You’re descending through 1,800 feet, 90 knots indicated, wings level, following a set of railroad tracks running northeast through Wisconsin farmland. Off your right wing, a Cherokee holds position half a mile back. Fisk Approach crackles: “High-wing over the gravel pit, rock your wings.” You rock your wings. “Good rock. Follow the railroad tracks, expect Runway 27.” You haven’t said a word out loud.
This is the Fisk VFR arrival into Wittman Regional Airport (OSH), and it doesn’t resemble anything else you’ve flown, even for experienced pilots with a thousand hours and an instrument rating on the wall. There’s no clearance readback, no vectors, no “cleared to land.” There’s a railroad track, a color call, and a controller watching a hundred airplanes at once. For one week each July, Oshkosh hosts the highest concentration of aircraft in the world, and it rewards pilots who preflight the trip, not just the airplane. Here are the ten things to preflight before you ever pull the chocks, in the order you should tackle them.
1. Read the Notice Cover to Cover Before You Draw a Single Course Line
The AirVenture Notice is not a routine NOTAM. It’s a standalone procedures document — arrival routes, altitudes, airspeeds, frequencies, parking codes, and closure windows — that supersedes your normal expectations of how the airport operates for one week a year.
For 2026, special flight procedures are effective Noon CDT July 16 through Noon CDT July 27. Beginning Thursday, July 16, OSH is closed to all arriving aircraft from 8:00 PM until 7:00 AM CDT daily, with one added wrinkle: on Thursday, July 23, no Fisk arrivals before 8:00 AM. The field also closes during the daily airshow window, normally reopening about 30 minutes after each afternoon show. Check tfr.faa.gov for the Airshow Demonstration Area TFR, and confirm field status on the Arrival ATIS (125.9). Treat the Notice the way you’d treat an AFM limitations section: read it cover to cover for your aircraft category and likely arrival runway, and reread it the day before your expected flight to Oshkosh.
2. Preflight the Chicago Class B, Not Just the Airport
Chicago’s Class B is the biggest obstacle between most of the eastern half of the country and Oshkosh, and Class Bravo clearances are not typically available to VFR aircraft transitioning the area during AirVenture.
The FAA publishes a VFR Flyway Planning Chart for the Chicago area specifically to help route around this airspace. KORD arrivals enter Chicago’s airspace between 9,000 and 12,000 feet, so VFR overflights are strongly encouraged to pick up flight following. Skirting Midway? Note its ATIS on 132.75 and stay below the Chicago Class B airspace and the MDW Class C shelf. In practical terms, routing around the Chicago metroplex can add roughly 100 nm to your trip as a general approximation, though the real number depends on your origin and the flyway in use.
The takeaway: this detour isn’t just a routing inconvenience. It’s a fuel-planning problem.
3. Recalculate Fuel Stops Around the Chicago Detour
If you built your original route assuming a straight shot to Oshkosh, rework that fuel plan. An extra 100 nm can mean 45 minutes to an hour of additional flight time depending on cruise speed — enough to turn a one-stop trip into a two-stop trip, or a comfortable reserve into a tight one.
Recompute fuel burn leg by leg using your actual planned route, not your great-circle distance, and pad your reserve beyond FAA minimums, because you may hold at Rush Lake, Green Lake, or Puckaway Lake for tens of minutes, even an hour, before ever reaching Fisk. If your fuel status becomes critical during the arrival, notify ATC immediately, and if necessary divert to an alternate rather than press toward the field hoping it works out. Diverting for fuel is never a failure. That’s the safety-first choice, every time.
4. Choose Fuel-Stop Airports on More Than Just Price
Not every airport along your new route is created equal. Weigh three things: fuel price, food, and turnaround comfort. AirVenture week draws a heavy stream of GA traffic through a predictable band of airports across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and the good stops fill up fast.
Look for airports with a courtesy crew car or nearby food. A small FBO with a kitchen or pilot lounge to wait out a passing thunderstorm or frontal line is worth more than saving a few cents a gallon at an unattended self-serve pump. Call ahead if you can; during AirVenture week, a courteous phone call can earn you real information about how busy that field will be on your travel day and what services you can expect from the FBO.
5. Build Primary and Alternate Routes Around the Weather
Late-July convection across the upper Midwest can build quickly along frontal boundaries moving through Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and the Great Lakes can generate lake-breeze convergence lines that spawn afternoon storms well inland. The AirVenture Notice lays out several ATC-designated transitions into the Ripon corridor — Endeavor Bridge (VPENV), the southwest corner of Puckaway Lake (VPPLK), and the southwest corner of Green Lake (VPGRN).
Initially, build two or three of these as options in your flight-planning software. As the trip approaches, narrow to one primary and one alternate based on the most current weather briefing; don’t lock a final route more than a day or two out when a frontal system is still in play.
6. Pre-Brief the Ripon-to-Fisk Arrival Step by Step
This is the heart of the trip, and it rewards pilots who have already briefed the flow before they ever reach Wisconsin. Before departure, walk through each phase of the arrival so you know what to expect, what to look for, and what decisions you may need to make before Fisk.
For Garmin users, they’ve updated the FISK VFR Arrival in the navigation database. That update is available beginning July 9th. If you use Pilot, it will also be available in SmartCharts, and the airport diagram has the colored runway dots and squares. Garmin’s FISK VFR procedure will load as a an arrival (STAR). If using Garmin’s FISK VFR Arrival procedure, treat it as a situational-awareness aid. Visual navigation, aircraft spacing, and ATC instructions remain primary.
Expect to enter the arrival from one of the ATC-designated transition starting points.
- Endeavor Bridge (47 miles SW of OSH),
- Puckaway Lake (36 miles SW), or
- Green Lake (26 miles SW).
Tune Arrival ATIS (125.9) no later than 60 miles out, lights on within 50 miles, transponder on, then monitor Fisk Approach (120.7).
Brief the plan to fly single file, in trail. At least a half mile behind the aircraft ahead. Never side by side unless you’re a formation flight, never overtake, and never S-turn to hold spacing. Bunching up? Break off, return to the starting point, and rejoin behind an aircraft of similar speed. Visual lookout is essential as not every airplane flying to AirVenture is ADS-B equipped.
Brief how you will proceed toward Ripon from your assigned transition. From Green Lake, track direct to Ripon (VPRIP). On the Puckaway transition, keep the shoreline of Puckaway Lake off your left wing en route to Green Lake, then Ripon.
Plan to lower your gear before Fisk, if retractable. It’s written into the procedure for a reason. The flight gets very busy at Fisk, and forgetting the gear isn’t uncommon if busy.
Prepare to identify the railroad tracks from Ripon to Fisk. Ten miles, single file, directly over the tracks. The tracks and the nearby road diverge and reconverge; stay on the tracks, not the road.
Know Pickett as a visual and audio cue before Fisk. About 4 miles before Fisk, you’ll see, and sometimes smell, steam from a grain-drying facility. After this point, listen closely.
Expect to be identified by color and type at Fisk. Controllers identify you by paint scheme and type (“red and white Cherokee”). No verbal response is required. If you don’t understand an instruction, ask for clarification.
Be ready to receive your runway, transition, and tower frequency assignment, and brief yourself not to proceed beyond Fisk until instructed. Within about 2 miles of Fisk, ATC issues your runway, transition (“follow the railroad tracks northeast” or “turn right, follow Fisk Avenue”), and tower frequency. Do not proceed beyond Fisk or switch to Tower without authorization.
7. Memorize the Numbers: 90 Knots, 1,800 Feet
Here’s the anchor for the entire arrival: 90 knots indicated, 1,800 feet MSL, from the transition starting point all the way to Fisk, and ATC expects you to hold 90 until entering the pattern. If your airplane can’t comfortably hold 90, fly your maximum comfortable cruise speed instead, and consider arriving early: ATC recommends slower aircraft target Fisk between 7:00 and 7:30 AM CDT. Need more speed for safety of flight? 135 knots and 2,300 feet is the published alternative.
A waiver reduces normal arrival and departure separation standards for Category 1 and 2 aircraft, so expect a short approach with descending turns and a touchdown point ATC may specify almost halfway down the runway. Remember, too, that arrivals and departures on the same runway use separate ATC frequencies: you may see an airplane cross your landing runway without hearing a word of the communication that authorized it. Heads-up visual scanning matters more here than almost anywhere else you’ll fly. Ask your passengers to help you scan for traffic.
8. Know Your Alternates Cold, and What’s Different for IFR
If you’re not comfortable with the Oshkosh arrival at any point, it is always an acceptable, safety-first choice to divert and take the shuttle in. Treat “consider landing elsewhere” as permission, not criticism.
| Alternate | ID | Notes |
| Fond du Lac | KFLD | Parking and scheduled transportation to Oshkosh; temporary control tower during AirVenture from Saturday, July 18, until Sunday, July 26, 2026. Operational from 7:00 AM until 8:30 PM CDT, except closing at 2:00 PM CDT on Sunday, July 26. |
| Appleton | KATW | Parking and scheduled transportation to Oshkosh |
| Green Bay | KGRB | Parking and scheduled transportation to Oshkosh |
Flying IFR? Brief the IFR ARRIVAL/DEPARTURE section of the Notice separately. You don’t fly the Ripon-to-Fisk corridor at all. An IFR slot reservation is required for IFR flights to Oshkosh-area (Special Traffic Management Program) airports. If KOSH is reporting at least a 4,500-foot ceiling and more than 5 miles visibility, IFR arrivals other than turbojet and air carrier aircraft are strongly encouraged to cancel IFR 60 NM from Oshkosh. Piston aircraft must then fly the published VFR arrival from an ATC-designated transition as we have described in this blog. If the weather is below those values, pilots may retain IFR and expect radar vectors to the active instrument runway. Clearly brief this section of the Notice if you plan to fly IFR.
9. Rehearse the Arrival Before You Ever Fly It
Watch EAA’s how-to-land-at-Oshkosh videos in the week before departure, not just once back in the spring. Then fly the whole thing at your desk: PilotEdge’s SimVenture, scheduled for July 10–12, 2026, lets you fly the entire Ripon-to-Fisk arrival — radio calls with real Oshkosh air traffic controllers — on a home flight simulator before you ever fly it for real. Fly it more than once, and fly it at 90 knots, not your comfortable cruise speed.
Then build your in-flight cheat sheet: one kneeboard page, frequencies and altitudes only, so you’re never flipping through the full Notice at 90 knots.
10. Drill the Airplane at 90 Knots, Including the Base-to-Final Turn
Everything above is knowledge. The last preflight item is proficiency. The Fisk arrival asks you to hold a precise airspeed for an extended period, then fly a short approach with descending turns to an assigned touchdown point. That’s airspeed discipline and a stabilized base-to-final turn under real workload.
Before the trip, fly your own pattern at 90 knots if your airplane allows it, and specifically brief and practice the base-to-final turn at that speed. It behaves differently than the 65–70 knot pattern you’re used to, with a wider radius and less margin if the nose gets slow in the turn. At Gleim Aviation, we recommend treating this as its own training objective, not an assumption that “I can fly the pattern, so I can fly it 20 knots faster.” A flight review, or a few dedicated pattern sessions with your CFI or a trusted and experienced pilot friend, is the difference between reacting to Fisk’s instructions and flying them with calm precision. And if your airplane or your comfort level doesn’t match the profile, that’s information, not failure.
What Are the Most Common Mistakes First-Timers Make at Fisk?
- Overtaking the airplane ahead instead of maintaining half-mile spacing. Match the speed of the aircraft in front of you — if you can’t, circle back to the starting point.
- S-turning to create separation instead of breaking off and restarting the procedure.
- Drifting off the railroad tracks and following the parallel road by mistake.
- Switching to tower frequency before Fisk authorizes it, or creeping past Fisk waiting for an instruction.
- Forgetting to lower retractable gear before Fisk.
- Arriving without enough fuel reserve to hold or divert.
- Flying the corridor at an unbriefed airspeed because “90 knots felt too fast to think at” — which is exactly backward; 90 knots with a briefed plan is calmer than 70 knots and improvising.
Every one of these traces back to the same root cause: a pilot who read the Notice once, weeks before the flight, and never re-briefed it, nor watched EAA’s videos, nor took a FAASTeam online course.
Turn This Trip Into a Proficiency Check, Not Just a Bucket-List Flight
Flying into AirVenture is one of the most rewarding flights you’ll ever log. It can also be one of the least forgiving flights for a pilot who shows up unprepared. The airplane part is usually the easy part. The skills that get you safely into Oshkosh — airspace discipline, precise airspeed control, stabilized approaches, calm radio work under load — are the exact skills Gleim’s courses are built to sharpen. Our Online Ground School and our BATD can help you get prepared for exactly this kind of flying: master the material, fly with confidence, and get to Oshkosh the way you should — ready. Start at Aviation.Gleim.com/OGS, and view the Gleim Blog page for the rest of this AirVenture series and more.
Fly the numbers, respect the corridor, and we’ll see you at AirVenture. Onward and upward.