It feels like I just did a review on the 2024 fly-in and now I’m here writing about the 2025 one. Time really does fly when it comes to this event. For the event, it was another record breaking year in a few different metrics that EAA follows and posts. The major one I always see is the steady rise in attendance. EAA posted a new record of 704,000 individuals in attendance across the week long event. To see an average of 100,000 people attending any given day is absolutely incredible. Also, the event had an increase of 120 exhibitors from the previous year which is just insane. That many vendors just speaks volumes to how well the general and commercial sectors are received at the event. Let us get into some aspects of the airshow!

Static displays this year were superb. The main one for me this year was the Pratt and Whitney 747SP test platform to help celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Pratt. It was real nice seeing this platform working for a sister company under the RTX umbrella. A rare treat for the static ramp was the only DC-8 flying in the United States. Owned by Samaritan’s Purse, the aircraft is their crown jewel for humanitarian aid. Unfortunately, the DC-8 is on limited time as it is being retired by the end of this year. The military brought out some rare pieces for static display. The main military aircraft was the U-2S Dragon Lady. Seeing a U-2 up close on the ground rarely happens nowadays outside military bases. One major showing from the Marines were bringing three AV-8B Harrier IIs from VMA-223 “Bulldogs”. Knowing that their squadron is the last one flying Harriers and are set to be retired at some point mid 2026 makes seeing these that much better. One final static that caught my eye and excited me was finally seeing a C-2 Greyhound. Those aircraft are also extremely close to retiring so seeing one was a real treat. Other military statics included your normal C-130 (Arkansas ANG), C17 (Alaska ANG), KC-135 (Wisconsin ANG), KC-46 (Pease AFB), F-15 (Massachusetts ANG), F-16 (Minnesota ANG), F-35 (Wisconsin ANG), T-38 (Beale AFB) Warbirds had a good selection this year. Rob Lewis brought the Constellation back which is always a showpiece. Along with that, Lewis brought his cats up for round to of the Flight of the Cats. Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation brough their C-54 which was nice as I have not seen one before. Some other warbirds graced Boeing plaza as a day stint before being returned to Warbird Alley to either fly or be static there. There were a few commercial aircraft on display courtesy of Alaska Airlines, Delta Airlines and American Airlines for the Honor Flight.

The flying display throughout the week gave us our normal AirVenture civilian acts which are all staples of AirVenture. The one special thing they did was on the Monday show when Mike Goulian, Kyle Fowler, Nate Hammond, and Bill Stein flew a four ship formation to honor the passing of fellow aerobatic pilot Rob Holland who was tragically lost a few months earlier at an airshow. They also honored Rob during the firework display on both Wednesday and Saturday nights. The military had several demo teams there this year. Those included the USAF F-22 and F-35A teams along with the USMC F-35B and Navy F-18 teams. Military heavies included the joint KC-46 and C-17 demos. Other military assets included a B-1 Lancer flyby and a 4 ship A-10 CAS demo. The Wisconsin Air National Guard continued their major support of the event by doing a full field assault demo. The warbirds had a strong showing during the week flying. Between the specialized demos like the Class of 45 to Randy Ball and Ace Maker, warbirds left their mark this year. The main attraction was catching the Military Aviation Museum’s Me-262 replica making its first appearance to AirVenture. We were lucky enough to catch it during both the daily airshow and the twilight show where the sun provided perfect lighting. The Flight of the Cats made its second appearance this year and flew two times during the week. Then the main warbird portion on Friday and Saturday saw a little bit of everything from early WWII to the fast jets. A few of the Polaris Dawn mission also showed up. The nice thing at the writing of the article, Jared Isaacman (the leader of the Polaris Dawn mission and owner/operator of the MiG-29) is being considered to be the next NASA Administrator. I do hope he is accepted by the Senate as he would fill that role extremely well. For the more commercial and private sector, there were several showcases throughout the week. Amphibious, homebuilt, electric-based, and innovations in aviation are the main ones set on certain days during the week. Unfortunately, I missed most of these showcases during to arrangements with warbird operators but I did get to catch the BETA demo. This is a cool aircraft company that has several backers including two branches of the US military and UPS. The aircraft they demonstrated was their ALIA CTOL which is their conventional takeoff and landing platform. They also offer a Vertical takeoff and landing version as well.

‍Taking a walk around the grounds, you’ll find anything you want and more. Head south and you’ll enter the vintage area the ultralights and eventually the South 40 GAP/GAC and to the north, you’ll see homebuilt, racers, warbirds, the forum and workshop buildings and then the North 40 GAP/GAC. Anything from the main gate to Boeing Plaza is all exhibitors. If there is one thing I can tell people, it would be just go explore the grounds. You’ll never be able to see everything in one day. It’s hard enough to see everything if you attend the whole week. I spend multiple days in warbirds and vintage just exploring the rows and rows of aircraft and talking to their owners. I’ll spend a whole day walking through all the exhibitors which is always fun because there is everything you can find that has to do with aviation.

Here is my yearly ratings of what I saw throughout my week long venture on the grounds. The static displays were a strong A- in my eyes. EAA brought in a lot of heritage painted birds and special warbirds throughout the week. The ramp seemed a little barren at times but going back to having 100,000 people on any given day kind of limits the space they want to fill with aircraft. The flying display would get an A- also. The only reason I give it that rating is my continued issue with the warbird portion. This year was better than in years past but I believe it could be better. I’m still not a huge fan of the grouping they do each day and wish they would do a larger pool of aircraft each day instead of waiting for the end of the week. Military displays were very good. The F-35B demo was probably the highlight of this section. I have never heard a louder aircraft than listening to it perform its hover demo. Civilian demonstrations are always top tier year in and year out. My favorite this year was Paul Bennet and his Wolf Pitts Pro. He is a airshow performer from Australia and was the first Australian to be a part of the daily airshow schedule. Overall, I would rate AirVenture an A+ with the added bonus of being in the campground with 10,000 other people throughout the week. I would always recommend camping over finding a hotel offsite. The great vibes that you feel on the grounds extends into the campground where you will find people from all walks of life having a great time forgetting whatever life challenges they could be facing to focus on the fun spirit of aviation!

I look forward to seeing what EAA can do next year for America’s 250th anniversary. I believe they can go all out with the connections they have to bring AirVenture to an even higher tier than they already are on. ICAS is in four months of me writing this and that’ll give us a great foundation to what we will see for 2026. So before you know it, we all be gathering on those hallowed grounds once more and enjoy all that is aviation related! See you in the campground and airshow grounds next year!