Delivering the keynote address at the Northwest Aviation Conference on Feb. 21, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association president Craig L. Fuller announced an ambitious plan and a new name for the association’s annual meeting, to be held this November in Tampa.
“I am excited to announce the AOPA Aviation Summit, a completely new take on AOPA’s annual convention gathering,” Fuller said. “It is all our Expo event has offered and more. We want to help you connect to the reasons that you fly so you can maximize the value you get from your personal aviation experience, whether you fly for business, pleasure, or both.”
The AOPA Aviation Summit at the Tampa Convention Center will still feature hundreds of exhibitor booths, Fuller said, but in a 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 will be the place to see airplanes, but “will highlight other aspects of general aviation that members are not used to seeing,” Fuller stated. “Even the social functions will have a new look and feel, with exciting new elements attendees have never seen before,” he said.
According to Fuller, the biggest difference will be off the exhibit floor, where the 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 non-flyers alike.”
Extending an invitation to AOPA members and non-members alike, Fuller concluded: “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. I hope you will join us in Tampa, November 5th through 7th, to be part of the first-ever AOPA Summit on our seventieth anniversary.
“It will be a historic event,,” he said, “and your participation is an important step in shaping the future.”
