After the tremendous success of the first King Air Gathering held in March of this year, the King Air Society will be holding the King Air Gathering II next month at Stevens Aviation in Dayton, OH (KDAY). The event will take place on Friday, September 29th and Saturday, September 30th.
“We did the first one and hit the limit and we had several people who a) were on a waitlist, and b) wondered if we could do one more towards the east coast.” said event organizer Kevin Carson (of King Air Academy).
Carson had talked with Stevens Aviation at the first event, who offered to step up and host the second one. The Stevens facility at Dayton, OH provides a good central location with the perfect amount of space to properly accommodate the gathering’s sessions and many King Air flying in. This will also allow for new breakout sessions to take place on Saturday of the event.
“We will break up into two groups, with one group going through King Air flight and piloting sessions, and the 2nd group going to the hangar for Owner/Pilot Maintenance,” said Carson.
Carson noted this would allow people to focus more on what they want to do and are interested in. There will also be optional tours offered on the dates before and after the conference: a Hartzell Tour of the propeller factory (September 28th), and a visit to the Air Force Museum on Sunday (October 1st).
The event will also feature many top-notch speakers. Dr. David Strahle will give the keynote presentation on Friday. The father of Datalink NEXRAD, Dr. Strahle will talk about utilizing the system for thunderstorm avoidance. Captain Robert “Hoot” Gibson will speak on Saturday; he flew 5 missions aboard the Space Shuttles CHALLENGER, COLUMBIA, ATLANTIS & ENDEAVOUR, once as Co-Pilot and 4 times as the Mission Commander. Other speakers include Tom Clements, Jack Braly, Paul Jones, Paul Sneden and Dean Benedict. A full breakdown of the speakers can be found here.
For those owners, pilots and enthusiasts interested in attending the event, registration can be completed at the King Air Society website. Cost is $250 per attendee (limited availability). According to the website, there is a requirement that attendees need to either own or fly a King Air.
Schedule below:
