Destination AirVenture: Arriving Is Optional, Departing Is Inevitable

Preparing for an AirVenture arrival is a must. There is no way to arrive at the world’s busiest airport casually, though too many try. Preparing for the inevitable departure can be overlooked, like the quiet child at a kid’s birthday party. Every year there are worried-eyed aviators with a racing heart, mind, and legs trying to track down a tool, a part, or help to get their disabled airplane repaired when what they expected to be doing was aviating their way home.

Pre-Arrival Departure Preparation

Part of your AirVenture arrival prep should be preparing for your flight home:

• Pack the tools and parts that can keep a simple failure from becoming extra nights in a tent. I lean toward items, like spark plugs and inner tubes, that are specialized enough to not be found locally and are higher on the list of things that can go wrong. For tools, a basic kit should suffice (you know, hammer, pliers, worn-out straight screwdriver) as well as specialized tools that may be hard to borrow. No point having a spare spark plug but not the tools to replace it.
• If your airplane’s battery is kept on a battery tender, unplug it for a week while still at home to see if it can start the engine after a week off the juice. It’s better to identify and replace a failing battery at home than at AirVenture, after the vendors are packed up or sold out, and the volunteers with jumper cables are at Herbie’s Acee Deucee celebrating another successful week.
• Reserve cargo capacity for the added weight and volume of the things you’ll schlep home. Clothes and camping gear weigh more wet than dry. A six-pack of Spotted Cow weighs 7.5 pounds.

AirVenture Arrival Preparation

Every year there are stories of pilots who come casually to AirVenture and turn everything to custard. Some are lore, one is legend. As a lifelong resident of Oshkosh and someone who has witnessed more close calls—and yes, some fatal accidents—than I’d like, I can affirm that one pilot out of sync with the system is a danger to dozens. Prepare for your AirVenture arrival. PLEASE!

• Know the NOTAM.
• Study the arrival procedure.
• Approach Oshkosh with enough fuel to orbit or divert to another airport.
• Stay alert for traffic in the crowded sky; not all traffic shows up on ADS-B (the screen will be painted solid with targets, anyway).
• Practice slow flight.
• Practice keeping your speed up in the pattern.
• Practice a close-in, curving downwind to final.
• Practice spot landing.
• Prepare to exit the runway onto grass.
• Follow the flaggers. If they guide you somewhere you aren’t meant to be (you do have your parking sign handy, don’t you?), keep a cool head, shut down in the parking spot they chose for you, and sort it out without the noise and danger of a spinning propeller.

Post-Arrival Departure Preparation

Before shutting down, at idle speed so as not to blow debris on those behind you, do a mag check.

After you tie your airplane down, after your mind clears and you get those first full lungs of Wisconsin’s fragrant summer air, take these steps to prepare for your departure:

• Triple-check that the master switch is off.
• Perform a walkaround inspection before you walk away.
• Install gust locks.
• Poke around inside the cowl.
• Check the oil level.
• Fuel up, but leave room for expansion. I once saw a Cessna streaming fuel onto Wittman Regional Airport’s parched grass like an over-served Packers fan.
• Check the tires the day after you arrive. If they’re inflated 24 hours after landing, they’ll be inflated when you depart.

Identifying a problem early, while vendors have tools, parts, fluids, and helpful attitudes, provides the luxuries of time and plentiful resources to make an unhurried repair. “Is there an A&P or a welder in the house?” Of course there is, including the volunteers at EAA Chapter 75’s Emergency Repair Barn.

We all love to hear, “Welcome to Oshkosh.” It’s also nice to hear, “Welcome home!”