New education tracks debut at AOPA Summit

The 2013 AOPA Aviation Summit will have a new twist: Educational seminars will be laid out in five easy-to-follow tracks focused on the leading concerns of pilots. The tracks are Pilot Skills, Aircraft Maintenance, Medical and Legal, Technology, and Leading Luminaries.

This year’s Summit will also feature a new interactive environment called “Ask the Experts,”  designed to create a collaborative discussion and Q&A format with expert leaders in the areas of air traffic control, medical, flight training, and dealing with law enforcement.

“We wanted to offer our attendees a wide variety of educational opportunities along subjects that are very important to them and their flying. By organizing our offerings into easy-to-follow topic tracks, our members can quickly assess their options each day to maximize their learning experience,” said Chris Eads, AOPA’s director of outreach and events. “They can quickly see how various topics will be covered throughout the week, and choose which seminar to attend based on where they see their other areas of interest being covered.”

Within the seminars, AOPA has added a number of new subjects, including how to use in-flight video for fun and learning, performing an avionics upgrade, accomplishing owner-performed maintenance, and learning about top aviation apps.

All the seminars and educational forums at Summit will be led by talented aviation experts and educators. “We carefully selected presenters this year who have been well-received at previous events or who are known among the industry as well-regarded speakers and educators,” said Eads. “We do have several exciting presentations from leading aviators in our `Leading Luminaries’ track, including Marine One pilot Lindy Kirkland, Air Force fighter pilot Larry Brown, SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul, Airshow legend Michael Goulian, and the always popular Rod Machado and John and Martha King.” 

This year’s Summit will offer more than 80 hours of content programming in 42 seminars, 16 Interactive Stage and AirportFest presentations, four “Ask the Experts” panel discussions, and three keynote sessions. For a second consecutive year, the American Bonanza Society will hold its annual convention in conjunction with Aviation Summit, and it will be offering its members another 20 hours of Bonanza-specific educational content.