EAA Air Venture Oshkosh 2023

[ChargerF18]

Word on the street is that the military teams want to fly more but EAA is limiting their participation. But thank god we get two Stearman aerobatic demos on the same day!

I was very surprised to see the grounds so full this morning when I arrived. It is definitely following the trend of people getting to Oshkosh earlier each year and then also leaving earlier.

Traffic was relatively light before a storm moved in around 2pm. I left so didn't see any arrivals after that point.

Here's Part 1 of the arrivals I did see:

I just don’t get why EAA to a certain point looks down on Military performances. Isn’t EAA an Aviation Celebration, that would include the Military, correct?? Why can’t they find a happy medium and evenly mix the military with the civilian and warbird acts. It’s not like the military demos aren’t flying their full demos anyway because of the aerobatic box. Just my opinion…..

[Rodan]

I think EAA's reluctance to accept military demo teams is due to the size of the acrobatic "box" required.

The Blue Angles apparently pursued this a few years ago and it was determined that residents in certain homes around the airport would need to vacate during the airshow. I don't know if the idea was pursued afterwards. The result, as I recall, was that a single F/A 18 visited the show and was on static display.

Agree with the comments about the Stearmann demos.....

srd

[Dan Gagnon]

Look no further then how they "celebrated" the 75th anniversary of the USAF. There was so much potential for that celebration and it ended up celebrating how awesome the Navy is lol

It's honestly mind blowing that the military WANTS to participate more, and they get denied.

[sean0471]

Does anyone have an up-to-date spreadsheet or list of statics, Boeing plaza aircraft, and airshow performers?
Feels like this year has been pretty chaotic and messy as far as schedules and aircraft go. Lots of last-minute changes cancellations and schedule updates I cant keep track of.

[claybird]

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I think EAA's reluctance to accept military demo teams is due to the size of the acrobatic "box" required.

The Blue Angles apparently pursued this a few years ago and it was determined that residents in certain homes around the airport would need to vacate during the airshow. I don't know if the idea was pursued afterwards. The result, as I recall, was that a single F/A 18 visited the show and was on static display.

Agree with the comments about the Stearmann demos.....

srd

The Blue ANGELS flew their entire demo profile at EAA 2017.

Not that it's what Oshkosh is really for, but they were there and they did it.

[kalamazookid]

Unpopular opinion here, but I have absolutely zero interest in the Blues or Thunderbirds performing at Oshkosh, or even having a larger aerobatic box for jets. The effects of having the larger aerobatic box on the crowd line are totally undesirable for me. Pushing the crowd line back to where it needs to be while having the crowd in an area that already has a ton of foot traffic is utterly miserable and takes away a lot of what makes an airshow at Oshkosh special. The national jet teams fly at 30+ airshows a year. It isn't like their appearance would be something rare or unique that isn't done anywhere else. The single-ship demos can put on a fun show with flat passes in afterburner. It's fine.

My frustration with Oshkosh continues to be that they put too many of the same type of acts in the same airshow and then don't leave enough time for the truly unique aircraft to fly. I don't need to see an Edge 540, Extra 300 and Gamebird do the same maneuvers back-to-back-to-back. I don't need to see multiple little red airplanes cut a ribbon inverted in the same afternoon. I don't need a dozen passes from warbird formations at 1500 feet (or higher) while a rare fighter only gets two or three passes in front of the crowd. Prioritize the unique aircraft and space the similar acts out better throughout the week.

That said, Oshkosh has to try to be a little of something for everyone. There are sponsors, etc. that have to be kept happy and that effects what will fly in the show. That's reality and it probably isn't changing. It's never going to be a majority military or warbird airshow. That isn't what Oshkosh is. It doesn't really matter if the military wants to fly more. I'm sure if you asked IAC, Warbirds, Homebuilts, Vintage and every other interest represented at Oshkosh, they would want to be featured more, too. This isn't just an airshow. It's a product showcase, a showcase for different areas of EAA, a membership meeting, and a million other things. It's unrealistic to think that one particular aspect of aviation is going to be shoved to the forefront. EAA exists to promote general aviation, not the military. Much as I'd love to see the afternoon show feature more military and warbirds, it's probably not going to happen.

Last point - I think a lot of people here get unrealistic expectations about what theme announcements mean and there are certain people at EAA driving the hype train who don't help. Celebration of [insert anniversary here] doesn't mean it's the primary theme of the airshow all week, no matter what the PR or hype train tells you. It just means that anniversary is going to be acknowledged in some way. That might just mean a fly-by or a short airshow segment along with programmatic elements elsewhere like Fly-In Theatre, Warbird Alley, etc. We've seen this repeatedly. If you see a significant warbird theme on the schedule, it's probably only going to be a central feature of the airshow one day. They're still going to do the arrival show, L-bird day, jet day, etc. and those aren't going anywhere. If you see a special military celebration announced, it's probably going to be the typical military appearances with an "anniversary celebration" label slapped on it. We've seen repeatedly how this works and we still get wild rumors every year.

Sorry for the long rant. I'm not even going this year, but I am getting major FOMO from this thread and the EAA live cams. Hope everyone going enjoys the show and I will look forward to your pictures and video!

[Adambadger88]

Spoke with Randy Ball earlier about the Mig flight on Saturday night. Him and Rook Isaacman (Mig 29) are going to be doing some 2 ship formation passes. Dan Filer (Mig 23) isn't formation rated yet so he'll just be doing solo passes.

Stay safe,
Josh Walker

Do you know the arrival days and times for these performers?

[Waka Photography]

Spoke with Randy Ball earlier about the Mig flight on Saturday night. Him and Rook Isaacman (Mig 29) are going to be doing some 2 ship formation passes. Dan Filer (Mig 23) isn't formation rated yet so he'll just be doing solo passes.

Stay safe,
Josh Walker

Do you know the arrival days and times for these performers?

Unsure on arrivals. I should've thought to ask, so my bad!

Stay safe,
Josh Walker

[RyanS]

Spoke with Randy Ball earlier about the Mig flight on Saturday night. Him and Rook Isaacman (Mig 29) are going to be doing some 2 ship formation passes. Dan Filer (Mig 23) isn't formation rated yet so he'll just be doing solo passes.

Stay safe,
Josh Walker

Do you know the arrival days and times for these performers?

Randy is already here I think?
The Mig23 should arrive Monday
Mig29 and Polaris are apparently arriving Thursday during the airshow

[RyanS]

Part 2 of Saturday arrivals