By Emme Hornung
Boeing Plaza, the central display area at AirVenture, is home to some of the biggest and most iconic aircraft featured each year. With featured aircraft rotating on a nearly daily basis, coordinating it all is no small feat. Part of the team that makes it happen is Vice Chairman James “JJ” Hechtl, EAA Lifetime 854852, who has been recognized as one of EAA’s 2026 Volunteers of the Year.
JJ knew at just 10 years old that he wanted to be a pilot. After high school, he followed the military route and was selected to go to the Air Force Academy, graduating in the early 1980s. He then completed pilot training in Columbus, Mississippi, before moving to the Strategic Air Command headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, flying the C-21. He then moved to Travis Air Force Base in California to fly the massive C-5.
JJ retired from the Air Force after 30 years of active and reserve duty, and this past June, he retired as a captain from Southwest Airlines after 33 years.
In 1992, while serving in the Air Force Reserve, he was assigned to bring the C-5 to a “little air show in Wisconsin,” bringing with him 30 Tuskegee Airmen and their wives to what he quickly realized was the EAA Oshkosh fly-in.
The folks running the plaza at the time ended up inviting JJ to come back as a volunteer the following year, and he’s been part of the team ever since. Today, he helps lead a group of more than 100 volunteers with Chairman Bob Hillary and Vice Chairman Mike Williams.
“I have the pilot brain. Bob has the mechanic brain as a mechanic for American Airlines. And Mike, he has the people brain,” JJ said. “We’ve kind of purposefully built up our volunteer group with a bunch of aviation professionals, and then young people that are interested in aviation careers.”
Though JJ starts coordinating well before AirVenture begins, the group starts placing aircraft on the plaza just days prior to the convention, in addition to remote sites east of the airport for demo and jet teams, and near the Wittman terminal for the fifth-generation military fighters.
“We’re all over the field. We work closely with air operations and airport management, the FBO, tower, taking all sorts of airplanes, all sizes, on and off the field,” he said. “Every airplane is unique and has its own unique operating characteristics. Towing, steering, weights, capabilities. So, it’s a big team effort to make this all work in concert with minimum impact on visitors, aircraft arrivals, aircraft departures, tower controllers, and the FAA.”
He’s welcomed many different aircraft in his time volunteering, but he remains loyal when asked his favorite. “The C-5, of course. It’s an air show in and of itself,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate enough in that airplane to have been to all seven continents.”
Airplanes aside, the Boeing Plaza volunteer group has become a second family, which makes coming back each year worth it. “It’s really not about me. It’s about all the volunteers. I just happen to be the guy that does some coordinating,” he said. “It’s been a privilege, really.”
Thank you, JJ, for all you do for EAA, the aircraft and crews that visit us, and for all AirVenture guests!
