OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) – As the dust finally settles a bit at Wittman Regional Airport this week, those at EAA are looking back at a successful AirVenture 2021.
Spokesman Dick Knapinski says it was a challenging year to prepare the event with all of the uncertainties, but the aviation community was ready for the gates to open.
“It was a challenging year to prepare the event, to get ready for it with all the uncertainties out there, but the aviation community was ready to come out. The wait was over, and the wait was worth it,” Knapinski told WTAQ News. “It totally exceeded our expectations…As we started planning some 6 months ago, we were thinking that if we reached 75-percent of the 2019 attendance we would be very, very happy. But to get within 5-percent of 2019? That’s truly incredible.”
Even without a significant amount of international visitors this year, Knapinski says people still came out early and stuck around to see the show and be a part of the experience.
“Sometimes things have to disappear for a little bit before you really, truly appreciate them and that may have been exactly what happened this year,” Knapinski said. “The sense of joy and enthusiasm that everybody brought to the grounds, you could see it with the exhibitors, with the visitors, with the campers, with the people brought their airplanes. Just that sense of enthusiasm to say ‘we’re back at Oshkosh,’ – that means so much to us.”
Knapinski also thanked everyone that was involved with making the show a success.
“We have to say thanks to so many people from the FAA to our volunteers, more than 5,000 of them, and the people of the Fox Valley who welcomed back the aviation community with open arms,” Knapinski said. “Oshkosh is known around the world in aviation as a place for the family reunion, and it held true in 2021.”
AirVenture 2022 will be held from July 25th-30th at Wittman Regional Airport, and those at EAA aren’t slacking in making sure it’s set to be another big event.
“Already starting to put those plans together. Some of those discussions took place this year about what airplanes could be coming in, what features and attractions might be coming around, and we’re already into that planning process,” Knapinski said.
They’re also planning to bring back the ‘One Week Wonder,’ where volunteers and visitors build a plane over the course of the week, which is then rolled out to fly for the crowd on the final day. That attraction was wildly popular in 2014 and 2018, and Knapinski expects it to see a lot of attention again next year. They’re building a small plane from an Oshkosh-based company, Sonex, next year.
