Wondering where to park at McConnell air show? Base unveils its plan

If you’re wondering where to park at McConnell Air Force Base’s open house and air show next month, officials now have a plan.

The free show that’s open to the public Sept. 8-9 will have free parking available at the Textron Aviation Pawnee campus and near Spirit AeroSystems and Air Capital Flight Line, base officials announced Wednesday.

Textron’s Pawnee location will serve as primary parking for the show that base officials expect to see daily attendance of between 60,000 and 75,000 people. Entrances to the Pawnee parking will be available along Pawnee as well as at two spots on the west side of Rock Road just south of the Pawnee intersection.

McConnell officials said to expect a 10- to 20-minute walk from that parking location to the show’s entrance, where visitors will pass through a security gate.

The secondary parking site — which also will serve as the only site for handicapped parking — will be along the east side of South Oliver between 31st Street South and MacArthur.

At the South Oliver parking site, free, continuous shuttle service for transportation to the show’s entrance will be offered.

Traffic control will be provided by Wichita police and the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office.

The show, which is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily, will feature performances from the Air Force Thunderbirds, Army Golden Knights parachute demonstration team as well as eight different aerobatic performers and teams, and fly-bys from an A-10 Warthog, KC-135 tanker and C-17 Globemaster.

For more information on the show’s parking as well as prohibited items, see the show’s website at frontiersinflight.com.

This story was originally published August 29, 2018 at 12:11 PM.