General Aviation Community Encouraged to Join Air Show Pros at Annual Convention

Air Show Industry to Descend on Las Vegas this December

LEESBURG, Va. - The International Council of Air Shows (ICAS) will hold its 49^th annual convention December 5-8, 2016, at Paris Las Vegas on the famous Las Vegas Strip, and its encouraging aviation professionals, from airport managers to pilots, to join the air show industry’s largest business gathering of air show professionals.

“If you’re thinking about hosting an air show event at your local airport, or if you’re a pilot interested in breaking into the air show business, the ICAS Convention provides an excellent learning opportunity,” said ICAS President John Cudahy.

ICAS has organized the largest, most diverse education program in the convention’s history with 51 separate education sessions and more than 80 hours of instruction over four days. Beginning Monday, December 5, the education program includes a First-Timers Orientation, Air Shows 101: Air/Ground Operations Training seminar, an expanded Sponsorship for Events Workshop and the new Introduction to Air Shows for Performers Workshop.

Education, conversation and fun have been the enduring themes of the ICAS Convention for nearly five decades. The organization believes that the more knowledge those involved with air shows have, the quality of the product consumed by spectators expands dramatically and increases attendance, which helps everyone from the locally hired hot dog vendor to a municipality’s bottom line. The convention’s 60,000-square-foot exhibit hall also boasts a Who’s Who of over 200 air show performers.

“Long before it established a reputation as the premier educational opportunity in the business with the largest exhibit hall in the air show industry, the ICAS Convention was recognized as the place air show people go to meet and learn from one another,” said Cudahy. “There is simply no better place for people new to air shows to learn the business and to develop and foster relationships than at the ICAS Convention.”

The convention concludes Thursday evening, December 8, following its Chairman’s Banquet where ICAS will recognize its newest Hall of Fame inductees and present awards for showmanship, community relations, and overall contributions to the air show industry.

If you are interested in attending the ICAS Convention and beginning your membership in the air show industry’s only professional trade association, check out ICAS’s Convention Preview, then call or email ICAS Headquarters at 703-779-8510 or icas@airshows.aero.

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