world with more takeoffs and land-
ings than even Chicago O’Hare. In
2019, AirVenture experienced nearly
20,000 aircraft operations aver-
aging about 134 each hour while
slightly more than 600,000 men,
women and children from around
the world passed beneath the show’s
famous welcome arch. Forty thou-
sand of the show’s visitors lived in
more than 12,300 campgroundson the field during AirVenture and
viewed some of the 1,500 educa-
tional sessions presented to more
than 75,000 people.
What began in 1953 as a get-to-
gether for homebuilt-aircraft enthu-
siasts and a handful of unique aircraft
quickly grew into a show that wel-
comed flying machines of a every cat-
egory. It’s not unusual to see an Airbus
A380 arrive early in the week just beforea flight of F-35s stops by for a visit,
afterburners roaring with warbirds and
helicopters in between. Early on, the
show gained a reputation as a .family-
and aviation-friendly event as well as
being the cleanest airshow anywhere
where everyone is expected to clean
up after themselves.
Whether visitors camp on the
airport grounds, or take advantage
of local hotels or bed-and-breakfast
facilities, the most memorable part
of AirVenture is joining the mad
rush of daily arrivals where aircraft
tail numbers become irrelevant.
Listen to OSH tower on the radio,
and you’ll hear them clearing the
blue Piper, a red Cessna or maybe
even the B-25 on base. Just be sure
to bring a camera and some folding
chairs to watch the daily airshows
(ea a .or g /en/a i r vent u re).There were many more destinations we
would have liked to include, but space
was limited. So write and tell us about
some of the best places you’ve visited
in your airplane. Send us a few pic-
tures too, and we’ll share them on our
Facebook and Instagram feeds. Send
letters to edit@f lyingmag.com.A PRIVATE PILOT’S CERTIFICATE AND AN AIRPLANE OPEN
UP A WEALTH OF GREAT PLACES TO VISIT THAT JUST
AREN’T ACCESSIBLE ON THE AIRLINES.