EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019: A Ho-Hum AirVenture? Not Even. Here‘s What The Numbers Say

The packed parking area at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019. Photo by Jim Koepnick

EAA just released the statistics for this AirVenture 2019, which wrapped up on Sunday. They support what we were saying all week. It was an amazing show. So when another aviation online site called this year's AirVenture "subdued," we had to wonder if we'd been to the same event? (Maybe there's an Oshkosh, Delaware, they went to by mistake?)

EAA said that there were approximately 642,000 attendees, an increase of 6,8 percent over last year, which was a record based on current methods of keeping track. There were the usual "more than 10,000 aircraft" that made their way to Oshkosh's Wittman Regional, as well as other area airports, with 16,807 aircraft operations over the 11-day period between July 19-29. That, says EAA, is an average of 127 takeoffs/landings per hour. There were 12,300 campers, of which I was one. It's the best way to take in the show, in my option, because you never have to leave it.

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There were Astronauts, including Michael Collins and the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 moon landing, there were warbirds galore, including hot and cold running F-22s and F-35s, along with Corsairs, Mustangs, Skyraiders and lots of vintage jets. The night air show knocked my socks off!

The weather was spectacular! The people were amazing. The flying was out of this world. If this is unspectacular, sign me up for a lifetime of it.

Oh, and EAA says its already considering themes and such for Oshkosh 2020, the 51st anniversary of EAA in Oshkosh. As I noted in a previous piece, it's the 51st anniversary. If it's not a Mustangapalooza, I for one will be sorely disappointed.

Get caught up with all of Plane & Pilot's coverage of AirVenture 2019 here.

Isabel GoyerWriter

A commercial pilot, editor-in-Chief Isabel Goyer has been flying for more than 40 years, with hundreds of different aircraft in her logbook and thousands of hours. An award-winning aviation writer, photographer and editor, Ms. Goyer led teams at Sport Pilot, Air Progress and Flying before coming to Plane & Pilot in 2015.