Due to a change in the United States Congress schedule, both houses are now scheduled to be in session on Monday, Dec. 16, forcing the Wichita Aero Club to revise its plans for the annual On-Air Summit.
Instead of members of Congress, three leaders from aviation industry suppliers will make up the panel and Daniel McCoy, aviation reporter for the Wichita Business Journal, will moderate the discussion.
This will be an opportunity to hear from leaders of the companies that supply many of the components and systems used by the industry’s OEMs. They face their own unique set of challenges and regulations and how they deal with them influences the efficiency and success of the airframe manufacturers they serve, club officials note.
The 2013 On-Air Summit Panelists include:
- Rod Wilson, president of Air Capital Interiors. Previously, he was the Director of Business Development, Regional and Business Aircraft for Goodrich Interiors. Rod graduated from Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. Rod spent 14 years at Cessna in a variety of leadership roles and also spent five years at Schneider National, Inc.
- Woody Cottner, founder and vice president of engineering Global Aviation Technologies. Woody’s Aviation career started at Beechcraft in 1978 as an R & E Assembler. He then went to Boeing Military Aircraft Company where he provided avionics modification support on the F4, KC-135 & B-52 programs. He also spent time as a Flight Test Engineering Technician at McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach prior to returning to Wichita to work for Bombardier Learjet. He left Bombardier Learjet in 2002 to start Global Aviation Technologies, which provides system integration and harness manufacturing capabilities to support out-of-production aircraft.
- Jason Cox, Chief Technical Officer at Cox Machine, Inc., a Wichita-based supplier of aerospace components and assemblies. His primary focus is on integrating technology with the manufacturing process. Jason holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. Before coming to Cox, he worked as a design engineer for Cessna. Jason also serves on the Board of Trustees and as Treasurer of Exploration Place, the Sedgwick County Science and Discovery Center.
The luncheon will be held in the Grand Ballroom of the Doubletree Hotel by Hilton at Wichita Airport and will begin at 11:45 a.m. and end at 1:30 p.m.
Reservations can be made online. The cost to attend the summit is $30 for members and $40 for non-members.