OSHKOSH, Wis. — You won't find another office on the planet right now like the control tower at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh.

What You Need To Know

  • Thousands of planes are flying into Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh this week for EAA AirVenture 2022

  • Being chosen to be an air traffic controller at the event is a big deal

  • The annual event runs through Sunday​

Thousands of planes and pilots are flying in for the the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual convention and airshow known as AirVenture.

That makes for a lot of work for controllers and air traffic managers.

“It’s considered the Super Bowl of air traffic control,” said Air Traffic Manager Jay McKinty. “Everybody wants to get here but only a select few get to come and actually experience it. It’s literally amazing what happens here.”

The tower staff, like McKinty, are selected from air traffic control facilities around the country. Getting the call to go to Oshkosh is a big deal, he said.

“It’s the best of the best… It’s an honor to be here,” McKinty said. “Even though this is the hardest they’re ever going to work — even more than at their busiest facilities back home — everybody just loves it.”

For pilots like Guilherme Barros, the work the controllers do is a task to behold.

“These are the pros of the pros working here,” he said. “They know where you are, they know what you’re doing, they know what you’re going to do and they just lead you along. It’s so impressive how many airplanes they deal with.”

Barros, who is from Madison, said even for aviators there can be some tingles of nerves as they fly into some seriously busy airspace.

“The procedure is a little different than you’re use to. You’re use to, you talk to ATC and they talk to you and you talk back,” he said. “But with so many airplanes here the procedure is they talk to you and you just quietly do what they tell you to do. There’s a little bit of, ‘Are they talking to me or are they talking to the other airplane?’ But it’s a ballet, right? It’s just incredible.”

But it’s hard work, McKinty said.

“Teamwork is what makes it happen. They’ll be spent,” he said about the controllers in the tower. "They’ll feel physically tired after a session but they’ll take a break come back and be rejuvenated and able to do it again.”