Two die in accident near Oshkosh, Wisconsin

The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office reported in a social media post that firefighters, police, and NTSB personnel responded to an aircraft accident reported by tower controllers managing traffic at the busy airport at 12:15 p.m. First responders found the aircraft in a farm field near the intersection of Old Knapp Road and Nekimi Avenue, "fully engulfed in fire."

ADS-B data recorded by FlightAware shows a Lancair ES (N18BG) departed Hartford Municipal Airport in Hartford, Wisconsin, at 11:45 a.m. and flew northwest before turning east to approach the airport from the west.The final two ADS-B returns (recorded at approximately 16-second intervals) show the aircraft slowing to 95 and then 90 knots as it descended through 1,125 feet and turned toward the south, away from the airport. The final return, recorded at 12:13:33 p.m., shows the aircraft at 950 feet, descending at 375 feet per minute.

Experimental Aircraft Association spokesman Dick Knapinski told The New York Times by email that the accident flight "appeared to be an arrival of a private aircraft to the event, well prior to any air show program."

The accident was the first serious incident reported during the 2024 event, which draws more than 500,000 attendees and 10,000 aircraft in a typical year. EAA implemented new safety procedures this year, according to the NTSB, to prevent midair collisions such as the one that killed two people on July 29, 2023, in the vicinity of a short turf runway used by ultralights, helicopters, and other aircraft. Investigators determined that the pilot of an ELA Eclipse 10 gyroplane collided with a Rotorway 162F helicopter after executing a 360-degree turn in the traffic pattern, a maneuver now expressly prohibited. Both occupants of the helicopter, Mark Peterson, 69, of Foley, Alabama, and Thomas Volz, 72, of Amelia, Ohio, died in the accident, while the gyroplane pilot and passenger survived with serious injuries. Additional changes made to improve safety in the Fun Fly Zone include mandatory pilot briefings, and zero tolerance for deviation from established procedures.

Two people died in a second accident on July 29, 2023, involving a North American AT–6D Texan flown by Devyn Reiley, 30, whose aircraft crashed into Lake Winnebago after departing Wittman Regional Airport with a passenger, Zach Collie Moreno, 20, aboard. That flight launched just after 9 a.m. and descended rapidly into the water minutes later. The NTSB has not yet released a final report on that accident.