Soggy Ground Delays Arriving Oshkoshers

By Chris Batcheller

It's officially day one, and driving in you notice something out of place.  The mass of airplanes and tents that normally occupy the North 40 camping area is desolate. Massive rains have made the camping grounds too soggy for tents, much less airplanes.

Monday morning at the EAA Media Briefing, Dick Knapinski EAA's head of Media and Public Relations commented on how the EAA is handling arriving aircraft to the first day of AirVenture. The EAA's plan is to open the airport to show plane arrivals Monday morning around 1000 after a final evaluation. Knapinski defined a show plane as one that would be judged, and normally parked along the 18-36 flight line. These include homebuilts, vintage airplanes and warbirds.

Airplanes trying to get to the air show have been displaced at several area airports. Airplanes have been parked and folks have been camping at Fond Du Lac on runway 9-27. Airplanes have also flown in to and parked at Appleton, WI, although no one can camp there because it has commercial airline service. Manitowoc,WI has turned into "the place to be" with several hundred airplanes parked and people camping. Aero-News has heard reports that folks at Mattatuck have been using Facebook and Twitter to form new friends and stay in touch.

Airplanes and tents aren't the only thing that have had trouble getting into the show. Motorhomes have been displaced to "any place with a large hard surface parking," notes Knapinski. He said that the volunteers are checking the grounds often and that these folks will be brought in as the grounds dry out on a first come first serve basis. He also mentioned that the Oshkosh Community was being very accommodating working with the EAA to allowing motorhomes to park offsite.

Tent campers and pop-up campers are being accepted at this time. Knapinski also mentioned that camping registration will be shut down when it's too dark to see where the standing water is. So you if you need to register for camping, get there in the daylight.

Knapinksi mentioned the volunteers are doing an outstanding job at this year's AirVenture. He said that the volunteers have been very dedicated and sometimes putting in 20 hour days helping everyone get situated as they arrive at AirVenture.

Fortunately, the weather both Sunday and Monday are going a long way towards drying out the grounds.

FMI: www.eaa.org