It’s that time of year again in the Northern Hemisphere—finally—when many pilots set their sights on flying to fun places offering short sleeve weather.
One popular airshow arrival destination is always a local or regional fly-in, and literally thousands of pilots save up their nickels for the big, international events like EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (July 21-27).
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I’ve flown into my share of these events over the years, with both good and bad experiences. The good include a “Nicely done!” from a Sun ’n Fun controller;E the bad involved an experimental amphib cutting through the arrival corridor at my altitude. At one local event on a nearby island’s grass strip, my passenger and I touched down, rolled out and parked smoothly, only to be greeted by some glum faces. Turns out there was a Cessna 172’s tail sticking out of some heavy brush toward the end of the runway. I don’t recall what happened, but the airplane wasn’t flying off the island that afternoon.
Procedures
One thing fly-in events have in common is their greater-than-usual numbers of pilots and aircraft. Another common characteristic is many of these aviators want to land or take off at roughly the same time. At best, that can mean a delay getting in or out.
You don’t have to be an air traffic controller to figure out the worst.
The good news is there often are specific arrival and departure procedures designed to keep traffic flowing while maintaining separation, albeit perhaps not to the same standards you may be accustomed to. Each event’s procedures differ, but its sponsors typically put together some sort of guidance for pilots flying in and parking instructions.
Of course, the granddaddy of air show fly-in procedures is EAA AirVenture, where the 2024 documentation came to 31 pages. In general, the published arrival procedures at these fly-ins will have you self-sequencing into the flow of aircraft toward the airport. Controllers on the ground will try to manage things, but they often misidentify airplane types—it’s easy for one low-wing airplane to implement an instruction meant for another low-wing.
And although each procedure has a recommended altitude and airspeed, it’s rare that any of the pilots flying near you have logged any recent slow-flight practice. For example, it shouldn’t be that difficult to maintain 100 knots and 1,200 feet msl, but it is for many. Straight and level should be the easiest part of flying these arrivals.
Considerations
Understanding the arrival procedure is a very important part of a fly-in. But that’s in addition to the other stuff you need to think about as a pilot. What other stuff? Fuel for one and weather for another.
- READ MORE: How to Become an Aerobatic or Airshow Pilot
It’s not the least bit rare for the destination airport to close unexpectedly. When it does, it’s usually because someone forgot to put down their landing gear and is blocking the runway. What happens next is up to you, but the arrival flow will be directed into a VFR holding pattern. Major fly-ins will have guidance on where and how to enter VFR holding, which will differ by location, but generally will call for orbiting a visual checkpoint like a lake.
At the major events, airport operations will clear the runway as soon as possible consistent with emergency services’ requirements. It doesn’t do any good to ask on the frequency how much longer it will take. Another reason for the airport to close can be poor weather. When visibility or cloud cover drops enough to make things IFR, there’s little anyone can do about it. Although I’ve seen some airports adopt a generous visibility observation, you can’t count on it. The only good news in that situation is following the pilot in front of you always can be a good policy.
Both closure reasons are why we all should be at the initial fixes for these arrivals with plenty of fuel. If you’re arriving from a few hours away, it’s a good idea to stop an hour or so out to top off, freshen up, and get new weather information before relaunching on a final, much shorter leg.
Even if you have plenty of gas, the smart thing in a temporary airport closure situation may be to divert to a nearby runway to wait out the delay instead of circling a lake for an hour. Before you even take off is a good time to nail down your ideal divert airport, a decision that easily can be based on rental car availability alone.
Prepping and Practicing
If all the foregoing seems intimidating, it probably should. Flying into Sun ’n Fun or AirVenture isn’t something you should approach lightly. It goes without saying that the airplane should be in good shape but so should the pilot. How can we make sure our skills are up to the task? The same way we get to Carnegie Hall—practice.
- READ MORE: EAA AirVenture Oshkosh NOTAM Now Available
But what to practice? Slow flight, for one. Historically, some newbies apparently can’t tell the difference between 60 knots and 90 knots on their airspeed indicator, but you’re better than that. (If you feel the need to grab an instructor for this, you’re doing it right.) They spend their time jockeying pitch and power but end up working too hard, with obvious excursions of both, leaving the planes behind them with little choice but to follow along.
Go out and find the pitch/power combination that results in your desired airspeed. Write. It. Down. Then maybe tape it to your instrument panel. You’ll probably find that an extra inch or 100 rpm is needed to compensate for the people and stuff you’re hauling in for the show, but that’s relatively easy. Your job is to know what settings give you the desired performance, and you have to have a place to start.
Low-speed handling is something else you need to practice. Remember that stall speed and angle of attack increase when banked and maintaining altitude, but both increases can be minimized when descending. A good way to practice this is to slow to your airshow approach speed on downwind and fly the traffic pattern at that speed until short final.
Another thing to practice is spot landings. Arrivals at Sun ’n Fun and AirVenture often are asked to land on or beyond certain runway features—the green dot painted on the runway, for example. For planning purposes, you may be expected to approach and land with other airplanes ahead of you or in-trail. For example, if you’re the first in a gaggle of three, you’ll be asked to land beyond a dot. The No. 2 airplane might be asked to land on the dot while Tail-end Charlie touches down on the numbers. If you’re No. 1 in the gaggle, keep it rolling—ATC likely will want you to exit the runway at the end.
Departing
I’ve focused on arriving at these airshows, but how you depart can be just as important. You want to follow any published procedures, which generally will have you flying the departure runway heading for a few miles at or below a certain altitude. Once clear of the show’s airport, you’re more or less free to turn on course and climb but, just as with arrivals, it’s likely there’s someone out there with the same plan as you.
If you’re looking for an IFR clearance but don’t have an STMP reservation, you’ll need to motor down the road a bit before anyone will give you one. Of course, departing VFR isn’t an option when the airport goes IFR. The AirVenture notice doesn’t include information on special VFR operations—when weather goes down, nothing except an IFR clearance will get you out.
Other Shows
I’ve concentrated on AirVenture, since its procedures are the most detailed and the show is also popular. Other fly-ins aren’t nearly so complicated, mainly because they don’t have the same traffic levels. But the same caveats can apply, especially those suggestions involving slow flight and spot landings.
Finally, many smaller events can be at grass runways. Your airplane’s manufacturer may have specific recommendations when operating to or from soft fields, like using flaps for takeoff. Do your research, plan ahead, watch the weather, and get some practice. You’ll do fine.
This feature first appeared in the May Issue 958 of the FLYING print edition.
