Oshkosh gets bigger and better
They” probably set a new record again this year!
When Bob Phillips and David Thomas were organising the highly successful “Oshkosh Express” charter flights to the USA, they once had 298 pilots on board their chartered Qantas 747. The pilot who landed the aircraft at Oshkosh’s Wittman Field admitted to feeling a bit intimidated by 297 spectators taking an interest in the quality of his landing.
For this year’s Oshkosh event in June Bob and Marya Phillips, the folks who now run Avtours, have again booked a whole Boeing 747-400 and its 367 seats are filling up fast. This time their Jumbo will be in Air New Zealand colours and flying from Auckland, with two Air New Zealand B767s feeding Australian passengers into it from Melbourne and Sydney.
Topped up in Auckland with equally aeronautically-minded Kiwis, the 747 will first fly to Los Angeles for fuel and inbound clearances, then on to Wittman Field at Oshkosh to discharge its passengers and their luggage. Its departure marks the official opening of the Convention, then it flies back to LAX to re-enter normal service.
On the chartered trans-Pacific 747 lots of the passengers are known to one another, they share common aviation interests, and there’s a definite party mood that’s far from the unwilling-captive atmosphere aboard most long-haul international flights.
On one trip the arriving aircraft also contained nine Aussie aircraft, and the return flight carried eleven because somebody had done a little window shopping at Oshkosh.
The week-long Experimental Aircraft Associations (EAA) AirVenture Oshkosh itself is by far the world’s biggest general aviation event. It’s indescribable in its size, scope, and the friendly and relaxed environment in which thousands of aeroplanes and almost a million people mix and make up the rich variety of the show.
The way these popular trips are constructed, all Avtours’ down-under visitors fly to Oshkosh together, and are accommodated in a university campus (during its mid-year break), and are transported to and from the week-long event by coach. At the end of the show are all bussed to Chicago, where they “disappear” in all directions. For the remainder of their separate stays in the USA, tailored to their individual preferences, they can tour the States by rental car, train, aircraft or whatever, with all their travel, tours and accommodation (plus their flight home) pre-booked by Avtours.
Even when people-numbers or aircraft availability precluded chartering a whole aeroplane, Avtours have soldiered on over the years with groups of usually about 70 travelling to the USA on scheduled flights, and built up a wealth of experience in organising these quite complex itineraries for large groups, taking all the worry out of the DIY approach to travel.
Maybe prompted by their success with Oshkosh, Avtours are now also packaging tours to similar events like the spectacular Red Bull air races in Perth (April 15-19,) and New Zealand’s famous Warbirds over Wanaka (April 02-04.)
How did they get into this rather specialised business? Bob Phillips was President of Sport Aircraft Association of Australia for a couple of years. He was involved in the development of Wedderburn Airfield outside Sydney which now has about 90 hangars. A serial aircraft home builder, he has built three aircraft over the years, and started the Rotorcraft Association way back when you could only fly autogyros illegally, which he admits was more fun.
AviationAdvertiser congratulates these travel professionals!
