For many (maybe most) pilots and airplane owners who attend the summer festival known as AirVenture, it’s a vacation. It’s a chance to sit around in folding chairs in front of airplanes with a few friends and talk aviation while sipping a cold beverage. It’s watching airshows, wandering around to see other people’s airplanes, and maybe doing a little shopping to see what’s new. Oh, how I wish for an AirVenture week like that!
For many of us, AirVenture is a week full of scheduled presentations, meetings, seminars, forums – and receptions. Lots of receptions. AirVenture is the aviation business community’s annual chance to make connections, find out what’s going on, and (for media types) fill our notebooks with ideas of things we need to write about and cover in the coming year. It’s a non-stop job from sunup (which happens about 0530) until sundown…and beyond.
But the “busy-ness” of AirVenture isn’t just for those “in the business” – it’s also non-stop work for the thousands of volunteers that make the event happen. Many of those volunteers showed up at the beginning of July (or earlier) to mow grass, repair buildings and infrastructure, and unpack and set up all the elements that make the grounds ready for 650,000 of their closest friends.
This year, I’d like to give you a peek behind a single curtain (mine) at the life inside the event. I’ll get my chance to enjoy some comradeship, of course, but you’ll also see what happens when you oversubscribe yourself to give seminars, do a few book signings, are expected to attend three simultaneous “Props and Hops” events – and then have to write about it when you get back to the rental house so that there’s something to populate the web page in the morning – for the thousands of people who couldn’t make it to Wisconsin for the week but want to follow along and get the feel for it.
Don’t feel sorry for me – even when I might complain a little. Being a part of this massive migration of aviators is a treat, and I get to see it from a unique perspective straddling the volunteer, paid professional, and personal attendee communities. While I only occasionally do the work of a REAL volunteer at the show – the many folks who stand in the hot sun to park airplanes, or cart water around from place to place so everyone stays hydrated – I have done my share of work for EAA headquarters as a member of the Homebuilt Council and now as an adjunct to the Safety Committee. I’ll take you into the world of the aviation media (hand sanitizer recommended…) to show you what it’s like to “cover” the event and squirrel away story ideas I think our readers will find interesting. And sure – I’ll hopefully attend some events as simply an “attendee” and if my wildest dreams come true, I’ll sit by the runway and watch some arrivals for a little while.
But first – we have to get there.
