By Emme Hornung

Love is in the air this year just as much as the fumes of 100LL. During the Wednesday night air show, the Flying Bulls carried a little something extra on board with them — an engagement ring — that they delivered to Ryan Bauer just before he proposed to his now-fiancee Kelli Couch.

Both employees of a major airline, Ryan, a 39-year Oshkosh attendee, met Kelli in 2022 while they both were attending AirVenture. They lost touch but soon reconnected after finding each other on a dating app, and they have been together ever since.

When planning the AirVenture proposal, Ryan initially just asked they be able to take pictures in front of the DC-6 without any ropes behind them, but Steph Stricklen, U.S. PR liaison for the Flying Bulls, saw an opportunity to take things a bit further.

“They took the ball and ran with it and created that whole experience for us, and I am super, super grateful,” Ryan said. “Wednesday night was just way beyond anything I could imagine.”

“The staff really helped Ryan keep it a surprise. … They were thrilled to do that for their first ever appearance here,” Kelli added. “It wasn’t until the pilot took the ring out of his pocket and handed it to Ryan, then I was like, ‘Oh,’ and even then I still was a little bit in shock.”

Kelli, indeed, said “Yes.”

Congratulations to the happy couple!