Having completed the primary military service (Rekrutenschule) in Switzerland in June 1911, he decided to emigrate to Argentina and worked in 1911/12 as a gaucho on the farm of a Swiss citizen living in Romang, Santa Fe.

His first attempt did not happen as planned because a prior test flight showed that his airplane, with a 70-hp engine and full fuel tanks could not reach the required altitude in the thin mountain air.

The Jungfraujoch was the greatest obstacle for this flight and for over half an hour Bider struggled desperately before he finally reached the required altitude of 3,600 metres (11,800 ft) resulting in a new Swiss record.

Oskar Bider and Fritz Rihner started the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Lufttourismus (Swiss Society for air tourism) in July 1919.

[6] When news of his death reached his devoted 25-year-old sister, Julie Helene "Leny" Bider (she had moved to Zurich in 1915 to live near her famous brother), she shot herself that afternoon in her room at the Hotel Bellevue au Lac, in Zürich.

As mechanical issues were not the cause, the official report theorized that the swiftness of one of Bider's manoeuvres probably resulted in his loss of consciousness.

However, this conclusion has been questioned because it was not published until decades after Bider's death and to the leadership of the Swiss Army "a military pilot and aviator does not take his life!"

Several streets were named after him: "Oskar Bider-Strasse" in Langenbruck, Dübendorf, Liestal and Zürich and "rue Oscar Bider" in Sion and Geneva.

The Bider-Hangar, called after Oskar, one of the hangars at Bern Airport, is listed as a heritage site in the November 2008 review draft of the Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance.