Lou Seno to make 70th consecutive visit to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
Oshkosh bound: Lou Seno will visit his 70th consecutive EAA AirVenture Oshkosh event later this month.
Planning his 70th consecutive visit to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh later this month is Lou Seno, executive director of the International Aircraft Dealers Association (IADA) and chairman emeritus of Jet Support Services (JSSI).
Making his first visit in 1956 – the year President Dwight D. Eisenhower was re-elected – Seno, aged six, accompanied his father, a WWII B-24 crew chief who became a general aviation flight instructor, to the event in Wisconsin.
Billed as “the world’s largest aviation gathering”, last year’s event attracted a record-breaking 686,000 visitors, according to Jack Pelton, CEO and chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). The event generates an economic value of about $170m for the region and attracts 861 exhibitors and over 10,000 aircraft.
One of the aircraft at this year’s event will be Seno’s personal Beechcraft Bonanza N89LS wearing JSSI livery and featuring on the firm’s Booth 444 at the event. (He will fly the aircraft to the event shortly before it opens). During the event, the airport’s control tower, frequency 118.5, is said to be the busiest in the world.
“What started as something special between my dad and me, grew into a lifelong passion for aviation and the aircraft homebuilder community,” said Seno. “There isn’t a year that goes by where I’m not inspired by what happens there.”
In addition to his work with IADA and JSSI, Seno is also a board director of the EAA, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and the National Aircraft Finance Association (NAFA).
Business aviation will be strongly represented at the event in Wisconsin later this month. Alongside GAMA and NAFA, manufacturers represented include Boeing, Bombardier, Gulfstream, Honda Aircraft, Pilatus and Textron Aviation together with other companies such as Collins Aerospace and Garmin.
At this year’s event, Seno will be honoured at The Gathering, EAA’s premier fundraising gala held on Thursday night of EAA AirVenture 2025 week, which opens on July 21st.
Personal highlights from Seno’s seven decades of attending the event include: witnessing Concorde land, B-29s flying in formation, watching Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager fly in the Voyager before their world flight and enjoying the flight demonstrations of aerobatic icons Bob Hoover, Gene Soucy and others.
“I’ve seen it all, from Barry Goldwater and John Denver showing up, to watching my heroes fly up close,” said Seno. “AirVenture isn’t just an air show, it’s aviation’s heartbeat.”
Meanwhile, don’t miss our flagship feature charting Seno’s love affair with the Beechcraft Bonanza in the next edition of Corporate Jet Investor Quarterly to be published at the NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) in October. (If that’s too long to wait, read the current edition here).
