The World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration is bound to draw pilots and aviation enthusiasts from every corner of the globe. At the International Visitors Tent (south of the control tower, behind IAC HQ), pushpins in a world map identify all the places from which international visitors have traveled.

This year EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is hosting an unusually large and diverse flock of foreign aviation officials, who have come here to learn from EAA and from the aviation community.

A group of air traffic controllers from France arrived last week to study and observe air traffic procedures at Oshkosh. Their goal is to improve the safety and efficiency of ATC at the annual Paris Air Show and other aviation events in France.

Also, a group of officials from the Russian Federation’s civil aeronautics authority is also here. They’ll be meeting with FAA staff, aviation manufacturers, airport managers, officials from various aviation organizations and others. AirVenture offers them a truly unique opportunity to experience the whole spectrum of general aviation.

Officials from Israel’s civil aviation authority also will be here this week. Like the Russians, they are coming to Oshkosh to take advantage of the event’s wide variety of information and interests.

That foreign aviation officials are here at AirVenture is a measure of the stature of this event and of EAA—a worldwide network of members who share a passion for aviation. If you see any of these officials around the convention grounds, welcome them. It’s you, your aviation community, and your AirVenture that they have come here to see.