Welcome to Cessnas 2 Oshkosh 2012!

Thanks to all the pilots, relatives and friends who made the 2011 Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Mass Arrival one of the best ever. We did fly our planes into Oshkosh! Congratulations to each and every one of you!

An Update From Rodney, Craig and Gil

Greetings Cessnas 2 Oshkosh participants, friends and all those interested, and welcome to our 2012 Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Mass Arrival into EAA AirVenture - Oshkosh. It is time to dust off the skills and make plans to attend The World's Greatest Aviation Celebration! We are excited about putting together the 7th Annual Cessna Mass Arrival into EAA AirVenture - Oshkosh. this July. It is a bit of work, but spending the week in the beautiful Wisconsin weather with our friends is more than worth it.

We would like to update everyone on the planing and work done in anticipation of our 2012 Cessnas 2 Oshkosh Mass Arrival. More importantly, we ask that you read on and consider how you might be able to help us achieve a successful mass arrival.

On Wednesday, March 14th, we held a very productive general planning meeting online that brought together clinic hosts, lead pilots and collaborators from across the nation. We discussed many ideas on how to improve our training, the mass arrival flight and the experience at Cessna Base Camp in the North 40. As these ideas are discussed, approved and implemented, we will update you here on the website and through future issues of our newsletter. A major accomplishment of the night was the organizing of a group of pilots in the Pacific Northwest, and the coordination of a formation training clinic in that area. Trevor Moody, of the Greater Seattle area in Washington State, took the lead and will host the clinic at Olympia Regional Airport. Steve Wolf, from Fort Collins, Colorado, volunteered to fly to Olympia and will lead the training session in June. We thank Steve and Trevor for their great spirit and show of camaraderie.

We continue to have discussions with most of the mass arrival groups and with Mr. John Carrier, EAA Vice-President and North 40 Liaison. The purpose of those discussions is to improve the ground operations in the North 40, including taxiing, parking and camping. We are very enthusiastic about upcoming changes for the mass arrival groups in the North 40 camping area. These changes are nothing but positive for us.

The toughest topic we want to highlight is the disappointing results, so far, of the registration drive. It is no secret that this year's registration drive is off to a slow start. So far only twenty-nine (29) pilots have registered to fly the 2012 mass arrival. The consensus is that "the state of the economy" is responsible for what is currently happening, or not happening, in the general aviation community, the mass arrival groups in general, and Cessnas 2 Oshkosh, in particular. Fixing the economy is definitely beyond our capability (after all, politics is not our business) and we don't have an advertising budget. We must all assume an active role in spreading the word about our event. Word of mouth, when used properly, is very effective. We think each of us can help kickstart our registration drive by visiting our local airports and directly engaging our friends and fellow pilots with an invitation to join us, and by making brief presentations about Cessnas 2 Oshkosh at local EAA chapter, pilot association and flying club meetings. When you attend those meetings, bring along copies of our flyers and hand them out to pilots, or post them around the airport terminal and/or FBO. Many of us are members of online aviation forums. Postings on those forums about Cessnas 2 Oshkosh activities can reach a significantly large audience that is eager to hear positive things happening in general aviation. We can leverage our friendship with fellow pilots, and our relationship with aviation organizations, to spread the word about our event.

This year, we will not have a formation clinic in Juneau. But, we will have a showcase formation practice flight on Friday, July 20, the day before the arrival. We will depart Juneau, fly over Oshkosh and return to Juneau in close formation. Those of you who were in Juneau for the arrival in July of 2010 will remember our Sloshkosh 2010 flight over Wittman Regional Airport (OSH). That flight was praised by many visitors to Oshkosh and thrilled the Oshkosh tower controllers. If you would like to be included in this flight, show up in Juneau early on Friday, having met all the training requirements to fly the mass arrival.

The three of us strive to put together an event worthy of your time and expense, and have a great time doing so. We look forward to seeing each of you, and your guests, in Juneau, Wisconsin.

Fly Safe and Blue Skies!

Update On Training Clinics

The 2012 formation training clinics schedule has begun taking shape. Please, visit our Clinics page where you will find a list of clinic locations and dates that is uptaded in real-time. Be aware that, for some clinics, location or date have not yet been confirmed. As those details are firmed up, or whenever new clinics are added, the list on the Clinics page will be updated. Keep in mind that clinic dates and locations are subject to change. Again, for the most up-to-date clinics schedule, visit our Clinics page by clicking on the Clinics tab on the menu at the top of every page of this website.

Always keep in mind that, despite our best effort in planning the clinics schedule, weather conditions can change with very little notice. Clinics will be cancelled when adverse weather conditions are forecasted for the planned date. It is our policy to inform each pilot of any such cancellations via email message, or telephone call. As part of those notifications, an alternate date will be offered. We expect pilots to make every effort possible to attend rescheduled clinics. We ask that you be flexible in your planning. It is important that we accomplish the training of every pilot prior to the meetup in Juneau.

A Cardinal Journey To Oshkosh

If you're thinking about flying into Oshkosh this year, I promise you, flying in with C20 will eliminate the stress and make it more enjoyable.

If you're thinking about camping under the wing of your airplane in the North 40, you'll miss most of the fun if you're not with the C20 group.

This will be my third year flying the mass arrival. I joined the C2O arrival the first time due to my concern for arriving with all the other traffic. I truly believe the C2O arrival makes it much safer to fly into Oshkosh. All the pilots in the mass arrival are trained so everyone knows who is where, what everyone else is doing, and the procedures to follow should anything deviate from plan. The aircraft are all grouped based on performance and FAA partially closes the airfield during the arrival, reducing the other traffic.

Participating in the mass arrival requires attending one of the formation flight training clinics. These are scattered around the country over the next three months. The training is simple. It's primarily intended to insure everyone knows what is expected and how to fly the formation. The formations are loose, keeping the aircraft at least 4 wingspans apart, at speeds that make it easy to keep track of the other two planes in each 3 ship flight formation. Each 3 ship flight is separated by 1/4 - 1/2 mile. The C2O web site has all the training information to preview and study under their Training tab for anyone curious or interested.

Last year we had 44 aircraft in the mass arrival. We all landed within a 15 minute window, without a miss-step, issue or concern. It actually took us longer to taxi to the camping area than it did to land all 44 aircraft. We found out later a bunch of the FAA controllers had gone down to the approach end of the runway to watch us land. The feedback we got from them was glowing.

Camping with this group is really where the fun begins. There is a large group tent put up by CPA that is used for all types of activities all week. Every morning there's a big home cooked breakfast. Every night there is some kind of activity, presentation, movie, or speaker, and couple nights there are BBQ's put on by sponsors. At these BBQ's there are drawings. Each of the last two years I've won something worth more than the cost of my entire week at Airventure. This group of people are fantastic to be with.

Last year shortly after arriving, I was walking down the North 40 frontage road, and this feeling came over me that I was home again. That was only the second time I had flown in with C2O.

Jerry Olson
1976 Cessna Cardinal RG N7573V

To Fly Our Mass Arrival...

To fly our mass arrival a pilot must register, pay the registration fee at the time of registration, attend one of our formation flight training clinics in 2012 and be present in the main hangar of Wisconsin Aviation at Dodge County Airport (KUNU) in Juneau, Wisconsin, by 11:00 AM CDT on Saturday, July 21, to take part in the pre-flight briefing.

The registration process is simple and intuitive. Click on the Registration tab (first from the right, at the top of this and every page) and answer a few general questions. Pilots who registered to fly the 2008, 2009, 2010 or 2011 mass arrivals, regardless of whether they actually flew the mass arrival, can save time by retrieving their previously submitted information. To do so, follow the link on our registration page and log in using the same email address and zip code used to register on a previous year. If the supplied email address and zip code match an entry in our database, the registration form will be pre-filled. After making any necessary corrections, and answering any new questions, the registration form will be ready for submission.

The final step in the registration process is the payment of the registration fee. The fee covers the cost of the shirt embroidered with our logo, breakfast and lunch in Juneau, and the BBQ dinner at Cessna Base Camp. The registration fee is $50.00 per person. Children up to the age of 12 do not incur a fee. PayPal® handles our payments and the process is also very simple. You are not required to have a PayPal® account. You can pay using a major credit card or, if you prefer, you can pay using your existing PayPal® account.