flight planning for Oshkosh 2016

[rtataryn]

Gotta love this place. . .

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[RyanK]

That's awesome, Rod. Good trip?

[rtataryn]

Great trip Ryan. Perfect in terms of weather. Severe clear the entire flight until KCWA. Smooth as glass and 50 knots on the tail. 6.5 hr flight. Other years I've taken 9 hrs. Just stayed behind the big cold front that went through to the east earlier in the day.

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[Ryan B]

Almost 4 miles a minute! Nice!

[Keith Smith]

Great pics all around! The 50kt tailwind looks outstanding.

I flew to 1G5, met with Ken, got some gas, filed IFR and headed for OSH. There was a 100nm stretch of light to moderate precip but it was a smooth ride. It was slow going, though (less efficient flying through the rain) and a decent headwind.

Lake crossing went well after dodging some convective activity centered right on the airway and GAYLE intersection where they wanted us to go.

Eventually got handed off to the people handling approaches at OSH and all hell was breaking loose. I heard holding instructions being issued just as fast as the controller could talk. It turns out a Mooney had collapsed his gear on runway 27, shutting down all the IFR arrivals.

Couldn't get a word in, but figured I had 5 minutes before reaching the last fix on my cleared route, so I sat quietly and let the controller deal with the higher priority calls (putting people ahead of me into the hold, or moving existing holds over to another fix). With about 2 minutes left before reaching my fix, I got my unpublished hold and sat there for a few laps. The crosswind corrections were interesting but I eventually got it dialed in to something I was happy with.

The initial ceiling was 1500ft and only a handful of the IFR guys canceled, making their way to RIPON to shoot the VFR approach. With varying estimates of when the runway might open again, a few more pilots bugged out to nearby Fond Du Lac, some with minimum fuel. I was still on half tanks and reduced power for the hold, so fuel wasn't an issue. The ceiling started to lift, and more pilots canceled IFR, heading over to RIPON. I decided to stick it out, though, once I confirmed with the controller that once rwy 27 was open again, the IFR guys would be processed pretty quickly. I figured the time spent holding from this point on wouldn't be much longer than going all the way to RIPON and joining the VFR arrival. I'm glad I stuck with the plan because shortly after, I was relocated to PRIMO, the IAF for the RNAV rwy 27 for one lap of the hold, then vectors to final.

140kt restriction on the approach for spacing with the guy ahead, then a handoff to OSH tower and instructions to land on the green dot from the straight in. Welcome to OSH!

Here's the cloudahoy debrief: https://cloudahoy.com/debrief/?key=gMzbl8c8n0CPaPs

And here's the FlightAware pic:

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[kullery]

Had you on LiveATC.net Was glad to hear you stuck with IFR. FISK sounded like a mess. Approach was doing a nice job.

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kosh/ ... -1730Z.mp3
01:30 - level 6000 (unanswered)
02:13 - level 6000
04:24 - request hold brief, south of IGVEW, right turns, 5 mile legs, 6000
15:10 - question about clearing the hold

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kosh/ ... -1800Z.mp3
00:07 - direct PRIMO @ 4000
11:40 - vectors to Final
12:35 - speed 140
13:10 - 120 @ 3000
14:03 - direct PRIMO (again)
16:55 - contact tower

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kosh/ ... -1800Z.mp3
17:42 - report 3 mile final
20:50 - green dot, clear to land

[Keith Smith]

The return trip was considerably more challenging. I was able to get fuel @ OSH at short notice since most of the planes were gone by Sunday @ 11:30. This was the first time I've had anything other than a honking tailwind heading home, it was going to average just 6kts, so this would be right on the edge in terms of max range planning. I'd need to watch the fuel flow closely and minimize the deviations. This was the result.

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The dip down to the SE just prior to sharp dog leg approaching N07 was due to mandatory routing to Stillwater (STW), not for weather avoidance.

Departed VFR, had a gear issue with the retraction (fixable, but required a few minutes to work out the cause, turned out to be the gear dump valve was cracked open just a hair. It looked closed on visual inspection during pre-start flow but it wasn't 100% closed). Turned around and landed (CloudAhoy debrief here: https://cloudahoy.com/debrief/?key=qE5jKVX1VpX0qvU)

With only a few minutes before the airspace closed (it shuts 30-60 mins before airshow starts), I closed the gear dump valve completely, and took off again with a plan to land at nearby Fond Du Lac if the problem persisted.

Climbed out, crossed the lake, activated IFR just prior to crossing the lake, got cleared as filed. From the Canadian border onwards, it was basically a cloud dodging exercise, either through lateral deviations or by climbing up to 13k (I'd originally filed 11k). The controllers were great. Only once did I have any restriction on the deviations, "no further north than 085 on the heading." I turned to that heading and found it was just what I needed to stay clear of the heavy stuff.

Great flight home, non-stop ADM in terms of making calls about which clouds to fly through and which ones to avoid. It was amazing to see a cumulonimbus developing rapidly right in front of me. I flew through the edge of it, knowing I'd be out in 3 seconds or less....just long enough to get moderate precip and a strong updraft. I giggled.

What a privilege it is that we have to fly in the NAS. Corny, but true.

Tons of photos from the flight (cockpit + iPad) as well as pics from OSH on the PE Facebook page.

[Keith Smith]

Thanks for posting those timestamps, Ken. I actually just called Milwaukee TRACON to speak with a supe to tell him what a rock star the controller was. The holding stack was busy and half of the planes were bugging out to go to other airports, and not always in the most elegant fashion. He did a great job.

[kullery]

I actually just called Milwaukee TRACON to speak with a supe to tell him what a rock star the controller was. The holding stack was busy and half of the planes were bugging out to go to other airports, and not always in the most elegant fashion. He did a great job.

He was doing a great job. Not only keeping up with the diverse traffic, but also keeping everyone up to speed on the situation @ OSH.

He was good enough to pull shifts on PilotEdge. Now the secret is out about how you do your recruiting!!!