Start planning your Oshkosh experience with the 2018 AirVenture app

The world’s largest airshow starts next week in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with over 10,000 airplanes descending on Wittman Airport for a week of flying demonstrations, new product announcements and plenty of hands-on learning. Right on cue, EAA recently released the 2018 AirVenture app for iOS and Android to help you plan your trip and make the most of your visit to Oshkosh this summer.

The app builds on the redesign from last year and uses a simple, clean design and allows you to easily browse air show schedules, forums, exhibitor lists and services available on the airport grounds. And you can view your location right on a large moving map, in relation to your selected events and exhibits.

You can browse the main Schedule section of the app by viewing categories of events taking place each day. The listing includes a detailed description of the event along with the ability to add it to your personal My EAA schedule. You can filter each listing by day of the week, or use the top search bar to find specific events based on event name, keywords or the name of the presenter. This works really well since it searches the event descriptions too, allowing you to find exactly what you’re looking for.

As you’d expect there’s a full list of exhibitors, which is searchable and displays the location of the company’s exhibit on the map. You can also add any of the exhibitors or venues to your My EAA list to help you stay organized. While the app doesn’t include an indoor map of each exhibit hangar, you can tap on the pin location of a selected exhibitor on the map and view the location on Apple Maps, or Google Maps if you have that app installed.

The Interests section of the app organizes many of the events by category, like Aviation Specialities (e.g. Warbirds), Collegiate, Family, Female Aviators, Innovation, and Military. This is a great way to explore the variety of AirVenture offerings from a different perspective and find some new experiences for your visit this year.

The most powerful feature in the app is the global search function, accessed from the Map and Search button on the main menu. This presents a full-screen map view with a search bar at the top. You can enter anything here, including a forum name, airplane type, restroom, food, etc., and the app will pinpoint its exact location on the map. Simply tap the pin marker on the map and the AirVenture app will automatically open Apple or Google Maps and provide step-by-step walking directions to the exact spot on the showgrounds.

There are a couple things to keep in mind after downloading the app:

• You won’t find the AirVenture Fly-In NOTAM in the app, but you can download it here: Oshkosh 2018 NOTAM. It’s also available in the Documents section of the ForeFlight app.
• You’ll notice an empty blue space on the right side of the iPad version of the app, and this is intentional. Once the event kicks off, the app will present EAA’s AirVenture photo feed in this space.

EAA AirVenture runs from July 23 through July 29, and is located at the Oshkosh Airport in Wisconsin.

Download the app for iPhone and iPad: 2018 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh

Download the app for Android devices: 2018 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh