Rain set in early Friday morning in Hartford, shifting the focus from nearby AirportFest to the indoor exhibits and seminars at the Hartford Convention Center. Cirrus Aircraft got a lot of attention on the heals of their 5,000th delivery as well as Dave Klapmeier’s return to Cirrus as their new CEO. On the opposite end of the floor was brother Alan Klapmeier’s company, the Kestrel Aircraft Company with their roomy single-engine turboprop mockup. Terafugia’s roadable airplane was another big hit attracting crowds of people on the verge of realizing their dream of the flying car.
Highlights from the seminar floor were Max Trescott’s thorough and technical talk on the finer points of GPS and WAAS approaches and a candid panel discussion on Spin Myths by Dave Hirschman, Judy Phelps and Mike Goulian. Ian Twombly and John Zimmerman’s seminar on iPad’s in the cockpit stole the show with a full house — over 450 in attendance, an indication of the increasing interest in mobile apps.
