PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — EAA AirVenture kicks off Monday, but skies over Wittman Regional Airport and Northeast Wisconsin at large are clouded in haze from wildfires.
EAA officials aren’t sweating it.
“The weather patterns are the weather patterns. There are some things you absolutely cannot control whatsoever. And so pilots take that into account as they fly in to the event,” said Director of Communications Dick Knapinski.
He says the pilots set their own limits when it comes to flying in cloudy weather.
It’s up to individuals whether they want to fly in with the haze.
“The smoke is definitely going to hinder that,” Aircraft Greeter Tammy Burns said. “And the heat, you want to camp in this? I don’t know, doesn’t sound real fun.”
Outside of pilots, Knapinski said visitors to the grounds will have plenty of opportunities to duck out of the heat and potential haze next week.
“If somebody needs to take a break of course, the EAA museum is always available, they can take a break there,” he explained. “There are a lot of facilities throughout the entire grounds, whether they’re from exhibitors or others that might be air conditioned so they can step out of that.”
He’s not worried about a lack of pilots turning out for the airshow because of the weather. The weekend before AirVenture is always one of the busiest of the year.
“Start on Saturday, go through Sunday, into Monday morning. That’s when everybody wants to get to Oshkosh, and so the FAA controllers do a wonderful job of lining them up, getting them here, getting everything done in an orderly fashion so we can start the show on Monday.”
Even with the haze over Oshkosh, EAA is prepared to showcase the best in aviation.
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