The Deadly Truth About Oshkosh – World’s Largest Air Show!

34 Comments

1. I didn’t know Devyn, but like most pilots, I’m sure she loved to fly. Please stay safe at Oshkosh and everywhere else you fly! I hope this video helps. Read more about the mistakes that get pilots killed in my weekly newsletter The Pattern.
   Get your free copy here 👉https://pilotdebrief.com/pattern

2. I've been going to Oshkosh for quite a few years, it's something I look forward to every year! I was right there when the gyro and heli had the midair. That's a sound and sight that makes your heart stop. I knew Devyn indirectly as well. That was the saddest day in my Oshkosh memories. However, everyone comes to Oshkosh by choice, because they love aviation and the people it brings together. We're all going to go, going while doing what you love isn't the worst thing in my opinion. I've seen plenty of car wrecks at races and shows, even an incident with a tractor at a big tractor pull. When that many people and vehicles converge in one area, mistakes are unfortunately inevitable. All we can do is follow the rules and be as safe as possible. Oshkosh is amazing, the tower controllers are amazing and the volunteers are amazing! I will continue my yearly pilgrimage there happily.

3. i just came across your channel seemed familair. my dad was a pilot for saudi airlines in the 70's. the more i watched the more you look like a childhood friend. judd………sean daniel ryan in my name.

4. You gonna cover the air show crash in Idaho

5. Airshows, where pilots go to die.

6. Wow! I'm not a pilot,but I was an Aviation refueled mechanic for over 30 years. Which means I worked on all aircraft refueling vehicles and under and over storage tank systems.Very emotional when any pilot looses their lives for any reason. 😢👍😎🇮🇱✡️🇺🇲

7. 84? Far too old to still be piloting, no matter how experienced they are.

8. Well then the only good reaction is: don't fly to Oshkosh.

9. So it sounds like this whole event is ridiculously dangerous and should be stopped.

10. How can you blame Jack when no tower in the US would ever operate this recklessly. The B Scene crowd doing B Scene things. Yall are the problem.

    Want the fix? Have time slots and you must register for your time slot. Miss your slot then you get the extra slots for the next window. Control the B Scenes. This is so reckless going to OshKrash

11. The P51 collision on the runway did NOT result in an explosion. The P51A flipped on its back and suffocated the pilot. The pilots knew one another.

12. It's fine, there's plenty more people left

13. I wouldn't be a passenger in a automobile if a 84 year old was behind the wheel People are flat out stupid….

14. Interesting that a bunch of these had a second pilot. CRM is important and seems that it could have prevented most of these that had a second pilot. Even just a passenger monitoring airspeed and looking for traffic would help.

15. I’m not even certain if it was actually true, but I saw a few postings from an accident Not AI by way. Happened in Mountain home, Idaho. 

    Two U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler jets collided mid-air on May 17, 2026, during the Gunfighter Skies air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. Did you ever post anything if this was true or cover it if it was real?

16. I’m not flying to Oshkosh. Seems like a very poor decision.

17. You and Dan should collaborate

18. Theres only one truth about it…unsafe.

19. Safe. It sounds like a complete shambles from start to finish

20. Great video, as always. Saludos from Mexico.

21. Neither Jack or Mojo should be flying into Oshkosh. Non- standard com, whining, stall warnings, etc. Complying with a long landing or going around is no big deal… Don't make them into one.

22. Outstanding presentation

23. As a motorcyclist in my youth , I rode powerful bikes and didn't spare the horses… as a 68y.o. man now who still loves bikes, I wouldn't own one now because I KNOW I'm not proficiant anymore… so tell me, how da HELL are these old geezers allowed fly ?…😒

24. Why dont they build an alternative airport nearby with joining taxi ways or walkways where people can arrive and land and park safer than competing with other show performer
    Traffic !? Have a separate pattern and tower for those antendees arriving and leaving by air .

25. Full disclosure : I'm not a pilot but I have a friend who is and I enjoy (wrong word really 😶 – appreciate) Hoover's content and, like many others here, I'm sure he's saved countless lives with it.

    Watching this caused me massive anxiety and, like another commenter, the only way I'd attend would be by car.

    What I'm not understanding is how Oshkosh is able to continue these, obviously, dangerous practices? Surely the whole point of these NTSB investigations is to review the circumstances and, where appropriate, to change the procedures to protect life? How do they keep being licensed for "reduced separation" when it's the obvious major contributor to many (if not all) of the fatal incidents there? 😢

    Updating following Hoover's comment that "Oshkosh is one of the safest airshows in the world" – that may be true but it still feels like the completely anomalous procedures are catching pilots out due to the stresses of flying in an unusual way.

    Regardless, stay safe and have fun and …

    Thank you Hoover for another awesome PilotDebrief 👃👍

26. 42:40 "…Devin was not a reckless pilot…" absolute BS. If non-reckless pilots can stall with thousands of feet of altitude and not recover then we need to stop trusting all pilots to be capable of flying the aircraft. It is only luck that she didn't kill people on the ground and start a forest fire.

27. I wish pilots would think this through and stop repeating like parrots that you can stall at any airspeed. You can't. Yank that stick full back above Va and you will not stall. You will part with your wings first. Case in point was the Pawnee that dumped it's load and pulled up at the same time. Va dropping, and Gs climbing. when the two crossed, wing broke. Also, if you are on top of a buntover, in 0G, you can not stall at ANY airspeed then.
    And with all the electronics today and computers getting faster, why is there not a dynamic redline on the stall side which moves up in airspeed as Gs increase? And since we are now entering the W&B data into MFD, why is Va not calculated dynamically for us and displayed on ASI? Not that it would do a damn thing for some, but it would keep me and others from guessing.

28. Total 57 crashes!
    Fatalities 33 total deaths!!
    At EAA Airventure Oshkosh😥

29. It is amazing how few accidents there are at Oshkosh when you take in consideration all the traffic. The controllers do an outstanding job!!!!!!!

30. 4:07 that seems like a really unnecessarily stressful situation

31. Ok so the patterns too dense change the local regulations.

32. Just drove back from my first oshkosh. Was great.

    Thanks for all your videos. I'm training to be a pilot and they may save my life one day.

    I was wondering if you will ever do a debrief on fire fighter pilots that go down. I would like to be one and I want to learn more in depth about what goes wrong in their operations.

    Thanks

33. Every year multiple planes crash at the show or on the way there or back. Many times there are fatalities.
    At some point they're going to need to ban small private planes from flying into the EAA. Its too dangerous for the pilot and spectators.

34. SH8T YOU DIDNT SHOW THE FULL CRASH!! WTF!?

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