Saturday, July 24, 2010

Saturday 7/24 update #7: Aircraft arrivals

The aircraft ops team's update session was late this afternoon, and there's good news. Showplanes that had been parked on hard surfaces on the north and northeast side of the airport are being re-positioned on Taxiway Papa (parallel to Runway 18/36) later this evening and tomorrow morning. Volunteers in those areas are organizing ways to bring the aircraft to the taxiway and be ready for possible parking on Sunday. EAA's goal is to sequentially open the grass aircraft parking areas at some point tomorrow. Homebuilts will be the first allowed to park, followed by vintage aircraft. If those parking efforts are successful, and then, hopefully either late Sunday or on Monday, other general aviation aircraft and those in the North 40 could begin parking in the regular areas. If any of those events do occur, the exact times will be announced, and will be based on safety for the aircraft and the grounds.

The Oshkosh ATIS still notes that the aircraft camping and parking areas are still closed. Non-showplane GA aircraft could be diverted to Appleton or Fond du Lac. There is a limited amount of hard-surface parking at Oshkosh.

In the warbirds area, the hard surface parking is filling nicely on Runway 4/22, which is the usual hard-surface parking area for warbirds. In addition, some areas are showing promise as drying continues with good weather forecast.

In the North 40, volunteers and EAA staff are continuing to check the firmness of the parking areas each hour to determine when and where some parking might be allowed.

Among of the other mass arrivals that had not been previosuly announced -- the Cessna arrival will not take place Sunday, with an exact arrival still to be scheduled. Meanwhile, the Comanche mass arrival has been scrubbed, with individual aircraft able to arrive on their own.

Several DC-3s are scheduled to arrive at Oshkosh on Sunday, and will be parked in the most suitable areas that protect the aircraft and grounds.

The operations group is scheduled to meet one more time this evening, and we'll pass along any updates!

No comments: