Flying Wisconsin

For one week every July, Wittman Regional in Oshkosh runs more operations than any other tower on Earth. A pilot's guide to the RIPON arrival, the color-coded landings, and the culture that built it.

Wisconsin has more than 15,000 lakes, one of the highest densities of floatplane operations in the Lower 48, and a working seaplane culture that starts at Vette-Blust and extends up to the Boundary Waters.

Lake Michigan and Lake Superior manufacture their own weather. A pilot flying the Wisconsin shoreline learns to expect it — and to fly around it.

Wisconsin's aviation culture doesn't live at the towered fields. It lives on the two hundred–plus grass strips, private turf, and pancake-breakfast fly-ins that keep general aviation grounded in the community.