AirVenture in the Mirror

Leaving Oshkosh is always a bittersweet experience—on the one hand, we’ve been here for seven days, showing up at the field just after sunrise, headed back to our lodgings as the sun is fading into the western clouds, and on the other hand, it’s hard to leave the hundreds of thousands of “friends” we’ve made and shared the “Greatest Aviation Event on Earth” with for all that time.

AirVenture is hot and cold, dry and wet. The only thing I didn’t notice this year was a surplus of mosquitoes. We had our share of rain, sun, clouds, wind, and clear blue skies. If anything, the forecast was more dire than what we got—the weather being excellent most of the week, despite what the predictions showed the week before. Airplane attendance seemed about 15% lower than last year (at least in the Homebuilt world) as of Thursday afternoon. Perhaps the predictions of thunderstorms made some reconsider the trip.

But those that came, saw, wandered, slept, and ate together had a marvelous time! We saw new airplanes, new ideas, and new people brought into the fold—the fold of EAA, General Aviation, Homebuilt Aviation, and welcomed as brothers and sisters of flight.

As always, we go our separate ways thinking about airplanes we are yet to build, and shows we are yet to attend. Airventure 2026 will be on top of us before we know it and the Brown Arch will be here to welcome us once again to the aviation family camp-out!