EAA AirVenture: Balancing celebration with safety amid recent tragedies

• The aviation community is mourning the loss of two lives in a tragic plane crash near the EAA AirVenture grounds.
• This year’s event and last year's have been marked by fatal accidents, raising safety concerns.
• Since 1973, there have been 33 fatalities and 57 crashes resulting in injuries on or near EAA grounds during the festival.

The aviation community is mourning the loss of two lives in a tragic plane crash near the EAA grounds. This year’s event, as well as the previous one, have been marred by fatal accidents, bringing safety concerns to the forefront.

Each year at EAA AirVenture, more than 10,000 planes fly nearby the same air traffic control tower in about a week’s time.

It’s the Olympics of aviation.

Dawn Unger, a former air traffic controller at EAA, expressed confidence in the event's safety. "My professional opinion is this is the safest operation in the world," she said, describing the precision required to manage the influx of aircraft. Unger also emphasizes the importance of listening to controllers and knowing how to handle one's aircraft, especially as the colorful runway dots help keep the traffic in check.

Despite meticulous planning, accidents can still occur. Dawn Unger's husband and experimental pilot Rob Unger recounted a close call from a few years ago when a miscommunication nearly led to a collision on the runway.
"Unfortunately, a couple of years back, landing on three, six war bird landed right over the top, and they didn't see me. So it was just a miscommunication," he says.
"It worked out. It didn’t hit me. It happens," he said, acknowledging the risks inherent in aviation.

Tragically, on July 22, two people were killed when a plane crashed on a farm just two miles south of AirVenture grounds. Last year, four people lost their lives in two separate crashes during the event. Dick Knapinski, EAA's director of communications, said, "70 to 80% of all accidents that occur with any aircraft at all comes down to pilot error. And you know that the human factor is still a very large factor."

Since 1973, there have been 33 fatalities and 57 crashes resulting in injuries on or near EAA grounds during the festival. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) plays a critical role in investigating these incidents. After the fatal crash on July 22, the NTSB temporarily shut down the airfield, disrupting months of precise planning. Jennifer Rodi from the NTSB explained that "anybody who was getting ready to land on one of the arrival routes into EAA had to divert or had to hold for a little while, while they opened up the airfield." She added that everyone diverted correctly and safely.

Managing the challenges of human error and unpredictable weather conditions is what makes EAA famous. As Dawn Unger put it, "It's hard work. We're out here through all kinds of weather, the heat, the humidity, the rain, the mud, but it's the best air traffic control experience I've ever had."

While the crashes are tragic and widely publicized, what often goes unnoticed is the thousands of safe flights in and out of EAA each year, making this convention truly impressive. Rodi hopes that pilots will learn from the unique and individual lessons learned from these accidents. "I hope pilots out there read our reports when they’re finished, and take to heart the lessons that someone else has learned the hard way," she said.