The impact of COVID-19 will be felt for years, which has led the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association to take a different approach to its events in 2021.
“The year 2020 has been altered in almost every aspect of daily life, and AOPA has felt the sting through the postponement and cancelation of its most popular fly-in events,” officials said in a recent press release.
“With the uncertainties surrounding what 2021 will look like, we wanted to develop a special event model for this coming year that will build in tremendous flexibility and scalability,” said Chris Eads, senior director of outreach and events.
“We are really excited with the plan our team has created — two different types of events that focus on bringing AOPA pilots together in smaller settings with more intimate gatherings with AOPA leaders and our friends in the aviation industry.”
AOPA will take the coming year off from producing its regional fly-ins, instead debuting the AOPA Aviator Showcase and the AOPA Pilot Gathering Air Tour.
AOPA Aviator Showcase
The showcase includes two events — one each in the East and West— geared toward pilots and aircraft owners. These events will feature 40 to 50 exhibitors and around 25 to 30 exhibit aircraft, and offer seminars related to aircraft ownership, technology demonstrations, and product presentations from exhibitors.
AOPA Pilot Gathering Air Tour
AOPA will offer members the opportunity to interact in person with association officials, mingle and learn from each other, and build on their aviation inspiration through two multi-day, multi-stop tours that visit several cities throughout the United States.
Each stop on the Air Tour will feature a Pilot Town Hall, round-table discussions with AOPA leadership, and an Air Safety Institute safety session.
These series of “intimate gatherings” are anticipated to occur in spring 2021 and another later in the fall, according to AOPA officials.
“It will take many months to plan these events, with a lot of moving parts, but we believe that this strategy represents the best possible opportunity to interact with our members, exhibitors and sponsors, and the aviation community,” Eads said. “The strategy allows us to abide by any local health guidelines and have the ability to flex in size depending on conditions at the time the events are held.”
Specifics about timing and locales are still be ironed out, but AOPA officials said they are “confident that whether you are an aircraft owner, an experienced pilot, rusty pilot, new pilot, student pilot, or simply love flying, AOPA events will have something for everyone.”