As a stage for new airplanes and products, EAA Air Venture at Oshkosh is nothing if not brightly illuminated. Everyone comes here expecting to be dazzled and sometimes the people charged with the dazzling—the manufacturers—actually succeed. And sometimes not. AirVenture 2006 proved as much surprising as dazzling.

Cessna’s “next gen” aircraft whizzed by Oshkosh’s Runway 36 several times, but didn’t land. Note the forward-swept wings and rear door, suggesting a six-seater.

In our estimation, the three biggest unexpecteds were a surprise showing of Cessna’s proposed new "next gen" airplane, Honda’s announcement that it will, after all, enter the light jet market and the rollout by Garmin of two new EFIS products for the aftermarket, something we didn’t expect to see for several years. …