Oshkosh 2017 attendance.

How was the attendance at OSH this year?

  • More people attended than ever before

    Votes: 21 42.0%

  • Not as many people this year

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • About the same

    Votes: 10 20.0%

  • VERY light this year compared to previous years

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • I'm not sure

    Votes: 17 34.0%
  • Total voters
    50
FloridaPilot

FloridaPilot

Pattern Altitude
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
2,456
Location
Florida
Display Name
Display name:
FloridaStudentPilot
I like to get a feel of how General Aviation is doing by watching the attendance of OSH every year. From those who attended how do you think attendance was this year?
 
Seemed like more than in recent years. Just judging by the parking lots and such. EAA sent out a tweet about traffic yesterday and said they hadn't had such an issue for many years.
 
The weather was perfect - probably the best in the history of the OSH event. My observation was that attendance was up.
 
EppyGA said:
Seemed like more than in recent years. Just judging by the parking lots and such. EAA sent out a tweet about traffic yesterday and said they hadn't had such an issue for many years.
Click to expand...

Largest crowds I've seen in years. More importantly, there were but a handful of vendor sites available, even after moving the airlines, universities to another area.

Parking: absolutely packed, even in the new south 40 area.

I'd say that compared to the last decade or so, the crowd was larger, more enthused, and spending more money on everything, than in years past. Draw your own conclusions, but that is not just confined to aviation this summer.
 
EAA will publish its version of the statistics later this week. Check the website then.
 
We came in a little after 9:00 am Thursday morning and they were already parking in the Grey lot.
 
Badger said:
Reports of 600,000+
http://fox11online.com/news/local/fox-cities/closing-day-eaa-reports-record-attendance

I heard the 600k figure while I was there Saturday.
Click to expand...

I am not shocked by this at all. When we arrived at noon on Monday Camp Schoeller was already 90%+ full. Yesterday EAA said they had to mow more areas for both drive and and fly in camping/parking as the week went. This morning they tweeted that as of last night ATC had more than 1,000 more ops than last years 15k.
 
Hadn't been there in at least 5 years; I didn't remember the a/c parking at the far S end, and it seems like RV camping/parking is surrounding the place.
Really need to compare aerial photos on the same day and time between years or....does someone not count the landings?
 
Th
Let'sgoflying! said:
Hadn't been there in at least 5 years; I didn't remember the a/c parking at the far S end, and it seems like RV camping/parking is surrounding the place.
Really need to compare aerial photos on the same day and time between years or....does someone not count the landings?
Click to expand...
they even opened up a new field for camping. Private camping/parking across from the red barn said they were the busiest in years, when I left Friday.
 
That link appears to be about something else, didn't see anything about a crash at OSH.
 
ChemGuy said:
...especially from the Sos bros tent.
Click to expand...

Like this?

thirsty.jpg


I mean, there obviously couldn't have been anything else at the SOS tent that you'd be interested in seeing, right?:rolleyes:
 
good news is....the fatals are down from last year....even with the increased volumes.
 
I've now been to Oshkosh 35 years in a row. This was the biggest attendance in years.

We flew in a few hours earlier than usual, at 10 AM on the Sunday morning before the show started, and were stunned to be parked way out on the North side of RWY 27 in the North 40. We are usually parked near the showers on the South side of the runway by arriving at that time of day!

The attendance kept building all week, and never let up. Our area was full all the way through Saturday, which is very unusual. Things often get sparse by Thursday, but not this year! It was fantastic.

I've heard four theories for this amazing surge, coming during an otherwise down time for GA:

1. The Trump Effect. I heard this from several people. The stock market is way up, and people are feeling flush.

2. The Blue Angels. Friday and Saturday were INSANELY busy on the field.

3. Perfect weather. We flew up and back from the Texas Gulf Coast (a week apart!) without barely seeing a cloud. The temps were PERFECT -- cool at night, warm during the day, with low humidity.

4. Doc and Fifi. To see TWO B-29s flying was incredible. To see them flying with the modern bombers was awesome.

It was an amazing week -- the best, ever. The enthusiasm and optimism of the event will carry me through the rest of the year!

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
 
Jay Honeck said:
I've now been to Oshkosh 35 years in a row. This was the biggest attendance in years.

We flew in a few hours earlier than usual, at 10 AM on the Sunday morning before the show started, and were stunned to be parked way out on the North side of RWY 27 in the North 40. We are usually parked near the showers on the South side of the runway by arriving at that time of day!

The attendance kept building all week, and never let up. Our area was full all the way through Saturday, which is very unusual. Things often get sparse by Thursday, but not this year! It was fantastic.

I've heard four theories for this amazing surge, coming during an otherwise down time for GA:

1. The Trump Effect. I heard this from several people. The stock market is way up, and people are feeling flush.

2. The Blue Angels. Friday and Saturday were INSANELY busy on the field.

3. Perfect weather. We flew up and back from the Texas Gulf Coast (a week apart!) without barely seeing a cloud. The temps were PERFECT -- cool at night, warm during the day, with low humidity.

4. Doc and Fifi. To see TWO B-29s flying was incredible. To see them flying with the modern bombers was awesome.

It was an amazing week -- the best, ever. The enthusiasm and optimism of the event will carry me through the rest of the year!

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Great meeting you and your wife Jay! I was the guy meandering by your tent carrying a 12 pack of light beer. FYI for everyone else....be prepared for a good ribbing from virtually everyone when you drink light beer at OSH! All in good fun. Looking forward to next year!
 
I heard some real estate developer said, "Never in the history of stuff have more people gathered on one planet for the sole purpose of inauguarating a new week of fun and flying. Believe me, this thing was YEWGE! People are talking about, it's gonna be great. There's no indication whatsoever that Russia had anything to do with it. Trust me."
 
Camp Scholler was fuller than I've ever seen it. Aircraft parking in all areas was fuller than I've ever seen it. And when the Blues were flying, the masses of people watching were the biggest I've ever seen.

EAA is running on all cylinders, we're probably at a peak economically, and with all the bombers and the Blues, it was a great year for Oshkosh.
 
Ravioli said:
They are a forgiving bunch. My Miller Lite sin from last year has been forgotten.
Click to expand...

I'd drink it. And I don't care if there's haters. ML is the go to beer for cheap beer while fishing. Dad used to joke that he kept it in his fridge because that way he could offer everyone a beer and there were no takers, so more for him.
 
denverpilot said:
I'd drink it. And I don't care if there's haters. ML is the go to beer for cheap beer while fishing. Dad used to joke that he kept it in his fridge because that way he could offer everyone a beer and there were no takers, so more for him.
Click to expand...

I have the same experiences with my PBRs Nate. No one drinks it. So it's all mineeeeeeeeeeeee! :goofy:
 
Rob58 said:
The weather was perfect - probably the best in the history of the OSH event...
Click to expand...

All you folks who attended Jay's H.O.P.S party must have been too ****ed to notice the Wednesday night downpour. ;)
 
I can't really say, I believe those who said attendance was up. I came in later than I ever have, so I've no comparison. I wouldn't be surprised if it was though. Energy prices are still low, so the economy is doing well, folks have money and want too ave some fun with it.
 
There was a lot of serious convective to the west and south of OSH on the Friday before show opening. The airport was IFR for a while on Saturday morning. The rush early Saturday afternoon over Ripon, after things cleared up a bit, was classic Oshkosh. Some of the best entertainment of the whole show if one had a handheld radio, a lawn chair and a cooler full of beer!

Things were so soggy, for the first time ever I put the Aztec on the plywood pads to keep it from sinking. Everyone in the twin row was having to drive their airplane's onto the pads; they all sank enough right after shutdown that they couldn't be pulled up on them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top