Volocopter chose AirVenture to perform its first public flight, demonstrating the agility and low noise level of the two-person electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicle.
Michael Lavitt/AW&ST
Oshkosh, WI
General aviation pilots and campers are the lifeblood of AirVenture, even though the largest manufacturers also have an important presence at the show. Serious thunderstorms and a tornado watch forced postponement of the Aug. 25 night airshow and fireworks. But people who flew into the show and camped mostly stuck it out in the heavy rain.
Credit: Molly McMillin/AW&ST
This U.S. Air Force C-17 brought a new system, called a Negative Pressurized Conex Lite, that maintains negative pressure inside a container in the cargo transport. The system can accommodate up to 15 ambulatory patients or four patients on litters plus medical personnel.
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Patients in the Negagtively Pressurized Conex Lite sit in seats mounted along the side of the unit. The NPC took 88 days from the initial idea until deployment, says Capt. Andrea Montgomery, a medical planner based at Scott AFB, Illinois. It was developed under a Joint Urgent Operation Need by U.S. Air Transportation Command. The NPCs have been deployed on 55 missions and carried 7,300 passengers. Fresh air is drawn from the C-17’s cabin, circulated through the unit and run through HEPA filters before being exhausted at the other end into the aircraft cabin. The seated mannequin is dressed in the suit that crews use for decontaminating the unit. A larger version carries twice as many people.
Credit: Michael Lavitt/AW&ST
UPS’ newest freighter, a Boeing 747-8F, helped highlight the cargo carrier’s role in delivering COVID-19 vaccines around the world.
Credit: Lindsay Bjerregaard/AW&ST
The MD-10-based Orbis Flying Eye Hospital was the centerpiece of humanitarian mission aircraft that played a big role in EAA AirVenture 2021.
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Textron Aviation’s new Model 408 SkyCourier twin turboprop made its public debut at AirVenture, where officials from the company and launch customer FedEx were on hand. FedEx has 50 SkyCouriers on order.
Credit: Michael Lavitt/AW&ST
Samaritan Aviation is a Christian nonprofit that provides medical evacuation services in Papua New Guinea. It is adding this Cessna 206G to the ones it already flies in the Sepik River region, which has 500,000 people and a single hospital that can be up to five days’ travel by canoe, the region’s most common form of transportation.
Volocopter’s 2X made its first public flying display at the show, and Textron Aviation’s Model 408 SkyCourier debuted just a few minutes later. Aircraft that fly humanitarian missions also had a high profile on the flightline.
