Story ID: 
Annual AirVenture Extravaganza Just Days Away
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: EAA AirVenture Oshkosh opens on July 25, welcoming visitors and thousands of aircraft from all over the world.
Word Count: 316
Fliers,campers and visitors on all kinds of conveyances are dodging summer heat and thunderstorms on their way to the biggest airshow in the world: the annual EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wis., which opens on Monday, July 25. For many visitors, this year the long-promised visit to the nearby Lake Winnebago Seaplane Base will finally come to fruition as they gather to goggle at the world’s largest flying boat—the massive Martin Mars. 

Big airplanes seem to be a theme this year, and the AirVenture ramp will feature a Cathay Pacific 747-8, C-5 Galaxy, the CAF B-29 “Fifi,” NASA’s Super Guppy, a FedEx 767 and JetBlue A321. Visitors are also looking forward to a rare gathering of Spartan Executives, a 1930s all-metal, retractable-gear traveling machine, as well as a showing of North American F-86 Sabre jets.

On Tuesday evening (July 26), five finalists will present their technological solutions to prevent loss-of-control-in-flight (LOCI) accidents, vying for the $25,000 Founders Innovation grand prize and $10,000 and $5,000 second- and third-place prizes. 

AirVenture isn’t just all aeronautical hardware, but a celebration of flight, and on Thursday July 28 at 2:15 p.m., actor and pilot Harrison Ford will take 16-year-old Jodie Gawthrop for her first flight, representing the two millionth EAA Young Eagle. The Young Eagles program was launched 24 years ago to introduce young people to aviation, and Ford served as program chairman from 2004 to 2009.

Of course there is much more to AirVenture, including thousands of aircraft from warbirds to ultralights, the annual Gathering of Eagles fundraiser, nightly concerts, two night airshows with fireworks (Wednesday, July 27, and Saturday, July 30), the Valdez STOL Invitational on the ultralight airstrip, commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, a gathering of aircraft of Desert Storm, daily airshows, warbird and helicopter rides, a public meeting with FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and forums on almost every aeronautical subject.