Departure
93%
vs 95% ▼ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Wittman Regional Airport (KOSH) serves Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and is best known among sim pilots as the home of the annual EAA AirVenture fly-in, when it becomes the busiest airport in the world by traffic movements. It offers four paved runways, an ILS approach, and full tower, ground and UNICOM services, making it a rewarding and well-equipped destination for general aviation flying.
Wittman Regional Airport is a county-owned, public-use general aviation airport at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, operated by Winnebago County. It is named after Steve Wittman, a pioneering air racer, aircraft designer and long-serving airport manager, and is closely associated with the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), whose Pioneer Airport and AirVenture Museum sit immediately adjacent. For a simulator pilot, KOSH is notable both as a well-equipped year-round GA field with four runways and an ILS, and as the site of AirVenture Oshkosh, when the airport temporarily gains extra runways and becomes, for one week each year, the world's busiest by traffic movements.
The airport lies two nautical miles south of the central business district of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with a large portion of its southern end situated in the town of Nekimi. It sits adjacent to Pioneer Airport, part of the EAA AirVenture Museum campus, with the museum grounds across Knapp Street to the west. The field is served by its own control tower and lies within Chicago Center's airspace, with traffic advisories also available from Green Bay Radio.
Wittman Regional has four physical paved runways. Runway 18/36 is the longest, at 8,000 feet, hard-surfaced and lit, with an ILS serving runway 36. Runway 09/27 is 6,166 feet on the 09 threshold and 5,637 feet on the 27 threshold, hard-surfaced and lit. Runway 05/23 is 3,692 feet on 05 and 3,422 feet on 23, hard-surfaced. Runway 13/31 is 3,258 feet on 13 and 3,128 feet on 31, hard-surfaced. During EAA AirVenture, additional temporary runways are brought into use elsewhere on the field to cope with the surge in traffic, with the normal shorter runways closed for the event.
Oshkosh Tower provides ATC on 118.5 MHz, which also serves as the CTAF. Ground control operates on 121.9 MHz, and ATIS is broadcast on 125.9 MHz. UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz. Green Bay Radio can be reached on 122.25 MHz, and Chicago Center on 127 MHz. An ILS is available for runway 36.
During EAA AirVenture, Wittman Regional operates under special, high-density arrival and departure procedures to manage the exceptional volume of traffic, including the use of temporary runways alongside the permanent ones; the normal runways 05/23 and 13/31 are closed for the duration of the event. Outside of AirVenture, the airport functions as a conventional towered general aviation field with Oshkosh Tower providing sequencing on the CTAF/tower frequency of 118.5 MHz.
The airport is readily identified two nautical miles south of downtown Oshkosh. Pioneer Airport, part of the EAA AirVenture Museum, lies immediately adjacent to the field, with the museum campus itself just across Knapp Street to the west, providing a clear visual landmark for pilots inbound to Wittman Field.
Steve Wittman, an accomplished air racer and aircraft designer, became airport manager in 1931 and held the post for 38 years. The 125-acre airfield, then known as Winnebago County Airport, was sold to Winnebago County in October 1940 for 75,000 dollars, and by 1948 it had grown to 300 acres with four paved runways. In July 1970 the airport hosted the first EAA Fly-In, and the field was renamed in honour of Steve Wittman in 1972. The airport was historically served by a succession of commercial carriers, including Wisconsin Central Airlines, North Central, Republic, Air Wisconsin, American Central, Midstate Airlines, Northwest Airlink, United Express, Midway Connection, Skyway and Great Lakes, with subsidised Essential Air Service continuing until it was terminated in March 2003. The original control tower opened in 1963 and was replaced in 2007 by a taller structure, with the old tower demolished in 2009. Over the decades the airport has handled aircraft as large as the Boeing 747, Boeing 767, Airbus A380, Concorde and B-52 Stratofortress.
Wittman Regional today is a busy general aviation airport, ranked as the third busiest in Wisconsin, supporting corporate travel, flight training and aircraft manufacturing and repair. It hosts three flight schools, Aviation Services, Discover Flight and Fox Valley Technical College, and the EAA maintains a hangar on the northwest side of the field for maintenance, overhaul and restoration of aircraft including a Bell 47, a Ford Trimotor, a B-25, Cessna 162s, RV-12s and the EAA's B-17 Aluminum Overcast. A new General Aviation Terminal was completed in 2021, replacing older 1958 and 1971-era buildings. As of 2024 the airport had 168 based aircraft, comprising 129 single-engine, 27 multi-engine, 11 jet and one helicopter. The airfield is world famous as the venue for the annual EAA AirVenture Oshkosh fly-in and airshow.