It only took me forty years in aviation to make it to AirVenture. Better late than never!
AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin is the annual fly-in convention for the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). AirVenture is the largest convention of its kind in the world.
I went all-in and lived in a tent at Camp Scholler for 11 days; Thursday to Sunday. Here’s a review of my long week from the point of view of a first timer.
This post is organized by major events and experiences. Let’s dig in and start with…
Camping
I drove to AirVenture with a group of friends. I didn’t fly our Cherokee Six due to weather concerns.
We arrived on Thursday afternoon to beat the rush and find a nice campsite; my companions are AirVenture vets and knew exactly where they wanted to camp. The express check-in line was fast and easy. After setting up some canopies, outdoor kitchen, and my tent, it was time to hop on my bicycle and explore.
Camp Scholler is impressive. I’ve camped numerous years at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee; the EAA facilities are far better. The camp is massive and includes grocery stores (with ice & fresh coffee), laundromat, ATMs, food services, showers, charging stations, first aid… the list goes on.
If you’re camping, it’s important to know about toilet and trash facilities. No matter where you camp, you’re less than a 3 minute walk to a row of porta-potties and a dumpster. The porta-potties are serviced at least once a day. They’re well maintained and surprisingly nice (for porta-johns).
The showers are in permanent buildings with separate male and female entrances. Each side of the building has about 40 shower stalls, a dressing area, row of sinks, and flush commodes.
The showers aren’t bad. Each stall has a shower curtain that provides reasonable privacy and a kitchen sink hose dangling down with a sprayer head attached. There is no temperature adjustment, but I always enjoyed warm to hot water. Shower stalls have a place to put your soap and a hook for a towel. I brought my 3-D printed camping shower hook to give me extra hooks inside the stall for my clothes.
Flush Toilet Problems
During my 11 day AirVenture experience I encountered only one serious issue. Just one.
The commodes inside the men’s shower building (by Red One Market – West) were awful. By 7:00 am each morning, at least three of the five flush commodes were clogged and flooding the floor (ewww). The 1980s era toilets can barely flush water, let alone the other stuff they need to flush. The crappy commodes cause a serious biological hazard. The EAA needs to install modern toilets.
I quickly realized using porta-potties was a far better option.
Airplane Arrivals
A fun perk of arriving early is watching the arrivals. Thousands of aircraft arrive before the gates open on Monday; everything from the Mooney Mass arrival to a C-17 Globemaster. Grab a folding chair (and sunscreen) and head to one of the two main runways at Wittman Regional to enjoy the pre-show.
Mooney Mass Arrival
Mass arrivals of similar aircraft types is an AirVenture tradition. There’s a mass arrival for Cherokees, Bonanzas, Mooneys, Cirrus, and Cessnas. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-130 aircraft can participate in each arrival. Wittman tower lands a batch of mass arrivals in under 20 minutes with aircraft landing staggered on the North/South runway and a parallel taxiway; nearly 3 aircraft abreast. It’s pretty amazing to watch.
Here’s a time compressed video of a few Mass Arrival Mooneys taxiing to parking.
Ever heard of a Grumman G-44 Widgeon amphibian? I hadn’t until we saw this 1946 model (N44CG) arrive on Friday afternoon.
The aircraft in the opening credits of the Fantasy Island TV show (“Da plane! Da plane!”) was a French license-built Widgeon.
So, where does AirVenture park all these aircraft? Everywhere. All the grassy areas on the airport grounds are meticulously manicured so most aircraft can taxi and park in the grass.
Inside AirVenture
Before I arrived, I read everything I could get my hands on about the show. I still wasn’t prepared for what I found on Monday morning. It’s huge; over 900 exhibitors in 2025. I spent six days roaming the grounds and still didn’t see everything.
My goal was to visit the booths/pavilions of every vendor that had parts on my aircraft. This included Piper, Lycoming, AeroShell, Signia (Cleveland Brakes, Hartzell props), AeroLEDs, Aspen, Avidyne, Garmin, and a few others. It was really cool to chat with tech reps about my aircraft and their components. Easily worth the price of admission.
Aviation schools with flight training and maintenance programs were well represented. I lost track of how many schools had tents. Special shout-out to Middle Tennessee State University, my alma mater. MTSU flight instructors flew a shiny Diamond DA40 to the show.
Hundreds of smaller exhibitors are housed in four large, air conditioned hangars.
Forums & Workshops
The EAA, FAA, and exhibitors hosted over 1600 forums and workshops. Hundreds every day. I tried to do one or two each morning. I learned about aircraft detailing, engine oil selection, propeller care, fabric covering, Lycoming engine operation, the “Impossible Turn,” and more. The forums are the gems of AirVenture and easily justified my admission price (a lot of stuff at AirVenture justified the admission!).
Time for a late lunch
It’s almost 2:30. Time for a quick lunch before the afternoon show. The bratwurst and Land on the Dot Lager are top notch. Don’t forget a side of cheese curds. No calorie counting at AirVenture; you’ll walk off the calories.
Daily Afternoon Airshows
A full airshow. Every day! They’re always packed with warbirds, aerobatics, experimentals, new tech, skydiving, military demonstration teams, and explosions. Lots of explosions.
AirVenture Seaplane Base
Arguably the nicest place to hang out at AirVenture is the Seaplane Base on Lake Winnebago. The base is accessible by a brief, $5 roundtrip school bus ride from the AirVenture bus terminal.
The base features quiet music, a few industry exhibitors, and occasional departures and arrivals. The lake and trees provide relief from the summer heat.
Warbirds
No trip to AirVenture is complete without a stroll through Fightertown – Warbird Parking. The warbird area is so busy, it has its own ground control frequency. These birds aren’t static displays; many of them fly every morning (AirVenture’s wakeup call) and participate in the afternoon shows.
I had no idea there were so many flying P-51s. Row after row of them.
Airships
AirVenture 2025 was treated to two Goodyear Airships, Wingfoot One (retro livery), and Wingfoot Two.
These newer models are Zeppelin NT LZ N07-101 semi-rigid airships (they have a semi-rigid internal frame), built by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin company.
Blimps, like Goodyear’s retired ships, are non-rigid airships. Goodyear still calls their new airships “blimps” because of brand familiarity. And “The Goodyear Zeppelin” just doesn’t have the same ring to it!
Twilight Flight Fest
Each evening (when there’s not a night airshow), AirVenture hosts a Twilight Flight Fest that features drones, Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) demos, RC aircraft, and skydivers. It’s adjacent to the balloon glow, so you can kill two birds with one stone.
I really enjoyed the STOL demo. The pilots were taking off and landing in ridiculously short distances. Some of the aircraft were touching down below 30 knots; crazy slow. The demo is set up similar to an actual competition so spectators can get a feel for how the events work. Two announcers provide a play-by-play with info about the pilots and aircraft to keep the crowd engaged.
Night Airshows
Two nearly identical night airshows are presented during the week on Wednesday and Saturday to give partial-week visitors a shot to see this amazing performance and finale. The show starts at dusk so the jets can show off their afterburners.
After dark, the sky explodes with fireworks, aircraft launching pyrotechnics, and a mind-blowing drone show.
The night airshows wrap up with several drone formations, music, airplane noise, and ground explosions. I’ve never seen anything like it. Can’t wait until next year!
My favorite drone display was the spinning Hartzell prop…
So, that’s my first AirVenture experience in a nutshell. I can only show you a fraction of what I saw, and I didn’t see it all. For 2026, I plan on spending more time in the ultralight and vintage (pre-1970) areas. Can’t wait!
What’s your favorite part of AirVenture? Got any good tips to pass along for next year? Let me know in the comments!
Special thanks the residents of Camp Bourbon who made my first AirVenture truly amazing: Jeremy, Steve, Adam, Tiffany, Theresa, Chris, Morgan, and Jameson. Y’all are the BEST.
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