MY FIRST TIME AT EAA AIRVENTURE // is it worth the hype??

Today we're at EAA AirVenture, the world famous air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Believe it or not, I've never been here before. Is it worth the hype? That's what we're going to find out today. Are you ready? Let's go. My name is Paul. I fly airplanes for a living, but my passion is encouraging you to explore this beautiful world by giving you a glimpse into my layover life. Welcome to Oshkosh. Every summer roughly 600,000 people from 80 countries visit Oshkosh over the course of one week. You'll find every type of airplane here, from warbirds to home builds to airliners, this place has it all. And for many, arriving at Oshkosh is a rite of passage that can only be satisfied by being in one of the 10,000 aircraft flying in, landing at what becomes the busiest airport in the world. Keep that twin coming all the way around orange dot, then you're clear to land green dot. Aim for the orange, down to the green. DC3 runway 27, clear to land. It is crazy. None of the airplanes talk. It's all the controllers just talking, telling the airplanes to land on different dots on the runways. They have a green dot and a yellow dot, and they have airplanes landing on different dots and turning off into the grass. And apparently it's one of the hardest air traffic control positions in the world for a week. It's pretty insane here. One of my first stops was the Career Center. United and the United Aviate Academy had a booth where I was able to meet some future United pilots. I recorded an interview with United Media team, and I even got to chat with their system chief pilot. I'm with Marianne Schaefer. She is the chief pilot. All the chief pilots look up to her. And so what is United doing here today? Well, United Airlines is at EAA AirVenture to tell the aspiring aviators out here what a great training program we have, and we're going to hire 2,000 pilots in the next year. Wow. You think we can do it? Okay. What are you most excited to see here today? All of the young people. Yeah. It's so exciting to see all... I've heard you say this before, my face. Yeah. And to see all the smiles on their faces. Do you fly in? Do you have your own airplane? Have you ever flown in yourself? Well, not in a small... Next time that comes up, can we switch it to the 767 and have me do that? We'll look into that. Okay. I'm not going to hold my breath on me doing a fly-by at Oshkosh, but it was worth asking. Next, I headed over to KidVenture, where they had three hangars full of STEM activities for kids. I learned how to rivet, so then I took this, and I took one of the wings, and then I riveted. Oh, you're a riveter. That's awesome. You know how to do something I don't know how to do. That was my daughter, Amelia. My son was busy doing an interactive air traffic control game, and my nephew was taking a soldering class. You could literally spend all week walking around this place and never cover the whole thing. It's like a state fair, except it's all airplanes. The air show is about to start, and it runs from 2.30 until 6.30. Later on, United is doing a fly-by in the 777, which should be pretty cool. Anxiously awaiting the 777 fly-by. It's going to be super sweet. I got to do that someday. So, should you go? Yeah, you should go. It's a long day in the sun, but the air show at the end of the day, it's definitely worthwhile. And to see United here was really cool. I'm headed to work in a couple days. Hit the subscribe button, and you can join me on my next layover. We'll see you then.