OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) – Airplanes of all types will soon be flying high in the sky above Oshkosh getting ready to land at Whitman Regional Airport for the 65th year of EAA AirVenture.
Event spokesman Dick Knapinski says they had arrivals as early as Thursday preparing for the annual air show.
“We had some regular small aircraft come in, 2-4 passenger, a few ultralights come in, and then on the other end of the spectrum the B-52 Bomber landed,” said Knapinski.
More than 55 of the nation’s finest air traffic controllers will be working the weeklong event.
“For air traffic controllers, it really is a badge of honor to say I got one of the pink polo shirts and I’m one of the Oshkosh controllers,” explained Knapiniski.
The FAA receives hundreds of applications with only the best controllers being selected to work the event.
Despite the high velocity of air traffic coming ‘in and out’ of airport, Knapinski says it’s surprising calm inside the control tower.
“Everybody has their job. Everybody knows what’s going on and the airplanes are actually sequenced to make a safe landing.”
As many as 8 controllers will be in the tower at a time working the event especially during the peak hours.
Some of those peak hours are coming up this weekend when all the aircraft are arriving to Oshkosh.
“During the peak days, we’ll have 3,300 aircraft operations taking place and that is in a 14 hour day because the airport is closed from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.,” Knapinski said.
More than a half million people will attend and more than 10 thousand airplanes will be visiting the region.
The EAA AirVenture takes place July 24-30.
Find more details on the event at www.eaa.org.
