For just one week every year, the small Wisconsin city of Oshkosh turns into an absolute madhouse. Hundreds of thousands of people from dozens of countries all around the world descend into the American Midwest just to celebrate aviation for a whole week. The show is the place to see some of the latest and greatest innovations in aviation, but also to get inspired, as well as to see some of the rarest flying vehicles in the world. Since 2022, I’ve made it a tradition to go to the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture Oshkosh Fly-In, and this year is set to be a wild one. There are going to be so many planes here that there’s a whole spreadsheet just to determine when you’ll be able to see them!
The 2026 edition of AirVenture will be my fifth time going, and you’d think that I’d be getting bored with my routine, but I’m anything but bored. As I dip my toes further into aviation, each AirVenture is more exciting than the last for me. Apparently, I’m not the only one, either, because for every year in recent times, AirVenture has been smashing its attendance records. Last year’s numbers were staggering, from EAA:
Attendance: Approximately 704,000 – Highest total on record! (Previous: 686,000 – 2024).
Total aircraft: More than 10,000 aircraft arrived at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh and other airports in east-central Wisconsin. At Wittman alone, there were 16,246 aircraft operations in the period from noon CDT July 17 to noon CDT July 28, which is an average of approximately 108 takeoffs/landings per hour when the airport is open.
Total showplanes: 2,543 including: 995 vintage aircraft, 910 homebuilt aircraft, 361 warbirds, 101 ultralights and light planes, 75 aerobatic aircraft, 74 seaplanes and amphibians, 18 rotorcraft, and 9 balloons.
Camping: More than 15,000 sites in aircraft and drive-in camping accounted for more than 40,000 visitors.
Volunteers: Nearly 6,000 contributing nearly 300,000 hours.
International guests: A total of 2,305 attendees registering at the International Visitors Tent from 94 countries outside the U.S., including the first-ever registered visitor from Senegal. As a significant number of international visitors do not officially register at the tent when they arrive, the actual international visitor total is much higher.
These numbers mean that AirVenture has smashed its attendance records of four years in a row. Some 650,000 people went to AirVenture in 2022, followed by 677,000 people in 2023, and 686,000 in 2024. The record in 2025 was a bit unexpected, even, because global political tensions had led some to believe that some people were not going to travel to America for the event.
The official campground for AirVenture, Camp Scholler, is an event in itself. There are thousands of campsites spread across several fields, and so many people keep coming to AirVenture that EAA’s had to open new fields for camping overflow. To put the camping into perspective, I live in a small city that clocked in at a population of 27,135 people during the last census. Camp Scholler alone has more people camping in it than my city has people living in it.
Camp Scholler itself becomes a bit of a city during the duration of AirVenture. There are multiple grocery stores, a laundromat, free public transportation, free Wi-Fi internet access, sewage pumping services, ATMs, propane filling, first aid, showers, dump stations, toilets, water tank filling services, and more. You can even send and receive packages while attending AirVenture! All Camp Scholler needs is a gas station, and it would be better equipped than many actual cities are.
Then there’s Wittman Regional Airport, where AirVenture is held every year. Most of the show runs parallel to runway 18R/36L, which runs 8,002 feet in length. Another good portion of the event runs down some of the 6,179-foot length of runway 9/27. You can easily put some miles on your shoes every single day of AirVenture without trying. Wittman Regional Airport proudly displays “World’s Busiest Control Tower” on its control tower every year, and the airport isn’t lying. Nearly all of the planes on the ground flew in, and many of them arrived in huge trains of planes that flew cross-country together. It’s frankly amazing that AirVenture somehow works out every year.
This year’s AirVenture theme isn’t very surprising. It’s America’s 250th birthday, so the World’s Greatest Airplane Celebration is going to highlight the role that over a century of aviation innovation has had on America. From EAA:
“‘Celebrating the Freedom of Flight’ will focus on the unique role aviation has played in America’s progress since that first flight of the Wright brothers in 1903,” said Rick Larsen, EAA’s vice president of communities and member programs, who coordinates AirVenture features and attractions. “Be it innovations by individuals or colossal accomplishments by the nation’s companies and our military, America’s leadership role in the progress of flight has been a remarkable part of our nation’s history that we’ll celebrate at Oshkosh.”
That focus at AirVenture will cover the more than 120 years since the first flights at Kitty Hawk, starting with the “Pioneers of Flight” exhibits and program covering powered aviation’s first 25 years, to the latest fighter jets, unmanned aircraft, and spaceflights that showcase cutting-edge technology. That theme will be represented on the main Boeing Plaza ramp and during the daily air shows, as well as in evening programming at Theater in the Woods and at the Fly-In Theater.
In addition, individual areas at EAA AirVenture will feature unique aspects of America’s preeminent role in aviation. That includes the remarkable civilian aviation progress represented by the “Class of ‘46” general aviation aircraft in the Vintage area and red, white, and blue paint schemes on amateur-built aircraft on the grounds.
The EAA folks are really underselling the theme here. The variety of aircraft at AirVenture is always great enough to cover basically everyone’s interests, but this year it’s getting cranked up to 11. For example, here’s the setlist of aircraft that will appear in just Boeing Plaza alone this year:
I’m weirdly excited about the Delta Air Lines Airbus A350-900. Okay, I know that sounds a bit silly, and I fully admit that it is. However, I have never seen an A350 up close and certainly have never walked around one. As someone who usually flies in nothing but Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s, it’ll be a great change of pace.
Delta is also offering tours of the aircraft, and I hope I can convince someone to let me sit in the flight deck. Somehow, I’ve never been in the flight deck of a modern airliner.
I’m also a little bit interested in the Boeing 737BBJ that’s on the setlist. That’s the private jet configuration of the 737, and I’ve always been curious about those things.
But that’s not all. Goodyear is bringing in one of its airships again, and NASA is flying in a bunch of its own hardware. From EAA:
Highlighting the aircraft from NASA will be an F-15 Eagle and F/A-18 Hornet with special patriotic livery celebrating America 250, including navy blue-and-white star covered fuselages and red-and-white striped wings. They are based at Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California. In addition, a NASA T-38 Talon, a legendary training jet for the astronaut corps, will be on display on Boeing Plaza. This Talon is based out of the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Rounding out the group will be four special livery F-5F Tiger IIs, with three of them decorated in special white and blue Freedom 250 paint schemes. The three “Freedom 250” F-5s will be on display in the Warbirds area throughout the week, apart from their participation in the July 23-24 air shows.
These iconic aircraft were featured during the July 4 flyover in Washington D.C., as a part of the America 250 celebrations. This will be the first time the aircraft will be available to be seen by the public on static display with their special liveries.
NASA was also supposed to fly in its iconic Super Guppy, which probably would have been a highlight of Boeing Plaza. Sadly, the Super Guppy was damaged in a recent storm, and while it will be repaired, it will not be fixed in time to make the show. So, NASA had to cancel the Super Guppy’s appearance. Hopefully, it’ll be back next year!
If all of these birds aren’t your jam, a collection of early aircraft will also be at AirVenture. From EAA:
The “Pioneers of Flight” collection features original and reproduction aircraft from the first 25 years of flight that followed the Wright brothers’ initial success at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in December 1903. The group that will be based in AirVenture’s Vintage aircraft area represents innovations by American and international designers.
[…]
Among the original aircraft, reproductions, and replicas initially confirmed for the display are:
1907 Demoiselle – Alberto Santos-Dumont design, replica built by Club Aéro des Garrigues in France
1909 Blériot XI – First aircraft design to successfully fly the English Channel
1915 Morane-Saulnier Type L – Replica WWI fighter built by Daher and Moraine-Saulnier employees
1916 Standard J-1 – Restored to flying condition by EAA volunteers in 2013-14
1927 Swallow biplane – Early air mail biplane that still flies passengers at EAA’s Pioneer Airport
1927 Spirit of St. Louis reproduction – Built by EAA to flying condition to honor Charles Lindbergh
A 1910 Wright B Flyer replica will also be present and flying in the afternoon air shows on Tuesday, July 21, and Thursday, July 23.
Also making its first appearance will be the Seattle II, a decade-old replica of the Douglas World Cruiser that made its first flight in 1924.
If you’re an airliner nerd like I am, it does seem that this show will have a little less emphasis on commercial aviation. But that’s okay, because there will be so much to do. I just received word from my friends at Lightship that the AE.1 travel trailer will be there. EAA is also debuting an all-new Vertical Lift Center, which will serve as the home base for helicopters, Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft, and other rotorcraft. I’m also told that there will be a flurry of electric aircraft buzzing around the AirVenture grounds, too.
This year is going to be such a fun one for me, too. Goodyear has invited me to take another ride in one of its airships. At the campground, I will be testing a hefty but quiet inverter generator. The camper I’ll be sleeping in will be hauled in by one of the only half-ton diesel pickup trucks in America. Honestly, this week can’t end fast enough!
This year, I am interested in potentially hosting an Autopian meetup. I hosted one in 2023, but nobody showed up. The Autopian is bigger now than it was three years ago, so maybe we’ll have some people in the area this time! If you’re interested in a meetup, sound off here. If we get interested people, I’m thinking of hosting it on Friday, July 24. That’ll make it the end of the week and give you time to prepare.
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh runs from July 20 to 26. Daily tickets are $53 if you’re an EAA member or $74 if you’re a non-member. Veterans and active military pay $53, and youth 18 and under are free! On Sunday, it’s just $26 or $32, respectively. There are also multiple-day tickets that lower the daily cost, including a weekly pass that runs $169.
Top graphic image: Mercedes Streeter
Added to the bucket list for events to take part in. Not really an aviation enthusiast either way, but still amazed that our local population of hairless monkeys on this third rock from the sun cracked heavier than air flight.
The attendance figures big but they aren’t quite as impressive as they seem if they still do the math like they did when I worked for the EAA decades ago…They count a gate admission each day as a person. So if you go for 5 days and clear the gate 5 times, they count you as 5 people, not 1. Still impressive though.
hooo boy. my phones battery and sky cards is about to go through hell week.
Just looked at the schedule so I could make sure I was playing when mass fly-ins happened.
Man I’ve wanted to go to this for years, I’m so jealous. Have fun! Write all about it so I can live vicariously through it!
WOO HOO! AirVenture is always worth it especially since you live so close. I hope you make it to a vintage event (such as the Hood River Fly-In Sep 12-13) or some other regional event this year too.
I am about to make you jealous/ envious/ feel young.
I used to fly between the peculiarity of the very far north of England and the oddness of South Carolina on an almost monthly basis. Delta were good for the most part.
One day there was a snag, which left me at the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. My options were to spend the night in an hotel or hang about and hope the I could get a seat on a flight to the UK.
I got a flight, a fully crewed brand new 747 SP 400 that was needed at Heathrow. It left Atlanta from a bit of the airport that was not the fancy bit, but the bit that unscheduled freight planes and the like get sent.
There were three passengers and a full crew, also some Boeing people who were familiarising the flight crew to the new features of this plane. “would you like to choose a seat sir, or would you like to join us?”
I thought about this for a shorter time than has been recorded by science anywhere.
Somewhere over Greenland I waggled the wings of a 747!
Everyone should have a technical guided tour of a Jumbo jet at four in the morning while the thing the size of a small town is crossing the Atlantic
One of the other two chose a first class seat, complained that it would be difficult to sort out his connecting flights and went to sleep,he complained when the plane arrived at Heathrow, the stairs were not what he was used to.
^^COTD hyeah^^
hey now, as a south carolinian, i resemble that remark. lol
It would be neat to see some coverage of the seaplanes and amphibians that are on the water just a little bit south on Lake Winnebago.
I highly recommend trying to get a ride on one of the WWII bombers- looks like at least a B-29 will be there. I’ve ridden on a B-17 and B-25 and had so much fun. If you think the noise of radials is awesome on the outside, it’ll blow you away when you’re inside (wear earplugs!)
Sorry to be the downer here, but the chat I’m reading on airplane hobby facebook pages says that wildfire smoke from Canada is putting the event in peril. They say that today is IFR weather at the site, and most homebuilt and hobby aircraft and some of their pilots aren’t prepared for that.
The show always sounds incredible. The one thing I wish I knew more about and could see would be the interwar period race planes (I’m sure most would have to be replicas, which is fine by me). Gee Bees were built only a couple hours away from me and I’ve seen a couple replicas, but I’d like to see all kinds.
Events like this make me think, “I need to go, this is going to be awesome!” Then I do these things and the crush of people makes me annoyed and exhausted in short order. Last weekend, I went to see the tall ships in Boston and, while I’m glad I went, I ended up skipping the last dock and enjoyed the bike ride back to my car (in a cheap garage several miles out of the city). I didn’t even stop for Peruvian food as I planned, I just needed to be away from humans. My mother said when I was a toddler, the only time I was difficult was when I was in crowds and I was born quiet, but with a look of anger or disappointment that made the people in the delivery room laugh. Some things never change.
Have a great time and live it up! I’ve yet to make it to one even though I use to live about 3 1/2 hours away from it.
Life keeps getting in the way.lol
While I live a little over 2 hours north of Oshkosh, I’ve never been to the Fly-in.
I have, however, flown into and out of Whitman field while the Fly-in was happening.
My flight originated out of RHI in a little Beechcraft 1900D (one of the worst planes to fly in commercially) with a stop in Oshkosh on the way to ORD on United Express. This was when O’Hare still allowed regional carriers to use propeller driven aircraft.
Anyway, when we left RHI, the pilots stood on the brakes, revved the engines, and then launched the little plane quite forcefully up into the air. I thought it was weird, but I just shrugged it off. When we landed in Oshkosh, we had to brake hard upon landing. Then we taxied to the terminal and picked up 8 or 10 new passengers on our way to ORD. When we took off, we only had like half a runway on which to depart so the pilots did that whole stand on the brakes and gun it takeoff again and I understood why we left RHI like that.
That’s my only Fly-in story. 🙂
Here’s an old man thing to say: Has it been year already? Someone please down the world. I hope you’re not tired of hearing that you have an excellent photographer’s eye.
Agreed. The second photo of the 747 with fireworks in the background is really something.
If they were really your friends, they would have loaned you one to review!
AE.1? I had a Canon AE-1 as a second body in my newspaper photographer days. (Still have it.)
Lucky you! I just had a Pentax K1000.
I love that pic of the 747 in the dark with fireworks behind it and lawn chairs and baby carriages all around it on the ramp.
I wonder about that fiery explosion behind the wing, though.
Whoever does the fireworks at the show likes to blow off some huge “bomb” type of things. You can legitimately feel the heat from the crowd!
If you wander by, check out the Joby Aviation exhibit and try the Flight Simulator! Flying an electric eVTOL is very different.
Has anyone ever created an AV-RV? Fly in on your private plane. Adjust the level of the plane and use it as an RV. Then fly out.
Are these the regular air traffic guys, or do they bring in the london symphony orchesta for directing this traffic?
I get a kick out of checking globe.adsbexchange.com around then and watching the several-hundred-mile line of single-engine planes queued up to land.
I’m jealous!
Is that the GE(?) testbed 747 in the photos?
That was the Pratt & Whitney Boeing 747SP testbed!
Figured that was what the bump on the hump was for, but couldn’t remember who owned it. Seen pictures of it with engines mounted there.
Very cool, I’m jealous. I want to ride in a blimp!
I’d like to fly on a 747 as well, but they’re getting scarce and never used on my routes.
A350s have the most graceful wingtip shape of any airliner. Not super exciting otherwise, just another big twinjet. It becomes more impressive on takeoff and in flight when you realize how quiet it is.
When I saw the 747 in title pic, I thought maybe the White House’s new flying bribery palace was making a stop and letting the public tour it. Disappointing since we all paid for the retrofit.
Flew in a 321neo the other day – could barely hear it….
Yes, the new generation of turbofans are much more civil. Surprised at how quiet the 737 Max is. A220, 787, A330neo, all very quiet. Was just on a transatlantic Delta 767-400 with older engines and that plane was very loud even at cruise. Delta needs a newer fleet.
I fly them regularly and don’t find much in it. But I also have not flown in one further back than row 5. Might be different in the back of the ‘bus. Up front it’s all wind noise after takeoff, and they really aren’t much quieter upfront at takeoff power either.
I flew QANTAS from LAX to SYD and back in 2012. Down, it was on a 747. We came back on an Airbus 380. Both flights were back in coach and the difference in noise levels was astonishing. The Airbus had a CCTV camera mounted at the top of the empennage. I watched the sun rise over the Pacific from my seat!
Probably the quietest flights I was ever on were when I got bumped up to first class on a CRJ, but the 380 was close behind. Which is amazing as on the CRJ, the engines were way back there. On the 380 we were aft of the engines.
I used to fly to Hawaii on United often enough to get into business class. In their 747s, that was the upper deck, sometimes with as few as 16 passenger seats, your own flight attendant and bathroom. Nicest flying I’ve ever done.
I did the same on NWA. Platinum Elite sometimes got you up into the spiral-staircase seats. I liked that the ‘overhead’ compartments were actually right next to the seats.
I miss NWA so much! Was also Platinum for many years, though I never flew on thier 747s. DC-10s quite a bit, and of course, I lived on “Diesel 9s”. But my favorite of all were the Mesaba RJ-85s. So comfortable!
Even though they were noisy, I really loved the NWA/Mesaba Saab 340s. Especially the B+ models. Flying out of RHI, which was also a maintenance hub and a Mesaba crew base, I got to know the local-based flight attendants on a first-name basis.
I usually sat in the first row, and learned to tell the differences between the 340A, B, and B+ models, and knew which ones would fit my briefcase in the overhead compartment, and which ones I had to gate-check it. One evening I was returning home and got to chat with the crew for a few minutes before they boarded. Later, when I got to board after the elderly and people with children, when I got to my seat, there was a piece of paper taped to the overhead compartment (only half-a compartment, actually due to safety equipment) that said, “Reserved for (my first name)”.
Is that excellent service or what?
I didn’t mind the Saabs, but for me it was usually the multi-hop “milk runs” from MSP out across the Dakotas that I would be flying them. Made for some long flying days when I had to do PWM-DTW-MSP, then 2-3 stops to get to whatever Godforsaken place I was working that week in the middle of nowhere.
It is fun when you get to know the staff though. There is one gal who was a US then AA gate agent at PWM who transferred to CLT I still run into regularly, and she always gives me a big hug!
I went NWA to DL, got fed up when they cut service to PWM drastically, switched to US and so ended up with AA. Quite a ride flying around for a living the past 30-odd years. I miss NWA, but the BEST elite status was being Chairman on US.
Back in 2000, when I had to fill out the long US Census form, after the question where they asked what form of transportation did I usually use to get to my job, I answered, “Northwest Airlines DC-9”
True story.
The census lady didn’t believe me, but she put it down anyway. 🙂
ROFL! Pretty true for me too, though split between the DC-9s and the RJ-85s until after 9/11, when it became all CRJ-200s (may they rot in Hell). In fact, I was part of what was called “The Breakfast Club” by the gate agents in Portland, ME. There was a group of us who were on the 8:45 to Detroit pretty consistently every Monday morning, and since we all had status, we were nearly always in First. For me it was typically three weeks a month all winter, and two weeks a month in the summer. In those days NWA ONLY flew to DTW from Portland, and the vast majority of my work was centered on Minneapolis, I was pretty much always on that flight. Just occasionally if I was going south I would be on Continental. Or very occasionally I flew the 25 minute BEX hop to Boston to get an NWA flight to elsewhere. Business Express, where ancient stews went to die, but those gals could sling a full drinks and cookie service on a Saab on those ~25 minute flights.
One of my best and yet worst flights ever was on a 747. Best in that there were *19* passengers flying from Heathrow to Boston on British Airways that day, and they put all of us upstairs in Business Class except the one dude who was in First in the nose. Worst in that I was sick as a dog with bronchitis and hacking my lungs out. One of the BA stews adopted me and sat with me the whole flight (there was almost one per passenger. She kept me in a steady stream of hot lemon teas which really helped!
I’ll be volunteering, ill be heading up tomorrow to start helping set up!
ROCK ON!
hope it’s as good as ever and that you make it through without an injury, you seem particularly unlucky recently.
As I’ve commented before, I really want to go to this. My dad worked for the airlines and I’ve always had an interest in aviation.
Over the last week I was in Wisconsin for work and needed to kill some time before checking into my hotel in Appleton, so I checked out the EAA Museum which was awesome. I didn’t realize the Fly-In is next week!
GO GO GO!