Bob Axsom

 

[RScott]

It depends

Best time to go depends on a couple things:
A. What you want to do/see
B. The weather

When I went several years ago, it was easy to visit with all the vendors or see all the aircraft up close midweek because serious weather came thru and a whole bunch of people who had flown in flew out to beat the weather. But there weren't very many planes to see--less than half as many RV's as I saw a couple years later in 2007.

I haven't been there often enough to be sure, but I expect if you want to have a serious talk to vendors to help you decide what to buy, early in the week seems best. They are really crowded late in the week. I wouldn't base my timing on tee shirts.

There seem to be the most planes by Friday, unless you count spam cans--spam can parking fills up before the first Sunday. Unless weather chases them away, of course.

Forums go on the whole week and many are repeated, so unless there is a particular one you want to attend that doesn't get rerun, timing doesn't much matter.