Oshkosh 2026

Lowflynjack said:
I've thought about doing this, but was always worried about the tarp rubbing on the top of my wing in the wind. Every have any issues?
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It was a rental :). Actually, I knew the owner so, I was careful with it. I told both the flying club manager and the aircraft owner what I intended to do in advance. It doesn't chafe the wing any more than an aircraft cover would. Just keep the ropes away from everything. This actually likely saved us. The first year, right as I was leaving, the flying club manager offered up some slick "slack adjusting" tie down ropes. The only problem was that this was one of the wet years at the show and we sunk in to the ground a bit. These tie downs had s-hooks rather than postiive connection to the rings so with the high winds and rocking they jumped the ring. Fortunately, I had regular rope with me (that was what I was originally going to use). My wife watched from the tent as I'm out in a thunderstorm retying the plane in my underwear.
 
cowman said:
How bad is the typical departure wait? Are we talking 5-10 minutes.... half an hour.. more? I can have cold drinks and battery operated fans handy.... hate idling my engine that long though I'll be 'clearing' it every couple minutes. I wonder if there are any airventure/EAA branded sweatbands for sale.
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Plan on an hour, it's happened, though that would be very unusual.

If you want to increase your odds (a lot), be packed up and ready to start up the minute it's legal to do so. There will be others, but not nearly as many as an hour or two later.

NOTAM: "Monitor the Departure ATIS (121.75) prior to engine start. There must be no engine operation or aircraft movement until the Departure ATIS indicates the airport is open."
 
jesse said:
Like anything, it depends. I've flown there maybe about 8 times and I'd say the time from "engine start" to "wheels up" varied from about 5 minutes to 20 minutes.
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The worst time was a few years back when everybody decided to leave first thing Thursday morning. There was a massive line on the taxiway. We sent out a golf car with a cooler full of water to handout (courtesy of one of our well-to-do volunteers who donated all the water).

Somewhere kicking around here I've got a photo of that zoo.

Subsequently, they shutdown arrivals on Thursday morning, but it also depends on what the weather looks like as to how bunched up people get trying to bug out ahead of a storm.
 
Re: tying a tarp to the plane. Somebody did that with the club Cessna, and the ropes got loose in a storm and beat the hell out of the horizontal stab. I suppose that could happen with a tent rope or anything though. A couple years ago we had tents blowing across the N40. The occupants had given up on staying dry in the tent and climbed into their plane.

And don't worry about moving your plane. There's always some people around and everyone is more than happy to help, just for the asking. Sometimes they'll help even when you don't want it lol.
 
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As long as you are careful, a tarp shouldn't be an issue. I use a lightweight nylon shade fly from Walmart. No problem on fabric wings.

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The main thing to remember camping there: a large thunderstorm could appear out of nowhere with little warning completely ignoring whatever the forecast says. Never walk away from your camp spot unless you're confident whatever you're leaving can survive severe weather.
 
flyingron said:
The worst time was a few years back when everybody decided to leave first thing Thursday morning. There was a massive line on the taxiway. We sent out a golf car with a cooler full of water to handout (courtesy of one of our well-to-do volunteers who donated all the water).

Somewhere kicking around here I've got a photo of that zoo.

Subsequently, they shutdown arrivals on Thursday morning, but it also depends on what the weather looks like as to how bunched up people get trying to bug out ahead of a storm.
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That was 2023. It took us almost 3 1/2 hours from initial engine start to wheels up. It was a real horror show. But we did appreciate the water that the volunteers brought out!

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jesse said:
The main thing to remember camping there: a large thunderstorm could appear out of nowhere with little warning completely ignoring whatever the forecast says. Never walk away from your camp spot unless you're confident whatever you're leaving can survive severe weather.
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Facts. Also, bring a roll of duct tape.

Garbage bags also recommended. If it's going to storm you can wrap up your clothes and stuff in there so they stay dry when your tent leaks and collapses on you. It's an adventure.
 
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cowman said:
So we're looking at plane camping for the first time this year....
The preferred plan assuming no weather concerns is to arrive tues morning and depart sometime thurs morning. Any reason to worry about getting a spot/getting in/out in general? Walking around last year during the same days it looked like there was lots of space in general but not 100% sure on the designated areas. Have a bigger 10x14 tent for 2 adults and a 7yo... my rough measuring says it should fit between my wing and stabilator.
We'll be bringing a plug-in cooler/fridge and a solar generator to run it as well as some small fans/phones/tablets. Also a small propane camping grill so we can cook.

For those who have done this before, does this all seem reasonably feasible?
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Our standard "was" to arrive on Wednesday morning (lots of people used to leave on Wednesday AM). There was plenty of good parking by late morning. Now,with the Wednesday night airshow, lots of people leave on Thursday morning, meaning there will be good parking spots available late that morning. Arrive Thursday morning, stay through Saturday, watch that night airshow, and leave on Sunday and you'll be less inconvenienced than if you try to arrive Tuesday or Wednesday.
 
flyingron said:
The worst time was a few years back when everybody decided to leave first thing Thursday morning. There was a massive line on the taxiway. We sent out a golf car with a cooler full of water to handout (courtesy of one of our well-to-do volunteers who donated all the water).
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I was in that line. They were launching and recovering the Tri-motors every 10 minutes, launching and recovering warbirds, and accepting arrivals. In addition, whoever was running the runway departures had cold feet and wouldn't "push" aircraft into the gaps. It was a miserable experience. And then you had a C-47 (Rapid Rabbit, maybe?) that got to the front of the departure line and blocked everything for about 5 minutes because they hadn't done a runup/control check before getting to the "go" line. Dumbasses.
 
kyleb said:
Our standard "was" to arrive on Wednesday morning (lots of people used to leave on Wednesday AM). There was plenty of good parking by late morning. Now,with the Wednesday night airshow, lots of people leave on Thursday morning, meaning there will be good parking spots available late that morning. Arrive Thursday morning, stay through Saturday, watch that night airshow, and leave on Sunday and you'll be less inconvenienced than if you try to arrive Tuesday or Wednesday.
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Two years ago we arrived Thursday at noon and got a fantastic location in the North 40. Sunday morning departure was easy.
 
Jim K said:
Did I mention the duct tape?
Pro tip: tent repair parts can be salvaged from the dumpster...
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The little bamboo skewers for shish-ke-babs make good splice plates when properly arranged around a broken/bent tent pole and wrapped with tape and safety wire (Thanks, Todd!).
 
kyleb said:
I was in that line. They were launching and recovering the Tri-motors every 10 minutes, launching and recovering warbirds, and accepting arrivals. In addition, whoever was running the runway departures had cold feet and wouldn't "push" aircraft into the gaps. It was a miserable experience. And then you had a C-47 (Rapid Rabbit, maybe?) that got to the front of the departure line and blocked everything for about 5 minutes because they hadn't done a runup/control check before getting to the "go" line. Dumbasses.
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We were stuck behind Wabbit Expwess for quite awhile, before it got pulled out of line for a priority takeoff. I don't recall how many Tri-motor laps we watched from the line.
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If there was any consolation at all to the three-plus hour crawl to take-off position, it would be that I got a really cool photo of the Super Guppy taking off.

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Just looked at the map of camp scholler and noticed a new large area across the road south of the RV dump station and gate. Is that new this year? Its been 3 years since I have been and last time when I showed up on sunday morning there was almost no place left to tent camp. Do the shuttles run out to the new south area?
 
kmacht said:
Just looked at the map of camp scholler and noticed a new large area across the road south of the RV dump station and gate. Is that new this year? Its been 3 years since I have been and last time when I showed up on sunday morning there was almost no place left to tent camp. Do the shuttles run out to the new south area?
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That area was added in 2024 IIRC, and was definitely there last year. Unfortunately, since I've never camped there, I can't speak to the shuttles, but looking at the shuttle map there doesn't appear to be any direct service from that area of Scholler to say the bus park or anywhere else.
 
Oh ya, that’s north Fond du Lac… was there last year. Seems there were shuttles. Don’t know about the rest of vintage, but we all got nice free Yeti style cups and free coffee sponsored by Aeroshell.

Like EVERYTHING Oshkosh, it’s whatcha make of it. It’ll be niche soon enough! Originally thought it couldn’t get any worse, came to enjoy it. image.jpg
 
cowman said:
So we're looking at plane camping for the first time this year....
The preferred plan assuming no weather concerns is to arrive tues morning and depart sometime thurs morning. Any reason to worry about getting a spot/getting in/out in general? Walking around last year during the same days it looked like there was lots of space in general but not 100% sure on the designated areas. Have a bigger 10x14 tent for 2 adults and a 7yo... my rough measuring says it should fit between my wing and stabilator.
We'll be bringing a plug-in cooler/fridge and a solar generator to run it as well as some small fans/phones/tablets. Also a small propane camping grill so we can cook.

For those who have done this before, does this all seem reasonably feasible?
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You might get lucky and get a spot in the N40 as people start leaving as early as Tuesday morning. You don't want to have a tent that is too big as they will just catch the wind when the inevitable thunderstorm rolls through. Use very good tent stakes and every tie down point your tent has. I've been camping in the N40 almost every year since 2018. Don't overpack as there are stores nearby.
 
IMG_1976.jpgI hear there is a small chance of a storm at OSH every once in a while.
 
Jim K said:
Re: tying a tarp to the plane. Somebody did that with the club Cessna, and the ropes got loose in a storm and beat the hell out of the horizontal stab. I suppose that could happen with a tent rope or anything though. A couple years ago we had tents blowing across the N40. The occupants had given up on staying dry in the tent and climbed into their plane.

And don't worry about moving your plane. There's always some people around and everyone is more than happy to help, just for the asking. Sometimes they'll help even when you don't want it
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Lowflynjack said:
There's a small chance there won't be a storm! Or... there's a small chance the storm will be small!
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OSH had one of its biblical storms roll through yesterday, featuring 90 mph winds.

Maybe it got it out of its system.

Then again, maybe not…….
 
painless said:
OSH had one of its biblical storms roll through yesterday, featuring 90 mph winds.

Maybe it got it out of its system.

Then again, maybe not…….
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Yeah, the weather analyst I subscribe to mentioned that the peak wind he saw in the entire state yesterday was 90mph at Osh.
 
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cowman said:
We'll be bringing a plug-in cooler/fridge and a solar generator to run it as well as some small fans/phones/tablets. Also a small propane camping grill so we can cook.

For those who have done this before, does this all seem reasonably feasible?
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Might want to do a test run on the fridge and solar generator to make sure the solar generator is up to the task over a couple of days.

And please give us a PIREP on it too! I'm curious what those can really do.

kmacht said:
Just looked at the map of camp scholler and noticed a new large area across the road south of the RV dump station and gate. Is that new this year? Its been 3 years since I have been and last time when I showed up on sunday morning there was almost no place left to tent camp. Do the shuttles run out to the new south area?
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It opened unofficially in 2024 when, oh crap, Scholler filled up but we bought this extra land so let's throw people in there! I heard there was farm equipment being moved out as campers were moving in.

It officially opened and was added to the map in 2025, but they also added the Purple lot so Scholler completely officially filled up for what I believe is the first time ever on Wednesday.

People know Airventure is big, but they have *no idea* just how big! It's not just the busiest airport in the world that week, it's also the third largest city in Wisconsin.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Might want to do a test run on the fridge and solar generator to make sure the solar generator is up to the task over a couple of days.

And please give us a PIREP on it too! I'm curious what those can really do.
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I actually thought the same thing and just finished a 3 day long test. I put the fridge and generator/panel on my back porch with an un-chilled 24 pack of Dr Pepper in it. I used the DC cord to cigarette lighter socket on the battery figuring this would be more efficient than using the AC cord and running the inverter.
These have been fairly warm and humid days with temps getting up to 90F. The first couple days didn't have much direct sun, in fact day 2 was pretty much overcast with scattered showers the whole day. The solar panel doesn't generate much power unless there's direct sun- even with fairly thin clouds it was often showing a very low charge rate ~15-30watts or nothing at all. The fridge draw is around 40watts but it cycles so that's not continuous. Soda was ice cold every time I checked although the cooler has a digital temp readout that I could have just looked at. Worst battery level I saw was before I went to bed on the second day- it was reading 47%. The next morning it was actually up into the low 50s already from early morning sun. We had mostly clear skies that day and it finally got direct sun- output from the panel was getting up to the 190watt range at times. By later in the afternoon when I checked again the battery was up to 100% charge and at that time I felt satisfied enough with things to shut it down and bring everything inside.

This setup is an Oupes brand 240watt solar panel and 1024Wh battery, cooler is a huge 68qt model that fills almost the entire aft cargo area in my Lance. I probably could have gotten away with going down a size on all of it but we'll use it for other things.
 

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I run a 55qt fridge set to 30 degrees and it runs 24/7 the whole week I am at OSH. I use a Ecoflow 1000Whr battery with two 160w panels wired in parallel with one facing east and one west. I run a 14 inch fan all night, and charge all my devices. Battery never gets below 50% regardless of sun/clouds/rain. Plenty of power.
 

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danhagan said:
A little more power and soon you guys will have refrigerated AC in your tents:lol:
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A couple years ago I did see what looked like a small window AC unit sticking out of a large tent. Not sure what was powering it.


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Test camping tonight
 

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crash7 said:
A couple years ago I did see what looked like a small window AC unit sticking out of a large tent. Not sure what was powering it.
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Don't know if it was me or not, but a couple years ago I did this. I powered it with a Honda 2200.
 
Well, it's roughly 35 days until the official start of Oshkosh 2026, but that means 31 days until I head that way. Starting to feel a little stressful. Lots of work left to do!

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Lowflynjack said:
Well, it's roughly 35 days until the official start of Oshkosh 2026, but that means 31 days until I head that way. Starting to feel a little stressful. Lots of work left to do!
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You wanna talk about stress? My party of 4 still needs to lose about 25 pounds of fat between now and then. ;-)
 
kyleb said:
You wanna talk about stress? My party of 4 still needs to lose about 25 pounds of fat between now and then. ;-)
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LOL! If you party is split between men and women... do not ask the women to lose weight! I repeat, do not!
 
I was really excited to get an envelope from EAA air venture yesterday.

It was a solicitation for funds...
 
4RNB said:
I was really excited to get an envelope from EAA air venture yesterday.

It was a solicitation for funds...
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I became a Lifetime Member a few years ago and thought, okay, they'll stop asking me to become a Lifetime Member... they did. Now they ask me to give someone else the gift of a Lifetime Membership!!
 
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