If You're Going To Airventure 2003, You’ll Want To See This

Whether flying into EAA AirVenture Oshkosh for the first, fifth, or fifteenth time, pilots who plan to land at Wittman Regional Airport (OSH) for the annual convention will benefit from a new area on the EAA AirVenture website, "Understanding Air Traffic Control at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh."

This collaborative effort of the EAA web development team and veteran FAA Oshkosh Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) gives pilots a better understanding of the unique procedures in place for EAA AirVenture.

ATC veterans, all of whom are volunteers, call EAA AirVenture "the Super Bowl of air traffic control" and for good reason: More that 10,000 airplanes of all kinds fly into the convention from all over the country, even the world. Their safe, coordinated operation is priority one and well-informed, alert pilots make everyone's job easier.

 Visual Aids are worth a thousand words, and the site provides not only great aerial shots of landmarks and sectional map views, but several are animated to make them even user friendly.

Clear explanations provide pilots-even first-timers-with valuable information on what to expect as they proceed to OSH, as well as what ATC expects from them. Information on the website takes pilots from Ripon to Fisk VFR approach, and all the way to the ground at Oshkosh. Departure procedures are also included.

Read/Know the NOTAM!

This information is not a substitute for the official EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2003 NOTAM. Arriving pilots must also be alert for last-minute changes that would be announced through either ATIS or arrival ATC frequencies. Here are some other pieces of advice for those flying into OSH:

• Have plenty of fuel.
• Know your airplane's slow flight characteristics and limitations.
• Keep your eyes out of the cockpit and your head on a swivel.
• Fly your airplane!
• Listen-don't talk-and follow the instructions of the controllers as closely as safety permits.
• Know and fly your airplane.

FMI: www.airventure.org/atc