OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — From Europe to Australia to South America, visitors from all over the globe have come to EAA AirVenture this year.
“This is the second time I’ve come. I came in 2022 and I meant to come in 2020, but the big COVID put an end to that, so 2022 was the first time I made it here, and then back this year,” said Brian Lloyd, who traveled from London to see the sights of AirVenture.
“I’m dreadful. I’ve got an awful fear of missing out,” Lloyd said. “If I can hear aircraft flying over at the other airfield, I want to be there, and then when I see flight planes going over, I want to be down here. Just a petrol head, really.”
At the International Visitors tent just off Boeing Plaza, you can find a whole host of people who traveled from across the world.
“Every year is like the first time,” said Gustavo Arosemena, who makes the trip from Panama each year to volunteer at the tent.
I’m always in contact with other volunteers, and it’s funny because everyone, they are living their life. But for one week, we are here as a family.
Arosemena is a certified pilot in Panama.
“Next year I will be 45. It is my dream to fly my own aircraft here,” he told us.
The international tent is run by Victor Briones, who began his journey to AirVenture 30 years ago from South America without knowing English.
“Coming from any place in the world where they don’t speak your language. The joy of being here right now, the experience when you come in here and you find somebody that is willing to help you, translate your language and help you out, have fun and everything. That means the world to us right here,” Briones said.
As of Wednesday afternoon, visitors from 71 countries have been to AirVenture this year, which is three less than the 74 recorded last year.
The International Visitors tent will be holding a parade Friday around noon. Guests will be walking through the main thoroughfare with a flag representing the country they are visiting from.
