ICAS Announces Opening Keynote Presentation For 2022 Convention

Top Gun Maverick, how it was made and what its popularity means to the air show community will be the topic of the opening keynote session for the 2022 ICAS Convention. Featuring three individuals intimately involved with the aerial footage featured in this $1.5 BILLION-grossing movie, the panel discussion-style session will give you insight on what has made the film one of the top ten money-earners of all time and what the air show community can learn from that success.

The film, described by its star Tom Cruise as a love letter to aviation, features flying footage that is more realistic than anything previously seen on the big screen. And our three panelists were intimately involved in helping to make the movie so authentic. Commander Frank “Walleye” Weisser is a former U.S. Navy Blue Angel who flew many of the most dramatic, low-altitude F-18 Hornet segments included in the film. Kevin LaRosa II is the aviation cinematographer who shot much of that footage. And long-time ICAS member and air show performer Chuck Coleman was involved in the orientation and flight training for all of the actors with pilot roles in the movie. The session will be moderated by media consultant and digital content creator Steph Stricklen.

“For ICAS members, the popularity of Top Gun Maverick is more than a film industry success story,” says ICAS President John Cudahy. “It’s an opportunity for our industry to better understand why our events have been so popular for so long and an instruction manual for how to better access and take advantage of the general public’s deep-seated fascination with flight.”

The opening general session of the 2022 ICAS Convention will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 13 in the Hoover general session room of the Forum Conference Center in Las Vegas. The panel discussion will be immediately followed by the release of the 2024 performance schedules for the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, and the 2023 performance schedules for the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, CF-18, F-35A, F-22, F-16, A-10, V-22 and AV8-B single ship demo teams.