Check out this outstanding tail-cam video of Larry Bowen’s RV-8 “Nifty” arriving at EAA AirVenture 2007 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It’s a great example of how the situation in aviation can quickly progress from “uneventful” to “exciting” in seconds.

During the week of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture airshow each July, the Oshkosh Wittman Regional Airport (OSH) becomes the busiest airport in the world.

The “Fisk VFR Arrival” to Oshkosh requires the pilot to fly over the small Wisconsin town of Ripon, then turn northeast, following a railroad track to the smaller town of Fisk, where a group of air traffic controllers are stationed on the ground with little more than binoculars and a radio. The controllers then sequence traffic over Fisk for handoff to OSH tower.

Pilots primarily just listen to ATC on the arrival, and aircraft are identified only by type and color, rather than callsigns, since this would cause too much frequency congestion.

Once in the traffic pattern, spacing between aircraft is tight — often too tight — and multiple aircraft land on the same runway almost simultaneously, on colored “dots” spaced periodically down the runway.

The female voice you hear over the intercom is actually two separate systems: the first (heard on the base leg turn) is the Monroy Aerospace Traffic-Watch ATD-200, and the second (heard in the landing flare) is the Advanced Flight Systems AOA Sport angle-of-attack annunciator.

More information on flying to Oshkosh can be found at www.airventure.org/atc/.