OSHKOSH – It was a figurative, and literal cloud over the first day of the annual EAA AirVenture. Thick, black smoke rising up from the rural area just south of Whitman Regional Airport. A small plane had crashed, killing two on board.
Director of Communications for EAA, Dick Knapinski confirmed the fatal accident but said it was far too early to know exactly what went wrong.
“We’ll let the professionals do their job on that one,” Knapinski said, referring to the NTSB and FAA which are onsite for the event. They, “…are very good about that. Being off airport, [it’s] very difficult to gauge what was happening with that particular aircraft at that time.”
Accidents happen around the annual event. It’s more frequent than anyone would like, but EAA estimates some 10,000 aircraft fly in for the event to airports across East Central Wisconsin. AirVenture is coming off a record year for attendance. 677,000 people came through the gates in 2023.
Knapinski predicts it could be another banner year: “If the weather holds, we could probably easily (be) north of 600,000 total attendance, which is very strong when you consider before about 2015 we never cracked the 600,000 boundary. It has been a very good run here.”
AirVenture is a mix of professionals in aviation, hobbyists, pilots, and simply fans of flying. Speakers, demonstrations, displays, and meet-ups can get very wonky as they pertain to avionics and all things flight.
“It’s not only entertainment. There’s a lot of technical stuff that goes on here during the week,” Knapinski said.
For many visitors, young and old, the daily air shows remain a big draw and the folks at EAA appreciate that.
“Airplanes fly really fast here,” Knapinski jokingly confirmed. “They’ll beat up the air and make a lot of noise. Everything from the F-22, F-35, A-10’s, the Canadian F-18 will be here, so we’ll have all of that if you like the big, fast, wiz-bang stuff.”
EAA AirVenture opens daily at 7 a.m. CST. It runs through Sunday, June 28th.
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