Top 5 Things We Look Forward to at Oshkosh

The expanding FLYING Media Group team has been on site at EAA AirVenture for the past couple of days putting together our new outdoor media hub (display sites 439/440 between the control tower and the flightline) and gearing up to report on the big stories for the week.

You’ll hear from the breaking news masters at AVweb.com as well as detailed analysis on FLYING’s digital site, while Plane & Pilot and ByDanJohnson report on affordable aviation. The investigative team at Aviation Consumer will be on the lookout for new products to test, and folks at KITPLANES, Aviation Safety, and IFR Magazine will seek out enterprise stories for future issues.

Stop by FLYING’s on-site HQ to say hello to the team delivering FLYING’s aviation marketplace, Aircraft For Sale and BusinessAIR, too.

In the meantime, here are the top five things we’re looking forward to seeing at the show.

Textron Aviation normally brings eight or nine aircraft to display—and in the past several years, it has counted amongst those the mockup intended to represent its latest bid into the single-engine turboprop market, the Denali. Well, this year, instead of a very nice simulation, we get to see one of the test articles in real life.

Several other OEMs will debut “first looks” at the latest models, including the HondaJet Elite II, which will fly to the event utilizing the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Book and Claim (SAFC) program to offset the emissions from the ferry flight to get it to the show. We expect other operators to announce similar SAF use—either directly or through the SAFC.

Unleaded avgas continues to take center stage as we move toward greater distribution of the current lower-octane products as well as the development of the eventual replacement(s) for 100LL. 

In an update forum on at noon CDT Monday at the Theater in the Woods, the Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions (EAGLE) initiative will host participants from the cadre of manufacturers in the process of creating those new fuels. Afton/Phillips, GAMI, Lyondell/VP Racing and Swift plan to give progress reports. We’re all ears.

Speaking of big, important initiatives, the FAA’s preview last week of the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) notice of proposed rulemaking is set to publish on Monday as well, in the Federal Register. That makes official a broad sweep of changes allowing light sport aircraft acceptance and certification to transition to a performance-based methodology. 

The aviation community thus far has responded with broad praise for both the content of the NPRM and its timely release—before Oshkosh, so we can all get together and talk about it. We’ll report on the FAA’s in-person comment on the subject, as well as other reactions from key industry leaders and the pilots directly affected by the ruling—which is just about all of us.

While a couple of the big players in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) and advanced air mobility (Joby for one) won’t have their actual flying machines at AirVenture, we can look forward to several who will. Boeing-backed Wisk Aero is one of those, though it has yet to receive clearance to enter flight test with its 6th generation prototype.

We’re also excited to catch up on the latest from Lilium, Volocopter, Archer, Ampaire, and the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX.

Perennially the most popular of aircraft types at Oshkosh, the warbird area looks like it will be hopping again this year, with a couple of notable returns of beloved aircraft. The B-17 "Yankee Lady," from the Yankee Air Museum in Ypsilanti, Michigan, unfortunately won’t be one of those, as it blew a jug and won’t make it to the show in time.

Warbirds in Review will feature a string of classic and historically important aircraft, including a North American B-25 and the P-51C Mustang Tuskegee Airmen.