AOPA Expo '97

AOPA Expo '97 makes a splash in Central Florida

From the exhibit halls at the Marriott World Center to the dance floor at the closing banquet — and from the sun-warmed ramp at Orlando Executive Airport to the cold seawater in Sea World of Florida's Shamu Stadium — members from across the country have voted. The verdict is in: AOPA Expo '97, held in Orlando from October 23 through 25, was a class act.

Some of you voted at the closing banquet with Perception Analyzers, handheld wireless polling devices that AOPA President Phil Boyer normally uses to survey audiences during his popular Pilot Town Meetings, but which humorist and Project Pilot Instructor marketing mentor Ralph Hood borrowed for some comic questioning. Others voted with their checkbooks, snapping up everything from headsets and handheld GPS receivers to airplanes. Although AOPA does not track the number of new aircraft sold during the three-day convention, officials believe that the more than 45 airplanes sold — ranging from Cessna, Mooney, and Piper piston singles to the VisionAire Vantage single-engine jet — comprised an Expo record.

Registered attendance was a healthy 7,538, up five percent from Expo's last Orlando visit in 1993. By the end of October, another 9,300 people had visited AOPA Online's "virtual Expo" on the World Wide Web (www.aopa.org) — and it remains on line. Members visited 415 exhibit booths, saw 78 aircraft at the static display, and chose from 59 different educational seminars. Seminars were grouped by subject into six "tracks"; topics ranged from medical and ownership issues to kit aircraft and public-benefit flying. (Audio tapes of all seminars are available from Convention Seminar Cassettes by calling 800/526-4010 or 805/526-5436.) Some 950 general aviation aircraft brought guests to Orlando Executive and Kissimmee Municipal airports.

Thursday morning's Team AOPA general session included updates on AOPA activities relating to user fees, the cost of flying, and student-pilot starts. Members learned that AOPA dues would remain at $39 in 1998 — the eighth consecutive year without an increase. Also announced was a new AOPA Long-Term Care Insurance Program, underwritten by the Hartford Life Insurance Company, which will be available in 1998. [ Note: This program is no longer available.]

A new General Aviation Safety Fund was announced by Bruce Landsberg, executive director of the AOPA Air Safety Foundation. Mr. and Mrs. Paul Burger were the fund's founding donors; Landsberg hopes to raise $3 million in support of safety programs. ASF presented several safety seminars at Expo, distributed thousands of its new Safety Advisor publications, and conducted Pinch-Hitter ground schools for standing-room-only crowds.

Boyer announced a new strategic alliance between AOPA and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (see " Beyond the Flight Line," November Pilot) to benefit future aviation career professionals. He presented ERAU President Steven M. Sliwa with a check for $10,000 to kick off a new AOPA Career Pathways scholarship fund at the university. Ten percent of AOPA membership dues paid by Embry-Riddle alumni will go into the scholarship fund. Sliwa said he hopes that Embry-Riddle can help to define the needs of career aviation students so that AOPA can better serve such students in other universities.

Members were waiting at the doors to the exhibit halls at opening time each morning. Kevin Underwood, a flight instructor from Sarasota, Florida, bought a copy of Jim Wheaton's book What's a Piper Cub? for his 6-week-old son, Griffin. "Follow your dreams," the author wrote inside the front cover. Underwood said that it was never too early to offer his son a little encouragement to pursue flying.

Outside the bustling convention center, Dan Watkins of Atlanta was punching buttons on a friend's new Garmin GPS III Pilot handheld GPS receiver. "As a last resort, we can read the book," he joked. "It's been a great convention," added Watkins, attending only his second Expo in 20 years as a member.

Jim Thomas of Winter Park, Florida, agreed. "It's much easier to get booth time here," he said. Thomas said that at other aviation events, there are so many people vying for the exhibitors' attention that it's difficult to ask technical questions.

At Thursday's luncheon the presentation of the Max Karant awards for aviation journalism was kicked off with a videotaped tribute to Karant, AOPA's second employee and the founding editor of AOPA Pilot, who died in February (see " Farewell, Max," April Pilot). Honored were reporter Bryce Matteson and photographer Doug Schrag, of KWCH-TV in Wichita, for a multipart account of Matteson's flight-training experience; Lisa Scagliotti, of the Anchorage Daily News, for her series of articles on aircraft modification in Alaska; and Bob Roberts, of WMAQ Radio in Chicago, for his coverage of the Meigs Field closure. Special Karant awards for lifetime excellence in aviation journalism were presented to veteran aviation writer Jerry Hannifin, of Time magazine, and aviation author Frank Kingston Smith, whose books have encouraged thousands to become pilots.

Luncheon entertainment was provided by aviation humorist Rod Machado, who emphasized the importance of communication. "I remember a story about [an errant] student pilot," Machado said. "The controller asks if there's a CFI on board. The student keys his mic to respond, and all that was heard [over the radio] was, "Tell him no, dang it — tell him no!'" Machado is a new spokesman for AOPA's Project Pilot program and beginning next month will write a monthly column for Pilot.

Franz Muller and his wife, Rocky, from Cody, Nebraska, arrived at Expo late Thursday after Muller completed his seaplane rating at Brown's Seaplane Base in Winter Haven, Florida. He said he enjoyed his first Expo in 10 years as an AOPA member. "I just wish I had time to go to more of the events," said Muller, who missed some seminars in order to attend Friday's general session with FAA Administrator Jane Garvey. "There are so many things going on."

Garvey said that AOPA's recently announced medical certification initiative was "a real common-sense approach." Asked about the future of Meigs Field in Chicago, she said, "As a principle, we absolutely want to keep [airports] open. [Airports are] one of the strengths of the system." Garvey was quick to acknowledge, however, that "there may have to be exceptions."

Michele Chotkowski of New York City is a pre-solo student pilot who came to Expo to find a Project Pilot mentor. Chotkowski, a nurse who recently learned to sail, has enjoyed her flying lessons so far. "I was just due for something new to learn," she explained. "I love to learn." Chotkowski said that she found the seminars to be very informative and helpful, and the people to be very friendly.

Mike Hagy, a CFI and Project Pilot participant from Warsaw, Indiana, agreed to serve as Chotkowski's mentor. Hagy started flying in his student-pilot father's Piper J-3 Cub and eventually became a flight instructor — in time to sign off his father for the private pilot checkride. Hagy later worked for an airline and now pursues other business interests, but he still instructs. "The main thing we need to stress is the importance of getting young people involved," he explained.

More than 1,600 AOPA Expo guests enjoyed a private party at Sea World of Florida on Friday evening. After a dinner buffet, Shamu and friends presented an after-hours performance. Members and their families sitting in the Shamu Stadium's lower rows had an opportunity to practice their emergency egress techniques when the largest killer whale in captivity exercised its tail, dousing with cold salt water those seated in the first dozen rows. Following the show, guests enjoyed several park attractions and dessert. One member looked up when a Piper Seminole flew over the festivities, shook his head slowly, and remarked, "He's too late." Fireworks and a laser light show, some of which was projected onto a cascade of water, capped the memorable evening.

Saturday morning's general session was dedicated to the preservation of an endangered species — the general aviation airport. Boyer noted a comment made by FAA Administrator Garvey the previous morning, when she stated that Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater says air travel will be to the next century what highways have been to the latter half of the twentieth century. Yet, Boyer observed, the Clinton administration wanted to cut airport funding by nearly one third. (AOPA Legislative Action lobbied Congress to increase the administration's $1 billion request, and Congress did — by almost 50 percent, to $1.45 billion.)

AOPA's Laurence P. Sharples Award for aviation advocacy was presented to Steve Whitney, founder and president of Friends of Meigs Field in Chicago, who led local efforts against the city's attempt to convert the lakefront airport into a park. "The most important lesson to be learned is this: You can make a difference," Whitney said.

Susan Larson, a founding member of the Coalition for Responsible Airport Management and Policy (CRAMP), received the Joseph Crotti Award for advocacy in California. CRAMP has labored tirelessly on behalf of airports in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, including Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose, where Larson keeps her Cessna 182. "It is a fight that goes on," she said. "It's gone on for many years, and it will continue."

Bill Dunn, who started CRAMP and is now AOPA's vice president for regional affairs, unveiled AOPA's new Airport Support Network, which seeks to develop a core of individuals into airport advocates. The eventual goal is to have an AOPA Airport Support Network volunteer at every airport, to serve as a local advocate and keep the association informed on potential threats to the airport. "The benefit is that it will allow us all to be proactive, rather than reactive," Dunn explained. Too often, he said, AOPA learns of problems only a few hours before a meeting at which a city council or county board will vote to close an airport — AOPA responds, but in such a case it is usually too late for the association to be effective.

"Susan [Larson] and Steve Whitney are exactly the kind of people we'd like to be delegates," Boyer said. Initially, the program will target airports that are at the greatest risk. "The six main reasons that airports close can all be overcome," Boyer observed.

AOPA's Hartranft Award for government services was presented at the Saturday night closing banquet to Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA), chairman of the House Appropriations transportation subcommittee. Wolf was honored for his work on a bill that maintains fuel taxes, instead of user fees, as the vehicle through which general aviation can continue to pay for its share of air traffic control system costs. More recently, Wolf — who was not able to accept his award in person — derailed a bill that would have ended airports' grant obligations.

Boyer himself was surprised by the presentation of an award by Rol Murrow on behalf of the Air Care Alliance. The award recognized support from Boyer that helped to launch the organization, which comprises volunteer medical airlift groups.

Following the banquet, student pilot Leo Thietje of Fremont, Nebraska, reflected on his third consecutive Expo. "The camaraderie is great," said Thietje. "I also liked the safety seminars and the product displays." Thietje compared several handheld GPSs at the convention before purchasing his favorite. His wife, Joanne, was the student pilot in the family when they attended AOPA Expo '95 in Atlantic City, New Jersey; now she's hard at work on her instrument rating. Thietje started an AOPA family membership during Expo; Joanne had joined in 1994.

The Thietjes have been accompanying Kyler and Carolyn Nelson, also of Fremont, to Expos in Atlantic City; San Jose, California; and Orlando. In fact, Kyler was Joanne Thietje's AOPA Project Pilot mentor, and Carolyn is a regular at the Pinch-Hitter seminar. The two couples obviously agree on general aviation — and they agree that they'll be visiting Palm Springs, California, next October 23 to 25 for AOPA Expo '98.

AOPA Expo '98 will take place at the Wyndham Hotel and Convention Center in Palm Springs, California. Highlights will include an aircraft static display in the streets adjacent to the convention center, an evening social event at the new Palm Springs Air Museum, and a meeting of the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Association's World Congress in Palm Springs just prior to Expo. Look for additional information in future issues of AOPA Pilot.

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