Despite torrential rains at times during Thursday, Friday and Saturday before the opening of AirVenture 2019 the attendance of aviation enthusiasts and their aircraft set records.

Standing water and soft ground prevented aircraft from reaching parking areas and caused the arrivals to Camp Scholler to be stopped until the grounds could be dried out. Campers and RVs were parked for miles on both sides of the Camp Scholler entrance road and filled nearby Walmart and shopping area parking lots.

Despite the rain-induced hardships:

• 642,000 people attended the event over its 7-day span, an increase of 6.8 percent above 2018.
• More than 10,000 aircraft arrived at the event and other airports nearby airports.
• The Oshkosh tower recorded 16,807 aircraft operations in the 11-day period from July 19-29, an average of almost 127 takeoffs/landings per hour.
• 2,758 showplanes attended AirVenture, including 1,057 homebuilt aircraft (including a record 592 homebuilt aircraft campsites), 939 vintage airplanes, 400 warbirds (6 percent increase), 188 ultralights and light-sport aircraft, 105 seaplanes (40 percent increase), 62 aerobatic aircraft, and 7 in other categories.