Readers Polarized On Masks, Vaccinations And Health Risks

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2016

With Sun 'n Fun and EAA AirVenture on the horizon, and with both being live events, that is, unless something drastic were to happen in the interim, we wanted to know where our readers stood on these two big airshows. The results we got weren't surprising overall, but there were some huge deltas in our readers' feelings about risk and personal health behavior.

For starters, based on the responses to our two separate questions about whether readers would attend Sun 'n Fun and/or AirVenture, the clear takeaway is that people are ready to get out there. More than a third of respondents said they were going to Sun 'n Fun and 10% were still thinking about it.

Respondents were even more excited about AirVenture, which will take place in late July, more than three months after Sun 'n Fun. Nearly half of the folks (46%) who filled out the survey said they were going to the air show in Oshkosh, and 21% were still considering it. We didn't ask (but maybe should have) if the later date on the calendar was a deciding factor for those who were skipping Lakeland's event but going to OSH. Then again, it might just be a measure of Oshkosh's greater popularity with pilots in general.

When it came to vaccinations, respondents were overwhelmingly for them. Sixty-eight percent of those who answered the question said that they were either fully vaccinated or halfway there. Another 13% said they just hadn't yet had the chance to get the shot, putting the total of respondents who seem pro-vaccine at an overwhelming 81%. Three percent declined to answer, and 16% said that they had made no plans to get vaccinated.

About a third of respondents said that if they were to attend a large air show, they would indeed be worried about catching the virus, and 14% responded that they were concerned about spreading it. About a quarter of our audience who responded were worried the events would suffer a great deal because of the pandemic. But nearly a third of respondents said that they had zero worries about attending.

When it came to mask-wearing behavior, the results were around two-thirds strongly pro-mask, saying that they'd either wear a mask regardless of requirements or do so willingly if required. Around 10% of respondents said they'd refuse to wear a mask, period, and anther 27% would wear it but wouldn't like it.

Just how this translates into behavior at these shows remains to be seen, but the results seem to suggest that there's the potential for conflict, both between attendees and organizers, and between attendees. We hope that doesn't happen, but Plane & Pilot will be at Sun 'n Fun, and we'll report on everything we see there.

And thanks to those of you who took the survey!

Plane & PilotStaff