EAA - Oshkosh, WI

[Fulmar]

Appealing to the general public is waaay more profitable than to just pilots.  As large as the EAA has become, I wouldn't expect much less than American commercialism of it.  If they limited their appeal to "Experimental Aircraft," their attendence would be a fraction of what it is.  I mean what do they think the EAA stands for?  I always knew it as Earn A lot of American _dollars

[Maverick]

I stopped going to Oshkosh a few years ago, it just got way to commercial.  The Pope and his son forgot who brought them to the dance, they are now all but ignoring the homebuilt aircraft at the show and featuring more prominently things like Ford cars and trucks etc.

Do you guys realize the EAA is a for-profit organization making Pope very rich?  He gets all kinds of people to volunteer to work the show so he can make more money.

No thanks.

Dago,

I had a bit of experience with their organization in the 98 to 2000 time frame. They are extremely predatory and intent on securing as much of the private aircraft genre as they can. I saw them come to a small non profit organization asking for advice on how they did things then used the same info to freeze out the non profit from the centennial celebration. You are spot on with the observation of the family interest. It's not a club it's simply a money making empire for them.