The "Usual Suspects" a fraternity of aviation enthusiasts.
Inspired by the movie Casablanca Torii Tour members who travel to Oshkosh, Warbirds over Wanaka , Farnborough , Paris, MAKs Moscow, and other air shows regularly have become known as "The Usual Suspects". This fraternity of aviation enthusiasts have evolved from participation in Torii's aviation programs and meet informally at aviation events in Australia and around the world. Not restricted to travelling with Torii (we do not cover every aviation event) they happily socialize at all major aviation meets - you know who you are and Torii is proud of our contribution to this group of inclusive, cheerful, aviation experts known as
"THE USUAL SUSPECTS"
Who are the Participants on a Torii Tour?
Pilots, air traffic controller, CASA officers, aircraft owners, professional photographers, amateur aviation photographers, journalists, airport owners, radio controllers, military officers, Airfix aviators, airline managers executives and employees. No body really cares
People are only interested in your interest in aviation and having a life experience at the world’s greatest aviation event.
How long have Torii been sending groups to the EAA Convention Oshkosh?
EAA was founded in 1953 by Paul Pobereznywho originally started the organization in the basement of his home for builders and restorers of recreational aircraft. Although homebuilding aircraft is still a large part of the organization's activities, it has grown to include almost every aspect of recreational aviation The first EAA fly-in was held in September 1953 fewer than 150 people registered as visitors the first year and only a handful of airplanes attended the event. In 1959, In 1970, when it outgrew its facilities at the Rockford airport, it moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Since 1986 Torii Tours have hosted Australian aviation enthusiast to the EAA Annual Convention.
In 1998, the name was changed to AirVenture Oshkosh, but many regular attendees still call it The Oshkosh Airshow or just Oshkosh. In the early years, access to the flight line was restricted to EAA members. In 1997, the fee structure for the show was changed allowing all visitors access to the entire grounds. Now EAA AirVenture holds nearly 1,000 forums and workshops annually. Torii along with other guest have excellent access to the flight line.
AirVenture has been the aviation breeding ground throughout history for the debuts of numerous revolutionary aircraft. The EAA estimated the attendance in 2018 at over 600,000, with 2,714 visitors registered from 87 nations. There were approximately 10,000 aircraft, 2,979 show planes, and 976 media representatives on-site from Six continents, along with 867 commercial exhibitors. Torii had one of the largest groups at the event with 98 passengers attending.
The large number of aircraft arrivals and departures during the fly-in week makes the Wittman Field FAA control tower the busiest in the world for that week in number of movements. To accommodate the huge flow of aircraft around the airport and the nearby airspace, a special Notams are published each year, they appear on The Torii website at www.toriitours.com clearly they are for interest only and should not be relied upon to navigate that should be left to the United, American, Delta and Qantas pilots Torii use to travel to EAA AirVenture.