T-6 down at OSH

According to Reddit, there’s been all kinds of crazy stuff happening at Oshkosh. One guy landed going the wrong direction on the runway, another took off from a taxiway, people air raging at each other over the radio, and these two crashes. A guy on Reddit lost his Mooney when one of these crashes, the mid air collision between the helicopters, landed on it. He was out and about, otherwise he could have been in his tent next to the airplane when the crash occurred.

I tend to avoid large clustereffs of people in general, but what’s the attraction to this event? I totally don’t get it.
 
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FlyingAccountant said:
According to Reddit, there’s been all kinds of crazy stuff happening at Oshkosh. One guy landed going the wrong direction on the runway, another took off from a taxiway, people air raging at each other over the radio, and these two crashes. A guy on Reddit lost his Mooney when one of these crashes, the mid air collision between the helicopters, landed on it. He was out and about, otherwise he could have been in his tent next to the airplane when the crash occurred.

I tend to avoid large clustereffs of people in general, but what’s the attraction to this event? I totally don’t get it.
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I've never been and get it there needs to be a gathering on an annual basis but smaller is better surely.
 
FlyingAccountant said:
According to Reddit, there’s been all kinds of crazy stuff happening at Oshkosh. One guy landed going the wrong direction on the runway, another took off from a taxiway, people air raging at each other over the radio, and these two crashes. A guy on Reddit lost his Mooney when one of these crashes, the mid air collision between the helicopters, landed on it. He was out and about, otherwise he could have been in his tent next to the airplane when the crash occurred.

I tend to avoid large clustereffs of people in general, but what’s the attraction to this event? I totally don’t get it.
Click to expand...

About to turn into Reno part 2 one of these days when a plane goes into the crowd.

Never really understood the attraction of it either. Seems mildly interesting, but nothing I’ve ever gone out of my way to go to, or desire to.
 
Holy crap. That really is scary to hear. I used to do checkouts/ride alongs as a CFI to owners and renters that wanted to operate into Sun-n-Fun in the mid-2000s. While there were some occasional antics, most people were pretty good about following the NOTAM instructions from what I remember. I don’t know how that compares to Oshkosh, but SNF was 2nd behind it from what I recall.

It sure seems like something has happened to a certain percentage of people’s mentality post-COVID. Impatience, rage, total I don’t give a crap attitudes, etc. I see it on the roads, some of the trails I ride on, news stories, and stuff like Oshkosh. I don’t get it, but it certainly seems to be a thing.
 
I went to Oshkosh once. Had to do evasive actions on the way in because some idiot decided to do slow flight with his flaps out in one of the holding patterns. Honestly I don't think I would ever fly in again unless my airline decided to send me for some reason. At most I would go into one of the surrounding airports and drive in like a lot of people do.
 
GypsyPilot said:
It sure seems like something has happened to a certain percentage of people’s mentality post-COVID. Impatience, rage, total I don’t give a crap attitudes, etc. I see it on the roads, some of the trails I ride on, news stories, and stuff like Oshkosh. I don’t get it, but it certainly seems to be a thing.
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This is, in many ways, a sage observation and one even backed by data (you would think traffic fatalities, for instance, would have gone down when the roads were less busy, and the opposite happened).

I’ve always maintained that you’re allowed to engage in whatever self-destruction you like as long as you don’t hurt anyone else, and that’s a rather tremendous qualifier. I think the nation’s also normalized a certain degree of lawlessness, which wasn’t related to the pandemic, but certain, er, examples that were played and are still being played, 2016-present.
 
I am honestly curious if large fly-ins actually are as dangerous as they look. Is there a higher rate of accidents at Oshkosh or Sun n Fun or does it only seem that way because it all happens in a condensed period of time with a high volume (large sample size) of aircraft.
 
Maurus said:
I am honestly curious if large fly-ins actually are as dangerous as they look. Is there a higher rate of accidents at Oshkosh or Sun n Fun or does it only seem that way because it all happens in a condensed period of time with a high volume (large sample size) of aircraft.
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OSH almost always has some non-fatal accidents of the “landing” variety. Avemco probably takes deductible payments right at their booths.

That said and jocularity aside I bet it largely tracks the accident rate per GA flight hour (nowhere near as good as it should be).
 
Autothrust Blue said:
That said and jocularity aside I bet it largely tracks the accident rate per GA flight hour (nowhere near as good as it should be).
Click to expand...

Off a tangent, but I heard someone bring up the “GA is about the same fatal risk as riding motorcycles” again. This is a stat I always hear thrown around but have never actually seen a source for. Meanwhile, my life insurance cares if I’m flying GA but they don’t care if im riding a motorcycle. I feel like they’re the true gauge and that GA must be amplitudes more deadly than motorcycles.
 
FlyingAccountant said:
According to Reddit, there’s been all kinds of crazy stuff happening at Oshkosh. One guy landed going the wrong direction on the runway, another took off from a taxiway, people air raging at each other over the radio, and these two crashes. A guy on Reddit lost his Mooney when one of these crashes, the mid air collision between the helicopters, landed on it. He was out and about, otherwise he could have been in his tent next to the airplane when the crash occurred.

I tend to avoid large clustereffs of people in general, but what’s the attraction to this event? I totally don’t get it.
Click to expand...
Checks out. Just more symptoms of the dismal tide.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre... the falcon can not hear the falconer.
 
FlyingAccountant said:
According to Reddit, there’s been all kinds of crazy stuff happening at Oshkosh. One guy landed going the wrong direction on the runway, another took off from a taxiway, people air raging at each other over the radio, and these two crashes. A guy on Reddit lost his Mooney when one of these crashes, the mid air collision between the helicopters, landed on it. He was out and about, otherwise he could have been in his tent next to the airplane when the crash occurred.

I tend to avoid large clustereffs of people in general, but what’s the attraction to this event? I totally don’t get it.
Click to expand...
Don’t forget the guy in the amphib touching down on the runway with the wheels up.
 
Richman said:
Get an IFR reservation. They’re available about 24 hours out. Avoids 100% of the drama.
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That's how I did it both times that I flew in. Even better, conditions were such that I flew approaches and didn't have to break off and join the VFR arrival dances.
 
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