Some Oshkosh Attendance Info

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woxof

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woxof
From a written source that gives a bit more of the picture(more crowds, less good stuff)......

"For example let’s look at that “State Fair” of aviation events, AirVenture. First I’m always amused how the press (aviation & otherwise) reports over 10,000 airplanes attending without printing the whole statement....More than 10,000 aircraft arrived at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh and other airports in east-central Wisconsin each year. However if you dig deeper into the EAA’s own yearly, official, and published statistics you’ll find the following.... Since 2023 showplanes (homebuilt, vintage, warbird etc.) attendance has dropped 25%, Vintage aircraft attendance has dropped 33.6%, and homebuilt attendance has dropped 14.8%. However attendance (people & campers) figures have set new records yearly."
 
Not a chance that attendance has dropped that much. They've added entire new areas like the South 40 and an area just South of Ultralights. Last year, the South 40 might have been halfway full, this year it was full all the way to fence.

Vintage hasn't dropped even a little bit. They fill the entire area and start sending Vintage planes to other areas.
 
Agree with Jack. Although this year there was a noticeable drop in E-AB attendance, N40 was at its usual capacity (not sure about S40 as I never made it down there), and Scholler was packed. Not sure about Vintage but from my cursory observation I seriously doubt it dropped by 33%. Overall, it was a good year for attendance by aircraft and people— maybe not a record breaker but solid nevertheless. I wonder what the point this “written source” was trying to make, for example referring to Osh as “that State Fair” of aviation events. Seems like they some sort of ax to grind.
 
Homebuilt camping/parking was down this year. Nothing else seemed to take a downward turn, IMO.
 
IDK.. This year I arrived on Monday after the airshow and my parking spot was about 3 rows from the south 40 fence; I have a hard time believing aircraft attendance declined that significantly!
I'd be interested in hearing what that source is, or seeing the official EAA numbers that it is citing...
 
ateamer said:
So what is this “written source”?
Click to expand...
I would tell you if it was relevant but the source appears to state that the information is from EAA itself. Did EAA publish this information?

If people really, really want the source, I might give it. It was an article analyzing why there are less people getting involved in aviation from being involved in historic aircraft.
 
Was there any discussion or details about LENGTH of stay?
Are more aircraft/people coming for less time?
Fewer for more time?

Especially without knowing the source and the full context of the quote, it's very hard to attach much credence to these numbers. (Of course, the superficial public EAA attendance info may not be triple-audited and guaranteed, either.)
 
woxof said:
I would tell you if it was relevant but the source appears to state that the information is from EAA itself. Did EAA publish this information?

If people really, really want the source, I might give it. It was an article analyzing why there are less people getting involved in aviation from being involved in historic aircraft.
Click to expand...
Without attribution and access to the entire article, it lacks credibility.
 
woxof said:
I would tell you if it was relevant but the source appears to state that the information is from EAA itself. Did EAA publish this information?

If people really, really want the source, I might give it. It was an article analyzing why there are less people getting involved in aviation from being involved in historic aircraft.
Click to expand...
I've never seen EAA publish specifics stats on each aircraft category, just the rollup--however I've never gone looking for it either. Although I know for a fact they do capture it. I would be hesitant to infer direct health of any aspect of GA based upon raw AirVenture stats but I could see if you pulled enough years' worth of data, accounted for external variables like weather, national economic conditions during each show, etc, it could correlate to actual trends in the community. Comparing just the current year to the previous year, not so much.
 
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I'm confused. Most of you say you didn't go to x and y, so how can you possibly make a statement on overall attendance numbers?
 
Regarding 2025, there were a ton of what I will say were “blocking” weather patterns that impacted fly-in aircraft attendance.
 
All I know is that N40 was full EARLY. A group of us arrive on Thursday before the show. Only time to arrive if you ask me
 
OP, you're not gonna get buy-in from this cohort that recreational GA is not growing. But that kerfuffle is moot, because an event like OSH is not representative of the economic conditions that drive the proliferation (or lack thereof) of recreational aviation across all corners of the country, especially adjusted for population inflation. It's just a marquee pilgrimage of self-selection bias, again no different than any other concert or county fair. Not really a useful metric to evaluate participation interest within a municipality, let alone a Country.
 
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