It's my birthday this week and my wife is giving me a trip to Oshkosh . I'm flying commercial and staying in Appleton. I'll be at Oshkosh Monday thru Wednesday. Thanks for any tips you have and I'm stoked to be going.

Take a look at https://eaa.org/airventure. Maybe download the Airventure app. Find a map and figure out the trams.

Enjoy whatever is in front of you and don’t worry about what you’re missing. You won’t see it all. That said. . .

Warbirds are at the north end. South from there it’s Homebuilts, Vintage, and “ultralights” (including all of the STOL stuff). Forums are west of Homebuilts. The Seaplane Base requires a $3 bus ride. It’s a nice respite when you get Oshkosh fatigue.

First-timers have a tendency to spend a lot of time in Warbirds, which are awesome. I highly recommend paying to crawl through a couple of them. But you probably have multiple chances to see and even ride in warbirds during the year, so keep moving south. When was the last time you saw a Rutan Defiant or a Pitcairn Autogyro? Or saw a demonstration of an English Wheel or a running OX-5?

People say Oshkosh is too commercial or too corporate, or caters too much to the big-dollar warbirds, bizjets, or drones. It’s probably all of those things and more. More importantly, though, it’s a national treasure that couldn’t happen anywhere else in the world.

Enjoy your first Oshkosh!

I agree with stubob. You can’t see all of it in several visits. At least in part cause there’s new stuff every year. I never bother with the trams, cause the lines are loooooong. I can walk to the next tram stop well before I’d get ON the next tram.

Put on your good walking shoes, and go for it. Need a break, find a forum you’re interested in......there are dozens.

Warbirds are a fun quick visit, but there’s so much other stuff......visit the Vintage Barn and the square. Every vendor who’s a vendor will be there.

Have fun. I’ll (hopefully) be canoeing in Vintage Camping.....drop by in the afternoon for a visit and relax.

MTV

Oh my! Oshkosh is the aviator's candy store--too many flavors, too many choices. But there's something for everyone.

One of my favorite things to do in the early morning is sit on the flight line and watch the landings--and the screw ups.

I'm not much into the forums and "how tos", but that interests a lot of people.

The EAA museum is worth half a day. While there, go across the field and take a helicopter ride in a MASH era/style helicopter--expensive for the few minutes you're in the air, but you get to see the whole show from a different perspective. Then tour the old Pioneer Airport hangars--very interesting.

I like to spend some time looking at vendor offerings in the big Hangars A, B, C, & D. Invariably I find something I just can't live without, although the Genuine Egyptian Sheets and the Little Giant Ladders don't interest me. Some of the stuff I've bought, I've never used, but I might someday! Other stuff, I use each time I fly, like my DC One-X headset.

The Seaplane Base is definitely worth going to--free to go, costs $3 to return. It's a laid back respite from the hubbub of OSH.

And there are airplanes--thousands of airplanes.

I do take the trams. With a bad ankle and sciatic nerve problems, walking very far isn't my cup of tea. But it's really not all that bad, depending on the time of day and the weather.

At night, there are the movies at the open-air theater--but make sure you're prepared for mosquitoes.

And take the time to meet people. I've met some really fascinating folks from all over, on the flight line, by their airplanes, at lunch when sharing tables, etc.

But don't try or expect to see everything--it can't be done. I stay the whole week, and every year I go away, realizing that I missed seeing something I'd intended to see. But I always have a great time, seeing old friends, making new ones, doing some of the same things, doing new things.

Oh, and bring money. If you decide to go up in a vintage Ford Tri-motor, or a B-17, or the MASH helicopter, or you see something you want to buy, it all costs money.

And mostly, have fun!

Cary

The flying part of the show is always good, and while I used to go for the stuff in the air, now I really go to see the stuff on the ground. We always do three days. I could easily do more, but we’ve found that for us, three days is about right.

Our must-do items always include:

-Warbirds (one walk through, usually)
-One or two forums (of the hundreds available during the week - you can ALWAYS find one that interests you)
-A walk through homebuilts (some of the workmanship is incredible)
-FAA and NASA pavilions
-Walk all of the outside vendors in the Boeing Plaza area (show center)
-Walk through all four vendor hangars (they’re big, and be aware that you’ll probably find lots of stuff you didn’t even know you needed - this is also where Aircraft Spruce, Wicks, etc are located)
-Walk through the fly market (same caution as above)
-Walk through the classics and antiques (when’s the last time you saw 7 Staggerwings parked side-by-side?)
-See the amazingly good museum
-We usually watch the ultralights after the air show ends for the day. For some reason I have no interest in flying them, but love watching. They’re WAY down at the south end, however.
-Always keep an eye on the Theatre in the Woods schedule. In 2012, I walked by at 8 or 9 pm and up on stage were a Tuskegee Airman (forgot his name), Dutch Van Kirk (Enola Gay Navigator) and Dick Cole (Doolittle’s copilot during the Tokyo Raid) all sharing their stories.

It’s an amazing event, but it can be overwhelming. Just know that you’ll miss 75% of what’s going on - it’s just not possible to see it all in 1 visit, if ever, as there’re always multiple things going on simultaneously.

It wasn’t that long ago that you’d see Chuck Yeager and Bud Anderson taxi out in P-51s followed by a bunch of formation passes. Hoover was always there as well. Once I stumbled upon Dick Rutan giving a talk about building and flying the Voyager. I watched an F-4 pilot talk about being shot down over Vietnam, then heard the same story from the NV MiG-21 pilot who shot down the F-4 guy, then from the Jolly Green pilot who pulled the F-4 pilot from the jungle.

Nowhere else does stuff like that happen.

Just bring good shoes, and know that at some point it’s going to rain.

The place is BIG and it will be hot and humid. You'll wear yourself out, but push yourself to visit as many different areas as possible Some of the evening programs at theater in the woods are a great way to end the day. When you're really beat, go visit the massage chairs in the vendor buildings and have a nap.Yes, this picture was taken at Oshkosh!

On a slightly more serious note, Burt and Dick Rutan will be giving a presentation titled "Starship to Spaceships: Fun in the Mojave" at Theater in the Woods on Thursday evening from 8:00 - 9:30 PM. They are both icons in the experimental world and are both fun speakers. That alone might be worth the price of admission. I was at Oshkosh back in the late 1980s when Burt and Dick were both there and they are both big guys. Both had huge, mutton chop sideburns back then. I was next to Dick Rutan when someone asked if he was Burt. His quick response was: "no, but I've slept with him".. Funny guys with some amazing experiences.

I'd also catch the STOL demo at the ultralight strip in the evening. The air is cooler and a bunch of the Flying Cowboys will be there. Draco is likely to be with them and watching them dance on a short grass strip built for ultralights is also worth the price of admission. Stop off at the RAF tent and have a cup of joe in the morning with a doughnut while watching the world go by while you formulate plan for the day. This trip will mostly be to decide what you want to do when you come back a second time for the while week. I was going to fly in this year, but my wife suggested it was a bit selfish to fly to both Oshkosh and High Sierra in the same year. I already have tickets for the High Sierra bash this fall, so my next trip to Oshkosh will be in 2020. Here's the video of my flight there in 2017:

Delighted to hear the positives on OSH...I have been on the Board of EAA for almost 25 years and can assure you we strive to keep the good parts and evolve the rest....a common complaint is WiFi speed...at a rural Wisconsin airshow...but we have improved and are improving it every year...at one time we were the #1 venue for pay phones, 35 mm film sales and number of Porta Potties....we are still number one in the latter category.

This year is the 50th in OSH....so some looks backs...plus the 50th of Apollo 11...add to that a tribute to Bud Anderson P-51 Ace...and 30 confirmed Mustangs in attendance...add in the 50th anniversary of the 747...UPS is bringing one and a 787 from United...and assuming forest fires stay in check a focus on Aerial Firefighting...Recreationl Avaition Foundation bases at the Hartzell exhibit.

Air Force will be in full display with most active duty Aircaft present....

Bring good shoes, sunscreen and curiousity....feet, flesh and mind will be challenged....and ask questions of those around you....OSH is a blend of a Church Revival and Disneyland....the religion is flight...however you pursue it and an organization we could only wish was more pervasive.

Enjoy America’s Air Show.....put on by 6000 volunteers....and thank them when you see them.....

Thanks for everyone's tips & please keep them coming.

Take umbrellas to shade yourself from the sun because you can walk outside, but sometimes the sun can be a killer. But maybe it’s because I’m from Alaska.

The night air show is fun.

Most other things have been touched on already. I’ve only been 7 times. I haven’t seen it all, but I have seen MTV fuel his 170 and launch ahead of some thunderstorms.

Squash wrote:Take umbrellas to shade yourself from the sun because you can walk outside, but sometimes the sun can be a killer. But maybe it’s because I’m from Alaska.

The night air show is fun.

Most other things have been touched on already. I’ve only been 7 times. I haven’t seen it all, but I have seen MTV fuel his 170 and launch ahead of some thunderstorms.

Hey, when ya gotta go......

Actually turned out to be perfect timing.

Look at Theater in the Woods evening programs.......there are always some amazing ones, and folks staying off site often miss them cause they’re tired and want to get “home”. One year they had five Misty FAC drivers, one of whom was Dick Rutan, another year, five pilots who flew the SR 71.

Schedules are online now, so for prep, you can make a list of must see.

MTV