Almost 1,000 people attended the first-ever Southeast Aviation Show at South Carolina’s Greenville Downtown Airport (GMU) Saturday, Oct. 29. Weather had a big impact on the show. Rain the day before no doubt kept some pilots from flying in, while the keynote speaker, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association President Craig Fuller had to “phone in” his talk because of the snowstorm that hit the East Coast over the weekend.
According to airport spokeswoman Lara Kaufmann, total attendance was 973. Of that number, 227 were pilots, she noted. “Several vendors told me that this was a much more productive show for them then others they have done lately since so many aviation people were there,” she said.
The show had 40 exhibitors and sponsors for its first year, almost filling one hangar. The other hangar was the setting for a variety of seminars, from Flying on a Budget to tips for using the iPad in the cockpit.
One of the coolest exhibits was a series of photographs of the aviators inducted into the South Carolina Aviation Hall of Fame. Each plaque had a photo of the person as they appeared when they were inducted, then would morph through a hologram to a photo of the person when they were young.
There were several aircraft on display at the show, from helicopters to a Cirrus SR22 to a Flight Design Light-Sport Aircraft.
Show organizers will meet this Friday to begin planning next year’s show, Kaufmann noted.
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