EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In) is an annual gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport (43°59′04″N 088°33′25″W) in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States. The airshow is sponsored by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), an international organization based in Oshkosh, and is the largest of its kind in the world. The show lasts a week, usually beginning on the last Monday in July. During the gathering, the airport's control tower is the busiest in the world.
EAA was founded in Hales Corners, Wisconsin in 1953 by Paul Poberezny, who originally started the organization in the basement of his home for builders and restorers of recreational aircraft. Although homebuilding is still a large part of the organization's activities, it has grown to include almost every aspect of recreational aviation and aeronautics. The first EAA fly-in was held in September 1953 at what is now Timmerman Field as a small part of the Milwaukee Air Pageant, fewer than 150 people registered as visitors the first year and only a handful of airplanes attended the event. In 1959, the EAA fly-in grew too large for the Air Pageant and moved to Rockford, Illinois. In 1970, when it outgrew its facilities at the Rockford airport, it moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
image:Flickr
The EAA estimated the attendance in 2014 at over 500,000, with 2,081 visitors registered from 69 nations. There were approximately 10,000 aircraft, 2,000 show planes, and over 900 media representatives on-site from five continents, along with 790 commercial exhibitors.
In the past, attendance at the event is tabulated on daily basis rather than an individual basis. For example, in 2006 theOshkosh Northwestern reported that attendance was estimated at 625,000 by the EAA. The estimate was for total attendees each day, so one person attending 7 days would count as 7 attendees. The paper estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 individuals attended the event. It is unclear whether this practice still exists at EAA Airventure.
image:Flickr
The large number of aircraft arrivals and departures during the fly-in week makes the Wittman Field FAA Control Tower the busiest in the world for that week in number of movements. To accommodate the huge flow of aircraft around the airport and the nearby airspace, a special NOTAM is published each year, choreographing the normal and emergency procedures to follow. More than 4,000 volunteers contribute approximately 250,000 hours before, during and after the event
Control tower decorated with banner proclaiming “World's Busiest Control Tower” –image:Wikipedia
The EAA AirVenture fly-in has a large economic impact to the Oshkosh area as well as the state of Wisconsin. In 1982, theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the fly-in had a large economic benefit to the Fox Valley region. At the time EAA estimated the benefit to be around $30 million ($73.6 million in today's terms) and the Oshkosh Convention and Tourism bureau estimated it to be lower, at $21 million ($51.5 million today). In 1989, the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce said that Winnebago county had a $47 million benefit from the fly in. Additionally, a 1987 UW-Oshkosh study reported a $65 million ($135 million in today's dollars) benefit to the entire state of Wisconsin
image:Flickr
This year EAA AirVenture Oshkosh will be held from July 25 to 31.
USA Records Organization_USKINGS are still collecting more information from many sources and it is our pleasure listening to everybody's comments to have a full evaluation of the USA Around You:' EAA AirVenture Oshkosh-America’s largest airshow '
According to Wikipedia
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