AIRVENTURE 2022 - A RECORD YEAR

The 2022 edition of EAA AirVenture, the first full-scale gathering of the General Aviation world's biggest party post-pandemic, kicked off with strong storms, rocking the wings of many of the planes gathered in Oshkosh. However, the damage was minimal as many of the tens  f thousands of aircraft on the campgrounds and around the airport were tied down to weather the severe weather. Fortunately, this was the only severe weather for the entire week, which was blessed with blue skies painted with fluffy white clouds, ideal for airshow photography. I have tried to recapture the immense size and spectacle of AirVenture in words, pictures and videos, but as I have said before, one needs to visit the Mecca of Aviation at least once in a lifetime in order to appreciate the vastness and excitement of this the 'World's Greatest Aviation Celebration'.

- ATHOL FRANZ

On Monday when the show opened, we heard of the sad loss to the General Aviation community of Tom Poberezny, chairman emeritus of the EAA flew west, dying Monday at the age of 75 after a brief illness. While the loss of the man who grew EAA and AirVenture to what it is today is monumental, the legacy he leaves is even larger and this was evident by observing the energy and joy of the hundreds of thousands, young and old, making the trek to Oshkosh to share their love of planes, flying and being part of a special EAA family.

FACTS AND FIGURES FOR A RECORD-SETTING YEAR

"We introduced a tagline of ‘Unlike Anything Else' for this year's AirVenture event and 2022's fly-in proved to truly be unlike anything else," said EAA CEO and Chairman Jack Pelton. "We had seven days of nearly perfect weather, along with this year's programmes and activities, which brought out people and airplanes in numbers that we have not seen before.” This year's attendance was approximately 650,000 people, which was 7 percent more than 2021's attendance and exceeded the previous record of 642,000 which was set in 2019.

"There were several factors involved in the record attendance this year, in addition to the great weather," said Jack. "Programmes such as the 75th anniversary of the US Air Force contributed to exciting aerial displays all week, and it was a joy to welcome our international visitors back in full force for the first time since 2019."

 

SOME DETAILS OF THIS YEAR'S AIRVENTURE