INTEREST IN ICAS CONVENTION SPIKES
With the 2009 ICAS Convention less than seven weeks away, interest in the upcoming edition of this 42-year tradition is spiking. All of the leading indicators tracked by ICAS -- hotel sleeping room reservations, number of delegates, registration revenue, number of booths, and booth revenue -- are higher than they were at this same point last year. Some are as high as they’ve ever been.
What’s it all mean? We’re not sure. It could be that ICAS members see light at the end of the tunnel and are positioning themselves to be ready for the upturn. It could be that, even during a downturn, ICAS members see the annual convention as a “can’t miss” opportunity to do business and compare notes. But, whatever the cause, it’s clear that ICAS members are gearing up for a big convention this year.
TUCKER TO APPEAR ON OPRAH WINFREY SHOW THIS THURSDAY
Program the DVR. ICAS member and air show performer Sean Tucker makes an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, this Thursday, October 22. Check your local listings for exact time and channel.
AIR SHOW RETURNS TO MUSKEGON
The Muskegon (Michigan) Summer Celebration, a popular regional music festival, will add an air show component to its 2010 event. Scheduled for June 26 and 27, the show will be held on Muskegon’s waterfront and is expected to complement and boost interest in the long-running music festival, now entering its 18th year. The air show will be held on the first weekend of the eleven-day Summer Celebration.
From 1983 until 2006, Muskegon hosted one of the most successful and well-organized air shows in all of North America.
REMEMBERING ART SCHOLL
As the 2009 air show season draws to a close and the Art Scholl Memorial Showmanship Award Selection Committee prepares to select the 2009 recipient of the air show community’s most prestigious performer award, we thought it would be appropriate to remind our members why our industry’s pinnacle award for air show entertainment is named after Art Scholl and why winning the award is widely recognized as the greatest honor that can be bestowed on an air show performer.
To see Art Scholl performing in his deHavilland Super Chipmunk more than 25 years ago, click on this link, or this link or this one. As you watch, remember that he was flying world-class aerobatics in a plane that, even in the 1980s, was considered more antique than state of the art. Scholl integrated wing-tip smoke, music, an inverted ribbon cut, his trademark standing-up-on-the-seat-with-the-canopy-open pass, and a whole host of other innovations designed to make his air show performance not just an exhibition of his talent as an aviator, but a reflection of his understanding that an air show performance must appeal to everybody in the crowd, not just the relatively small percentage of the audience who understand aviation. Art even scripted a role in the act for his dog, Aileron.
The award that has carried his name for the last 23 years now also includes the names of our community’s most effective entertainers and most innovative performers: Jimmy Franklin, the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, Craig Hosking, Bob Hoover, Johnny Kazian, Leo Loudenslager, Sean Tucker, the French Connection, Danny Clisham, the Red Baron Pizza Squadron, Les Shockley, Wayne Handley, Julie Clark, John Mohr, Tora Tora Tora, Jim LeRoy, Rich’s Incredible Pyro, the AeroShell Aerobatic Team, Bud Granley, Michael Goulian, Kent Pietsch, and Gene Soucy. As fine a performer as Art Scholl was, the stature and distinction of the award has only grown with each award that has been presented.
The 2009 Art Scholl Memorial Showmanship Award will be presented at the ICAS Chairman’s Banquet on Wednesday, December 9 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
BEWARE OF INTERNET OFFERS: GES IS THE OFFICIAL ICAS EXHIBIT CONTRACTOR
Several members recently forwarded to us an e-mail solicitation that they received from Metro Exhibits, a provider of tradeshow rental solutions in the Las Vegas area.
GES is the official 2009 ICAS Convention exhibit contractor. Although use of outside contractors is not prohibited, you should be aware that drayage and handling fees often increase the expense of using an outside contractor to the point that it is no longer affordable.
If you have any questions about the use of outside exhibit contractors, please contact Karen Connors at ICAS headquarters (connors@airshows.aero) or by phone: 703-779-8510).
TWO KILLED IN LIBYAN AIR SHOW ACCIDENT
Two colonels in the Libyan air force were killed on Wednesday, October 7 when the two-seat MiG-23 they were flying crashed during the Lavex 2009 Air Show in Tripoli. The jet hit a small house on the ground, injuring two women in the building. The cause of the accident is being investigated.
UPDATE ON GREG COLYER, T-33 HERITAGE FOUNDATION
Greg Colyer and the T-33 Heritage Foundation are new ICAS members based in Hercules, California. Colyer presents his act as a living-history tribute to the veterans and aircraft of the Korean War era. For more information, check out the organization’s website at www.T33HeritageFoundation.org.
2009 CONVENTION SPONSORS PROVIDE IMPORTANT BOOST
As the ICAS Convention draws near, we wanted to once again thank the corps of ICAS Convention sponsors who have supported ICAS and the ICAS Convention. The financial boost that the convention receives from these organizations has made it possible for ICAS to have less-than-inflation price increases during the last 15 years. Indeed, most fees associated with the convention have remained more or less flat even as the benefits and programs offered in conjunction with the ICAS Convention have increased. That’s entirely due to the support of our sponsors.
So, while you’re making your way around the ICAS exhibit hall floor in Las Vegas this December, please make a special point of thanking these generous industry leaders, including AirShowBuzz and The Horsemen; Air Boss & Consulting, Inc.; Julie Clark’s Chevron Mentor T-34; Stallion 51 and The Gathering Foundation; Eagle Air/Chuck Vincent; Aerostars; Air Boss, Inc.; John Klatt and Air National Guard; Team Chaos; Insurance Technologies & Programs; Eddie Andreini Airshows; Greg Poe Air Shows; Commemorative Air Force/Tora Tora Tora; AirSupport, LLC; Shannon & Luchs Insurance Agency; Jim Peitz Aerosports; Nalls Aviation; Mach 1 Productions; Jacquie ‘B’ Airshows; Mohr Barnstorming; Team Rocket; Gordon Bowman-Jones; ValleyWide Communications; Rob Reider; and OnBoard Images.
For information on how your organization might become a sponsor of the 2009 ICAS Convention, contact ICAS headquarters by phone at 703-779-8510 or by e-mail at icas@airshows.aero.
© International Council of Air Shows, Inc.
750 Miller Drive, Suite F-3
Leesburg, Virginia 20175
Phone: 703-779-8510
Website: www.airshows.aero
E-mail: icas@airshows.aero
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