AFA Launches Air Show

In 1997, the Dayton Air Show shared its home with a tradeshow and conference for the final time. Lonely no longer, the Air Show will once again be joined by an exposition, sharing not only space, but also possibly attendees.

The United States Air, Trade and Technology Expo will be held July 13-18 at the Dayton (Ohio) Intl. Airport and the Hope Hotel & Conference Center, which is adjacent to the airport and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The Expo is co-owned and co-managed by the Ohio State Air Force Assn., the Dayton Area Defense Contractors Assn. and Technology Forums.

“All three ... (groups) co-own the program, and we're co-managing the event and leading the agenda and logistics and everything on it,” said Frank Powell, president of Technology Forums.

The Dayton Air Show, which, although held at the same time and in the same location, is a free-standing event, scheduled July 18-19, according to John McCance, president of the Ohio State Air Force Assn.

McCance said a study commissioned by Ohio U.S. Rep. Mike Turner determined the need for an aerospace convention and tradeshow in the continental U.S. to support second- and third-tier aerospace contractors.

“Subcontractors and sub-subcontractors in the aerospace and defense community typically do not have the financial wherewithal to go to ... any overseas market to exhibit for (or) to attend the conferences,” McCance said. “They're just too cost-prohibitive.”

Although there is an annual Air Force Assn. Aerospace Technology Exposition, which was held Feb. 21-22 in Orlando, McCance said that it showcases hardware, and the U.S. Air, Trade and Technology Expo will focus on what smaller contractors are capable of bringing to clients.

“(The U.S. Air, Trade and Technology Expo is) more designed to showcase capability and focus on second- and third-tier companies,” he added. “To bring them greater visibility in a cost-effective environment where they have one-on-one access to some of the key decision makers in this process.”

The conference portion of the expo will include a number of different tracks, such as the annual Wright Dialogue with Industry, produced by the Dayton Area Defense Contractors Assn.

The Wright Dialogue with Industry, an annual event, with or without the exposition, works with Air Force Research Laboratories, including Wright-Patterson, to bring together Tier I, Tier II and Tier III contractors to move forward the basic, advanced and applied research and technologies that the laboratories and academic institutions completed in the past year.

Other sessions include propulsion and fuel systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles.

“Why we pick those ... is because (they) are applicable in one degree or another ... to the aerospace industry in the United States,” McCance said.

Most seminars and the tradeshow exhibits will be open to the sector of the public with some sort of piloting credentials issued by the FAA, CAA or a number of other agencies, McCance said. The Wright Dialogue with Industry will be open only to those with proper certification.

“We're looking at a number of different types of credentials that people could produce that would allow them access to the facility,” McCance said. “We're looking for that small percentage of people that either fly now, have flown or are thinking about flying in the future.”

The biennial U.S. Air, Trade and Technology Expo is scheduled again in 2011. McCance said show owners will then assess the tradeshow to see if and how often the entire program and conference is needed. The Wright Dialogue with Industry will continue to be held annually.