OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — EAA AirVenture wrapped up Sunday in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with preliminary statistics showing the world's largest airshow broke an attendance record, drawing about 730,000 people.
Visitors from 90 countries were represented at this year's event, according to EAA CEO Jack Pelton. Despite the record-breaking crowd, Pelton said the numbers are not the focus.
"We're not chasing numbers. We're not chasing how many people can we get in here. We really want to deliver on what our mission is all about. Anybody that's interested in aviation or wants to become an aviation enthusiast, they can come here and we'll provide the canvas with all the right things on that canvas to do just that," Pelton said.
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Among the roughly 730,000 attendees was Octavio Davila, 62, who said he had dreamed of attending EAA AirVenture since he was 28 years old. This year, he finally made it.
"I'm an old bird. I'm an old school mechanic, so I wanted to see the new technology and I'm amazed. I'm blown away. Electric aircrafts are coming out, so I wanted to see the array of those airplanes," Davila said.
For others, Saturday's night show was the highlight of the week. Attendee Nick Beaudri pointed to the grand finale as the standout moment of his AirVenture experience.
"The highlight of EAA was watching the grand finale at the night air show. The lasers going off, the drones, the airplanes flying around with fireworks coming off of them. I mean, it just doesn't get more intense than that," Beaudri said.
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