Increasing public awareness of GA through air shows

[fuzzy6988]

I attended Farnborough Air Show and saw a magnificent display of aircraft, plus many exhibitors in the halls. I had a truly enjoyable time.

Essentially the categories of aviation of the exhibitors boiled down to the following:
- Military / defence / security related
- Manufacturing / engineering / avionics
- Commercial related (e.g. airbus, rolls royce, dunlop tyres)

What I found interesting was the presence of all age groups, including women and children. So far, I generally see older men in the clubs/lounges of the many airfields I've flown to - probably somewhat representative of the (private) flying population and amateur enthusiasts.

In particular, with the exception of Diamond showing their DA-42NG and a few business jets, the GA scene was nowhere to be seen. Should there have been a sizeable GA presence? Is this the right show to do it? Could AOPA be involved in any extent?

Imagine another hall with flight training organisations, and other various companies showing how GA is involved in the UK. And Cessna, Piper, etc. showcasing and sellling their aircraft...

With increased public awareness and uptake of flying, future lobbying could be more effective to overcome the various issues GA faces.

[Flyingfemme]

Farnborough is not about GA (except the very top end), it is about military and airline kit. Only the last bit is open to the public and that's probably only about cash grabbing for the organisers. The exhibitors are not interested in the public at all.......

I don't imagine that any of the small manufacturers or training organisations could afford to show there.

[leiafee]

We did our share of flag waving for the GA end of things at the Build a Plane / LAA Youth and Education stand. Got through several boxes of magazines between Fairford and Farnborough, and talked to lots of parents about GA flying, costs, and how to learn while their sproglets (and a fair few dads) sat in aeroplanes and waggled the controls...

Futures day on Friday had some of the larger outfits like Cabair and Oxford there. Cirrus were in static area.

Donations to the LAA Educational Trust were sufficiently generous to surprise us when we totted up. The thought occurs that the big airshows really are NOT a cheap day out and a significant number even of the general public who go do have money to spend. Not outside the realms of hope to think they might be persuaded to spend it on GA...

On the other hand I also had a pile of "Ways to get cheap/free flying" listing all the grants and organisations I know of that offer access to flying, and I didn't get through quite so many of those.

People think it's DIFFICULT as much as they think it's expensive, and airshows with all the whirly flying, don't exactly make it look any easier!