Oshkosh Day 3 – Showing the Peach
Posted on Jul 28, 2010 by R. Steven Justice |
“It’s nice to see the Georgia peach at Oshkosh!” That was the comment of one Georgian as he visited our exhibit at EAA Airventure this week. The joint MGC/COIA exhibit has become a small part of home for the thousands of Georgian’s visiting Oshkosh to be part of this annual aviation event. We’ve had people like Clark and Sue Schadle from Fayetteville, Jerry Cadle from Swainsboro, Sherrell Gay from Augusta, Steve Champness of the Atlanta Aero Club, and others from throughout our state come by to visit our exhibit during the first three days of Airventure. They are universally supportive of our efforts promoting Georgia’s aerospace industry to the world to bring more jobs and economic activity to our state. However even our Georgia visitors are surprised when they hear the good news about Georgia aerospace. They know aerospace is important to Georgia, but they never guessed that we have over 84,000 jobs in over 500 companies with $5.2 billion in annual payroll and the over $3.4 billion in aerospace exports. They are even more surprised, and happy, to hear that Georgia aerospace export have grown 55% and aerospace jobs have grown over 4.5% over the last four years and are projected to grow even more in the next 18 months! Spreading this “good news” about Georgia aerospace is a major mission of our exhibit in Oshkosh this week. With over 500,000 visitors and 700 companies exhibiting during the week long event, we have a great opportunity to educate the aerospace community about aerospace in Georgia and why they should consider Georgia for new business ventures. We have several Georgia aerospace companies here including Maule Aircraft, Aircraft Spruce & Specialty, Eastman Aviation, MS760 and ALFRed Technologies as examples of the diverse aerospace industry in Georgia. Having MGC here with us is a great asset to show prospective companies that Georgia has a strong aviation/aerospace education infrastructure that can serve the need of growing aerospace companies. Together we are letting the aerospace community know that Georgia is a great place for aerospace. We agree with our Georgia visitor; it is very nice to see the Georgia peach at Oshkosh!
Posted on Jul 27, 2010 by Amy Hudnall |
The skies are grey but DRY, so there has been a good crowd today enjoying the warm weather. After all the delays and airfield closings, it’s nice to have everything up and running smoothly. What a testament to good contingency planning on EAA’s part! Especially impressive is the volunteer spirit, there are volunteer booths throughout the grounds offering the opportunity for attendees to pitch in and help create a great show experience for everyone. Today we’ve had our team mate from Economic Development, Chris Pumphries here to travel the show with us talking to companies about the unique opportunities of locating your business in Georgia, including support by the Center of Innovation Aerospace team. With the synergy of over 500 aerospace companies located in Georgia, we have a broad base of skills sets and suppliers to support your aerospace venture. Today’s event schedule included Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and TSA Administrator John Pisotole jointly announcing a new General Aviation security awareness program expanding on the “If You See Something Say Something” security-awareness campaign begun in NYC after Sept 11th. In addition, the Dept of Homeland Security announced it will streamline the existing pre-screening process for pilots and passengers using general aviation for international travel. Outgoing EAA president Tom Poberenzy said the two program announcements are “important steps toward ensuring continued general aviation security and access.” Time to go watch the afternoon air show!
Oshkosh Day 1 – We’re Finally Ready!
Posted on Jul 26, 2010 by R. Steven Justice |
After fighting the effects of record rainfall in Wisconsin during July, the joint COIA and Middle Georgia College (MGC) exhibit at EAA AirVenture is now open for business! The EAA has done a great job adjusting to the challenge of handling the thousands of campers and aircraft that have converged on a much waterlogged Whitman Field. The rains ended Saturday morning, but the rains left much of the aircraft parking, camping and exhibit spaces under water. By Sunday the efforts of everyone here had improved conditions quite a bit and set-up could begin in earnest. Sunday was a bright and sunny day that helped dry out the area as COIA-MGC began setting up tents, parking aircraft, and unfurling banners. Monday emerged bright and dry to kick off a great week at the world’s largest aviation event. The COIA-MGC exhibit is located right at the center of AirVenture next to Aeroshell Square. From our exhibit site we can see most of the major aircraft company exhibits as well as the large display aircraft such as the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Douglas DC-3 and DC-7 piston airliners, and other historic aircraft. The COIA-MGC exhibit features a large star tent which houses the main display for MGC and COIA along with a smaller MGC recruitment tent and the MGC Piper PA-44 Warrior training aircraft. In addition, the exhibit features two joint COIA/MGC/company projects to develop new aerospace projects. Eastman Aerospace is displaying their Z-750 Special Missions aircraft aimed at providing low cost aerial support for local law enforcement. The Z-750 Special Missions aircraft can provide much of the onsite aerial support normally associated with helicopters, but at a much lower cost. ALFrED Technologies is demonstrating their prototype device, built by MGC, which utilizes linear sound technology to repel birds from airport environments. The use of linear sound is more effective than other existing devices in keeping birds clear of airports to reduce the potential for aircraft bird strikes. We’re already getting a big crowd coming through the exhibit, so I’ll sign off for now. More blogs to follow as we spend the week at Oshkosh!
Georgia Technology Innovators Wanted for Venture Atlanta 2010
Posted on Jul 6, 2010 by R. Steven Justice |
Venture Atlanta, Georgia’s technology innovation conference, is seeking presenters for its annual investor gathering to be held October 12-13, 2010 at the Georgia Aquarium. Organizers are seeking technology or technology-enabled businesses in all stages of growth that are currently raising or looking to raise capital within the next 12 months. This does include Georgia based aerospace businesses! For more information, go to www.ventureatlanta.org, or contact Allyson Eman at aeman@ventureatlanta.org By Allyson Eman, Executive Director at Venture Atlanta
Georgia Aero Organizations - Strong & Growing
Posted on May 26, 2010 by R. Steven Justice |
Since taking over as the Director of the Center of Innovation for Aerospace, I have worked to strengthen our local aerospace organizations and the connections between the organizations. Strong professional and business organizations are vital to having a robust aerospace environment in our state to attract new aerospace jobs. Over the last week I have had the pleasure of attending two excellent meetings of local aerospace organizations. Last Thursday I attended the Atlanta Aero Club to hear the presentation of Jeffrey Skiles, Co-Pilot on the U.S. Airways A-320 that encountered a flock of Canadian Geese after takeoff in NYC in 2009. The presentation was entertaining, funny at times, and educational in revealing the little known details of the ditching of the aircraft in the Hudson River with no loss of life. Then five days later I attended the meeting of the AIAA Atlanta Section which featured the former Chief Engineer of the Lockheed Martin “Skunk Works”, Dr. Paul Bevilaqua, speaking on the development of the Joint Strike Fighter, now known as the F-35. The presentation was also engaging while discussing the finer points of the engineering development of the aircraft including its unique Short Takeoff & Vertical Landing (STOVL) propulsion system. When the F-35 completes its development program, it promises to be the western world’s leading fighter aircraft for the foreseeable future. I was particularly pleased to see members of other aerospace organizations at each of the meetings. Many of the AIAA membership attended the Atlanta Aero Club meeting, while the President of the Atlanta Aero Club and the President of the Atlanta Chapter of Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) attended the AIAA meeting. I hope that we can continue to work together to improve the coordination between our aerospace organizations to serve and expand our aerospace family in Georgia!