OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — Hitting a record attendance of over 700,000 visitors, EAA AirVenture 2025 is the first convention since 2022 to have zero fatal aircraft crashes.
- It was a clean week for EAA AirVenture 2025, with no reported aircraft crashes within EAA airspace.
- There were fatal crashes at EAA AirVenture in 2024 and 2023.
- EAA Communications states that they work to improve air traffic control processes annually.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story, edited for web)
On the Monday after EAA AirVenture, crews take down tents and displays, and the last remaining pilots take off.
“There’s nowhere like this in the world," pilot Josh Palmer says.
Palmer, originally from London, flew from Indiana last Sunday to attend his second-ever AirVenture.
He says landing during the convention is a new test.
“The first time doing it last year... you got planes going over you, planes slowing down in front, and I remember looking out my window, having four planes in front of me and thinking what am I doing," he says.
Watch the full broadcast story here:
With over 10,000 aircraft coming into Oshkosh during AirVenture, it’s the busiest airport in the world.
“It works," Palmer says. "I think you can only get away with it at Oshkosh.”
Previous NBC26 reporting found there have been 57 crashes in the EAA airspace in the past 52 years, including multiple fatal crashes occurring in the past two years in a row.
“You’re always looking at improvement– how do we get more effective, safer ways of getting people in here,"
director of EAA communications, Dick Knapinski, says.
Knapinski says while fatal crashes have occurred in recent years, a year without any crashes, like in 2025, isn't totally unusual.
"It's not unusual that it was a clean week all the way through," Knapinski says. "People see those kind of accidents that happened in 24 and 23, and those are kind of outliers."
Knapinski also says 70-80% of crashes are due to pilot error, so they try to prepare pilots as best they can.
“You have everything from the notice, which is the official FAA document that pilots are required to read, to videos... and there’s even a group that runs something called Simventure, where they can fly the approach on a flight simulator and talk to actual air traffic controllers," he says.
While there were no reported crashes this year within EAA airspace, a plane did crash in Minnesota on its way to AirVenture, killing one person.
And on Wednesday, an aircraft took off in the wrong direction, but it didn’t crash.
“I think the biggest thing for anybody is if you’re coming in, you need to know your aircraft," Palmer says. "It’s an adrenaline rush for sure, but it’s always safe and an amazing experience.”
