Practice for OSH Arrival NOW, please!

Every year some people decide to fly into the world's busiest airspace
with little or no pre-flight preparation. Last year (2006) was the
worst I've seen, mostly due to an accident that closed the field and
caused a HUGE traffic jam in the holds around the lakes -- but also
because a surprising number of pilots simply didn't know what the hell
they were doing, because they had not read the Oshkosh Arrival
Procedure NOTAM.

This is, quite frankly, nuts. Even after flying in many times, Mary
and I take the FISK arrival procedure deadly seriously, since it
presents risks and techniques that we rarely (if ever) use outside of
OSH.

Thus, we just returned from an hour's flight devoted entirely to
simulating the FISK arrival procedure into OSH. The flight from Iowa
City to Muscatine takes about 25 minutes, at 90 knots and 1800 feet
MSL -- pretty similar to the trip from Ripon to OSH.

During this flight I experimented with various prop/throttle/flap
configurations, until I found the one that allowed me to nail the
speed and altitude without raising the nose too high to see. (One
notch of flaps in our Pathfinder keeps things right where they need to
be.)

Once over MUT I executed an EXTREMELY tight pattern to a spot landing
on the 1000-foot marker, simulating a landing on the green (or orange)
dot at OSH.

Satisfied that I had "passed the test", we enjoyed a terrific dinner
at "The Good Earth" (just down the street from the FBO), whereupon we
returned to the plane and Mary performed the same flight back to Iowa
City. (Her reward for a perfectly executed OSH simulation was an ice-
cold beer... :-)

Please, please, PLEASE -- if you're going to OSH this year, go out and
PRACTICE SLOW FLIGHT. I can't tell you how exciting it is to get in
line with folks who can't fly a steady 90 knots, and can't hold
altitude -- don't let it be you!

Last year, with the massive holds around Green and Rush lakes, we were
in line-ABREAST formation with dozens of dissimilar aircraft, most
being flown competently but some being flown by ham-fisted pilots who
simply could not perform as required. It was extraordinarily hair-
raising, but (of course) it all worked out in the end.

But it could have gone very differently. Don't be the guy that causes
the headaches! Here is the NOTAM:
http://www.airventure.org/2007/flying/notam07.pdf

Read it, understand it, practice it -- and then re-read it. Have the
person in the right seat read it aloud to you as you approach
RIPON.

If you have any questions, or don't understand something, or forget
something -- LAND YOUR PLANE SOMEWHERE ELSE AND SORT IT OUT. Do NOT
try to land at OSH without knowing the contents of the NOTAM, or you
will put yourself and others at risk.

Finally, plan on stopping in Iowa City for our Fly-In Pool Party on
Saturday, July 21st (see: http://alexisparkinn.com/iowa_city_pool_party.htm
)
and you'll be able to chew the fat with a few of us who have done it
many times before. Then, if you're still around Sunday morning (July
22nd), join us for a loose gaggle flight into OSH. It's fun,
educational, and we'll all end up parked fairly close together in the
North 40!

See you guys and gals soon...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"