Doing a show like AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI, is kind of like moving into a new house. For some period of time before the event, everything else moves into second place - it just has to wait until after the big thing is done.

Well, another Oshkosh is done, and we're all starting to wake up and go after the things that piled up because of  it ... Like the song says, we ain't foolin' around, cause we done had our fun!

The show was a great success for us, and as you can see from the comments by EAA president Tom Poberezny, we weren't the only ones who enjoyed it:

"After seeing the tremendous week of activity at EAA AirVenture 2007, I believe we can use the term 'the best ever' in describing this year's event.  The number of aviation innovations and introductions we saw at Oshkosh were unprecedented, and there was a very positive feeling among pilots and aviation enthusiasts.  In addition, exhibitors throughout the grounds noted strong interest and, in some cases, record sales."

Attendance: Estimated 560,000 - Increase of about 3.2 percent from 2006

Total aircraft: More than 10,000 aircraft (and Hal saw them all ...) arriving at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh and other airports in east-central Wisconsin.

Total showplanes: 2,647.  That figure includes 985 homebuilt aircraft, 1,014 vintage airplanes, 365 warbirds, 136 ultralights, 117 seaplanes and 30 rotorcraft.

Commercial exhibitors: 784

International visitors registered: Approximately 1,700 from 60 nations. (NOTE: This total includes only non-U.S. visitors who register at the International Visitors Tent, so the actual international contingent is undoubtedly larger.)

Total estimated campers (Camp Scholler drive-in camping area):  More than 38,000.

Media: 887 media representatives on-site, from six continents.

Portable Toilets: 1180 (and 10,600 rolls of toilet paper!)

Hal Bryan, Abby Lin, Brandon Seltz, Brent Conklin, and Mike Lambert and I came from the "home office" in Redmond, and we offer special thanks to Dan Sallee, Justin Lamb, Katy Pluta, Leon Provencher, Matt Gamboa, Owen Hewitt, Roy McMillion, and Will Allen for volunteering their time to help staff our booth.

Special thanks to our friends at EAA, including Sue Christensen, Jeff Kaufman, Heidi Plato, and Jan Streblow. Thanks also to the long-suffering-but-always-helpful Jason at the Super 8 who managed to stay sane in spite of the best efforts of the Microsoft team to defeat  him in a game of motel-Tetris.

A few of our attendees even found time to do some blogging while they were there - for a few stories and some photos, check out what they had to say:

Hal

Roy

Owen

Dan