Keep Oshkosh Weird. Five Things That Make AirVenture Irreplaceable.

It's hard for me to imagine what Oshkosh might be like for someone laying eyes on these hallowed grounds for the first time. Like a baseball fan passing through the turnstiles at Wrigley Field without knowing who Ernie Banks or what, "Let's play two," is all about. Or a visitor to Gettysburg who has no idea about the nature of the sacrifices made during the War Between the States. The stories that inform my sense of this place, Wittman Field, are many. Hell, I knew the brilliant Steve Wittman, inventor of landing gear and futuristic aircraft designs, and after whom the field is named. The actors, from Paul to Bob; the airplanes, Concorde the first Vari-Eze and the remarkable Eclipse jet. The lay of the land, the old tower, still there in my mind, the North 40, spread out at night, the voices of celebration and friendship wafting through the struts and tails of Stinsons and Cherokees. It's all deeply evocative of everything we all love about flying, chiefly, sharing our love of it with others.

With the passing of Tom Poberezny on the opening day of the show, there was a palpable collective gasp from so many people who had been here during his tenure (and sometimes before). It felt like the passing of an era. Tom left an indelible mark on everything here. The airshow itself is a development of the big ideas he brought to town. The EAA Air Museum was Tom's baby. And there are so many people, still in OSH or scattered working big jobs elsewhere, who point to Tom as a mentor and friend. Tom was driven, passionate and sometimes extremely headstrong. I once interviewed him pre-Oshkosh just to get his views on the upcoming show, the people and planes, and the state of EAA. It wasn't a puff piece, but rather, a conversation between people who knew each other well. Yet before the interview, he wanted to be certain that I spoke about all the great things about the fly-in, to cast in, as he saw it, its true glow. EAA was a life's work for him. And as we walk the grounds this year, we'd be right to think of him as we revel in the joy of this very special week.

One of the greatest things about this week is just how inclusive of the weird and wacky AirVenture has long been. The show exploded in popularity in the late '60s and early '70s, and the counterculture in the nation, and in aviation, was strong. People who flocked to aviation, the revolutionary designer Burt Rutan, who changed every paradigm he could; the early ultralight pioneers, who literally strapped chainsaw engines to their backs to go flying; the artists, like gifted writer Richard Bach and the ground-breaking photographer Russ Munson, to name a few of thousands, all came to aviation with the thought that things could be done differently, and they all did, creating and documenting the world of flight in a way that inspired hundreds of thousands of people to go flying, to come to Oshkosh, to do their part to change the status quo of wings and contrails. And all of this mixes with the peculiar midwestern charm of the city itself and the oddball character it brings to AirVenture, the yodeling wakeup call at 7 a.m. each day, the one-man band (gone for years now), the local flavors, the food, the beer, the brats. It all helps make this place different from any other place in the world, and I beg the powers to be to do everything they can to retain and promote the weirdness we all love so well.

One of the greatest things about EAA is its willingness to open its arms wide to new technologies, new ideas, new directions and new faces. The urban mobility movement, or whatever they're calling it these days, is a perfect case. It isn't part of what EAA has historically done because it's a brand-new segment. This is hardly new ground for EAA. It has embraced new technologies for decades. From composite construction, which made many old timers clutch their beads in horror, to ultralights, "Not real airplanes," they cried! Diesels and jets and electrics, jet packs and canards and! well, you get the idea. OSH is all about embracing the entire aviation universe. Yay!

Part of this openness on the part of EAA to embrace change is embracing new faces. If aviation is to grow, and us long-time fliers ain't getting any younger, then we need young people to step up as the greatest generation who hangs up their headsets. That means kids, yes! But it also means women---EAA has been boosters of women pilots for more than a decade now, and its annual WomenVenture initiative is huge and is responsible for getting the interest of so many young women and girls, including a large number of women of color. Breaking down those traditional barriers to flight has to be part of a thriving future for AirVenture, and for all of aviation.