AMDA Foundation is reporting very strong interest in the upcoming RotorTech exhibition and conference in Brisbane, both from exhibitors and conference delegates.
RotorTech has gone from strength to strength in the past few years, forcing AMDA Foundation to relocate from the Gold Coast to Brisbane as the event out-grew its traditional venue.
After record-setting numbers in 2021, there was overwhelming support another RotorTech in 2022, which is being reflected in visitor registrations.
"We are already seeing a good variety and specialisation of visitors intending to join us at RotorTech 2022," said new AMDA CEO Justin Giddings. "There is already strong representation from law enforcement, search and rescue and aeromedical services operators, plus aerial firefighting companies.
"Our registering visitors are people who are on the front line of operations in many of the fields that are facing challenges in the industry today. Their presence will ensure lively debate from people qualified to offer an opinion."
Last year the exhibition featured 140 companies that displayed to 1800 visitors. AMDA Foundation is hoping to break that record this year with expo space well subscribed.
Companies already on the expo books include Boeing, Airbus, Jet Aviation, Honeywell, Eagle Australasia and Safran.
Both the Australian Helicopter Industry Association (AHIA) and the Australian Association for Uncrewed Systems (AAUS) have scheduled a full series of seminars in their conference, highlighted by an industry-first, full-day forum for helicopter pilots, engineers and flying instructors.
The forum intends to explore the challenges facing the helicopter industry as it faces an uncertain post-pandemic future.
"The industry response to COVID-19 over the past few years has seen some industry participants almost go to the wall whilst others seem to have thrived" AHIA says.
"However, there are significant underlying issues that collectively industry must acknowledge, and in doing so, develop a game plan for future viability.
"We are simply running out of qualified engineers to keep revenue/job generating assets in the air. Appropriate training programs are now almost non-existent."
The AAUS conference program runs for two days and is set to explore themes impacting the remotely-piloted aircraft industry such as:
- emerging applications in rural and regional parts of Australia
- RPAS use cases in emergency services, medical delivery, agriculture, mining, infrastructure, wildlife and environmental monitoring
- drone data exploitation.
- RPAS operational know-how exploring safety and commercial viability aspects.
"Drone technologies are rapidly becoming a significant tool in mainstream government and civilian applications assisting in the provision of important information to the end user in an efficient and safe manner," AMDA says.
"The AAUS conference ... will bring together end users and operators to discuss the current state of play for the use of drone technologies and explore opportunities moving forward."
RotorTech is on at the Royal International Convention Centre in Brisbane 21-23 June 2022. Registration can be done through the RotorTech 2022 website.