OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) — Hundreds of thousands of aviators and airplane enthusiasts from around the world make their way to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh every year, but about 10 miles southwest from the southwest corner of the EAA grounds is an unassuming camper on a hill off the side of the road whose purpose is pivotal the pilots who fly into town.
Imagine the chaos that would ensue if 10,000 airplanes were coming into Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh all at the same time. Since 1970s, the iconic Fisk VFR – visual flight rules – arrival site has been helping the world’s largest fly-in convention avoid just that.
“Fisk is essentially the first place that these pilots start talking to our Oshkosh controllers,” said Elizabeth Wichmann, AirVenture’s Air Traffic Manager. “It’s just to get all the aircraft lined up so they’re half-mile in trail spacing. Once they hit Fisk, we go ahead and send them off to either 927 or 1836.”
Those numbers refer to runways at Wittman regional airport. Wichmann has been working the event for five years.
“I bring 91 controllers from all over the United States for this event and everyone that is here; this is the Super Bowl for them,” she said. “We work in teams where, normally it would be just you responsible for this position, but four people are responsible that position.”
At the Fisk site, controllers sit outside the camper with their binoculars to evaluate and assess the air traffic. Despite it’s laid back look, controllers take pilot safety seriously; which brings them out to almost the middle of nowhere in the unincorporated community of Fisk.
“The visibility is the important part, that line of sight. So we’ve got a good line of sight coming up those railroad tracks so we know when we can divide people up and how to split them off,” said Wichmann
The Fisk arrival site has become an iconic fixture of EAA AirVenture, with it’s controllers calling out the equally iconic phrase, “Rock your wings!”
Pilots flying into EAA AirVenture will physically rock their airplane’s wings to let air traffic controllers on the ground know they hear instructions. But, why?
“It just keeps our frequencies a little cleaner and we know that the pilots have heard our message,” said Wichmann.
Wichmann says being at the Fisk base during EAA AirVenture is a wonder to behold.
“It’s just phenomenal to see something different all the time,” she said. “Not every day you see a B1 bomber coming in with the Cherokees and the RVs that we see on the approach.”
You can see all those kinds of airplanes and several more at EAA AirVenture, which runs through Sunday.
