Canadian Countdown to AirVenture 2023

Updated 6/2/2023

June  2023 – By the time you read this, we will be less than 60 days away from AirVenture! It's hard to believe that in a few weeks, the really eager AirVenture enthusiasts will start setting up in Camp Scholler.

Our Little Canada camping area is now fully booked. We're looking forward to camping with fellow Canadians, but for those who will be camped elsewhere or under a wing, feel free to stop by and visit us in our evening gathering area. Join us for s'mores and maybe some campfire songs! You can easily find the camping area right behind the five-story evening movie screen at the Fly-In Theater.

EAA has informed us that we will have a 25-foot x 60-foot grassed area in front of our Canadian pavilion. If you will be flying in an aircraft that you'd like to put on display in this grassed area, please let me know. Ideally you would be there all week. It's difficult to move aircraft around the grounds when AirVenture is in progress.

A few booth opportunities inside our Canada pavilion remain. If you have a Canadian aviation business or know of a business that I should reach out to, please let me know. This is a fantastic opportunity for more than 600,000 aviation enthusiasts to be exposed to Canadian aviation organizations. Send me an email or call me at 204-345-3750.

We will have one more issue of Bits and Pieces before AirVenture. We anticipate we will share our presentation schedule and other exciting details for Canadians attending the greatest show on earth!

May 2023 – It’s hard to believe, we’re down to the 90-day countdown to AirVenture. I cannot believe I’m saying that.

I’m pleased to say that all of the camping spots for our Little Canada camping area are now full. If you booked a spot, you should have received confirmation from Phil, our camping coordinator. If you have not, please email me.

We are currently putting together the schedule for volunteers at our Canadian Pavillion. Thank you to those of you that have offered to pitch in — we will be putting the schedule together very soon. For anyone else who would like to spend a minimum half day at our Canadian Pavillion, or if you’re willing to make a presentation, let me know. For those of you that have expressed interest already, we will be communicating with you shortly regarding the presentation schedule.

On another note, we about know the growing cost of flight training, paralleled with the growing decline of new private pilots, all while the aviation industry screams for more commercial pilots. We have been working hard to make scholarships available to as many deserving aspiring pilots as possible. Recently the deadline for EAA scholarships, which are open to Canadian applicants, closed. Disappointingly, out of 3,000-plus applications, only 15 were from Canada. We didn’t even make one percent of the applicants! We all know hard working, well-deserving flight students, so that tells me that we all have to do more to get the word out for next year. After AirVenture 2023 has passed, let’s be sure to spread the opportunities to all aviation enthusiasts, young and old. There are scholarships available for youths, adults, beginners, and those that have had a longer journey than others, to achieve their dream.

I welcome your input and feedback. Email me at chair.eaacc@gmail.com or call me at 204-345-3750. See you at AirVenture!