Fuller announces AOPA Aviation Summit

By AOPA ePublishing Staff

Click the logo above for a video of the announcement.

AOPA President Craig Fuller on Feb. 21 announced a new plan for the association’s annual convention and exposition, which will take place in Tampa, Fla., Nov. 5 through 7.

“I am excited to announce AOPA Aviation Summit, a completely new take on AOPA’s annual convention gathering,” said Fuller during his keynote address to the Northwest Aviation Conference in Puyallup, Wash.

“It is all our convention has offered and more,” said Fuller. “The Summit’s collaborative and hands-on environment is designed to bring together pilots, aircraft owners, aviation businesses, students, enthusiasts, and policy makers, and to give all of them—all of you—new power to shape your future and the future of general aviation. And for the first time we will be reaching outside the aviation community to welcome the public into all that general aviation has to offer.”

The AOPA Aviation Summit will still offer the great experiences attendees have come to expect. The exhibit hall at the Tampa Convention Center will still house hundreds of exhibitor booths, but will feature an all-new layout that will provide opportunities for product demonstrations and other events right in the middle of it all.

The aircraft display at nearby Peter O. Knight Airport on Tampa’s Davis Islands will still host all the major airframe manufacturers, but it will highlight other aspects of general aviation that members are not used to seeing. Even the social functions will have a new look and feel, with exciting new elements attendees have never seen before.

The big difference will be in what happens off the exhibit floor. The AOPA Aviation Summit will bring everyone in general aviation to the table--regulators, industry, and users—to discuss the major issues that affect everyone, flyers and nonflyers alike.

“We are expanding our horizons to bring you new experiences, events, and opportunities to touch, test, and interact with the people and technology that are relevant to the way you fly,” said Fuller. “I hope you will join us in Tampa, Fla., from November 5 through 7, to be part of the first-ever AOPA Aviation Summit on our seventieth anniversary. It will be a historic event, and your participation is an important step in shaping the future.”

February 26, 2009