Altitude Attitude - Greteman Group eNews

	Take Our Survey Glacier Girl Comes to Oshkosh In His Words No Paint By Number For These Liveries Hello. My Name is... Ka-ching! Big Crowds Ready to Buy An Applicious AirVenture Tailoring Your Message to the Show's Birds of a Feather Flock Together A Fly-In With Heart Wichita History Comes Alive at Oshkosh A Model Event Ready to Do it All Over Again



	No Paint By Number For These Liveries Some planes just scream. Others seem to wink as you walk by. These babies just wanna have fun. And we had a blast taking them in.

	Hello. My Name Is... Talking to someone face to face. Cementing a conversation with a firm handshake. These simple interactions fuel the complex aviation industry. So, leave it to Flying magazine to understand how important it is to create an environment for interaction. Thank you for offering a space for lunch. Mingling with the reporters and editors we read every month? Delicious. Oh, and the good-looking fellow in this photo chatting up Sonia and Ashley? That's longtime pal and Wichita Aero Club President Dave Franson.

	An Appilicious AirVenture Kudos to EAA AirVenture and Sporty's for making our show planning a snap. Their robust, free app turbocharged our iPhones and iPads with maps and guides. Schedules and news. Our resources were as deep as the ever-flowing ocean of Twitter chatter. It gave new meaning to word of mouth. Which forums had buzz. Which airshow acts couldn't be missed. The answer was in our pocket.

	Birds of a Feather Flock Together Forget describing what it was like to be among the close to 550,000 aviation enthusiasts at this year's EAA Fly-In. Might as well try to share the feeling of flight itself. When you break free of the ground and rise. You see differently. And the bizarre thing, being apart from the Earth, looking down at the ever-expanding view, you feel more connected to it. We didn't really leave Oshkosh. We brought its essence with us. The energy. The thrill. The possibility. "The shear scale of the event is stunning," says Paul Vitagliano, sales business development manager for Bombardier Business Aircraft. "It's worth a visit just to witness over 10,000 aircraft parked in one location and the energy from hundreds of thousands of people passionate about aviation."

	A Fly-In With Heart Written by Sonia Greteman Oshkosh is where the true disciples of aviation gather. The show is grounded in experimental and homebuilt aircraft, but business aviation has been smart to grow its presence here. Just as businesses have started flocking to Facebook because that's where the people are, our corporate aviation clients see this as an increasingly important show. They offer the high-end of what can be flown by a pilot. It's aspirational. You may see the CEO of a Fortune 500 company walking the grounds with his grandkids – all dressed in shorts, T-shirts and ball caps. People seem to check their egos at the gate. It's all about flying here. The love of what can be achieved in the sky starts young and stays with you. Families camping by their planes. Kids napping in the shade of an aircraft wing. Seniors in wheelchairs zipping about the crowded walkways. Continue Reading.

	Ready to Do It All Over Again Our blisters have healed. Our energy renewed. We find ourselves already eager to see what changes get rolled out for the big 60th celebration next year. Whatever the planned improvements to the "visitor experience," we're there. And don't get us started on all the chances to acknowledge the legends: a WWII Tuskegee Airmen tribute, a deep bow to Van's Aircraft founder Dick VanGrunsven, a Piper Cub 75th-anniversary fly-in.

	Glacier Girl Comes to Oshkosh Originally published in BlueSky Business Aviation News \| 4th August 2011 Written by Ashley Bowen Cook I don't know what I expected when I came face to face with Glacier Girl. I'd been aware of her, of course, through stories told to me by my dad, aviation photographer Paul Bowen. And I'd come to know her more intimately during the months our agency lovingly labored over the development of environmental graphics that would tell her incredible story. But seeing the crowds engage with the aircraft and our display. Well, it touched me. Profoundly. Read more and check out the full display. Watch our Glacier Girl video, including show footage by GG marketing director Kevin Jenks, a photojournalist in a previous life. Hear expedition co-leader Pat Epps' firsthand account of the aircraft's remarkable recovery.

	In His Words Chris Pratt, Vans RV-8 Builder/Pilot, N898DK My first experience with Oshkosh was in the early 1970s. That year, the event played host to 50,000 visitors for the first time in its history. What impressed me most at the time was the family atmosphere of the event – campers, picnickers, moms, dads, kids; and the cleanliness of the site – not a scrap of trash to be seen anywhere. And of course, the incredible craftsmanship displayed and shared by a group of enthusiasts building their own airplanes or dreaming of the day they would. "Some 35 years later, Oshkosh (now AirVenture Oshkosh), boasts a physical layout strikingly similar to what it was in the '70s. The crowd may be 10 times larger, yet the family atmosphere and the cleanliness of the site remain unchanged. Plenty of business is conducted, but there's not a business suit to be seen. And the show exudes personal warmth. My mantra for Oshkosh (I can't adapt to AirVenture) is "Here, everything works out." And it does. If you need a ride, someone will offer one. If you need a hand, someone will offer one. Can't find a room for the night, someone will offer one. That spirit is what brings me back each year. Hope to see you there.

	Ka-ching! Big Crowds Ready to Buy All the laughter at the show wasn't registered by friends reuniting. We saw more than one sales director looking mighty gleeful. Eclipse reported five of its twin-engine jets found a new home. Piper Aircraft announced a 90 percent sales spike from last year with action on every front: Seminole, Meridian and Altaire. Flight Design raked in 40 orders for its all-composite C4, due to deliver in 2013. Boeing's clean-sheet, bar-raising 787 Dreamliner, which delighted crowds at its Oshkosh debut, has now racked up 800+ sales to airlines worldwide. The number of commercial exhibitors was up, too: 803 from 777 in 2010.

	Legendary airshow performer, WWII POW and this year's featured EAA guest Bob Hoover with Purple Heart recipient Sgt. Jonathon Blank. Tailoring Your Message to the Show's We salute David Copeland for helping Ametek MRO and B&S Aircraft Parts & Accessories laser focus their efforts on veterans: the thrust of this year's EAA AirVenture. Copeland helped create a lasting and resonant branding impression by bringing in 24-year-old Marine war veteran Sgt. Jonathon Blank, who lost both legs on a reconnaissance mission in Afghanistan last fall. The young sergeant captured hearts everywhere he went - from speaking to the Young Eagles to guest appearances at the warbirds to interactions with airshow personalities (Sean Tucker, Bob Hoover, the Liberty Jump Team), VIPs (the governor of Wisconsin, Harrison Ford, Gene Cernan), EAA leadership and crowds numbering in the thousands. The companies' booth included a Freedom Wall that more than 10,000 people signed. The wall banners will be sent to Sgt. Blank's battalion in Afghanistan. "The fact that we were not selling specific product allowed us to communicate our message through the message to the troop," says Copeland. "We have done a lot of study on effective show and exhibition marketing and the success rate's much higher when we are not standing or sitting in a booth with our Blackberry device, offering candy and ink pens to the public."

	Mary Lynn Oliver (center) enjoys a little help from friends and family: Jennifer Pitt, Tyler Bertram (front); Suzi Strager, Bill Oliver (back). Wichita History Comes Alive at Oshkosh "I had been to Oshkosh years ago, but was tremendously impressed by how it has grown," says Mary Lynn Oliver, daughter of Walter and Olive Ann Beech. "What an incredible sight – airplanes of every shape, size and color!" Oliver conducted book signings of The Barnstormer and The Lady at the Hawker Beechcraft Pavilion and the Authors' Corner. "It is always fun and revealing to hear people's stories and memories about their experiences with my parents."

	A Model Event The logistics of any event can be daunting. But a weeklong outdoor event accommodating 10,000 aircraft and more than half-a-million guests? Pass the aspirin. The whole bottle, thank you. The show planners got it right. Preserving tradition and the many things that work well – while ramping up their deliverables with new offerings. Paying tribute to legends like Bob Hoover and Burt Rutan honors the men behind the machines. Offering salutes to veterans and the 100-year anniversary of naval aviation reinforce Lady Liberty's debt to past and current heroes of the air. The hundreds of warbirds on display coupled with stories heard throughout the show made the American flags flying, well, everywhere, look even brighter. Enhancements to popular draws like the 13 years' strong KidVenture gave miniature someday pilots new interactive attractions that promoted future-forward technologies – from composites to wind-powered generators. The estimated attendance of kids 4-17? 25,000. Yowzer. The debut of the Heli-Center was a key draw for us. We love these often mission-critical, vertical-lift aircraft. Through our work for FlightSafety and Heli-Expo, we've come to better appreciate what these nimble sky warriors accomplish for search and rescue, emergency, law enforcement, offshore exploration and more. We're looking forward to an even larger rotorcraft-footprint next year. What would we change? Well, better public Wi-Fi access would be nice. Ours was severely compromised. But, that's a small quibble in the scope of such a large, well-run event. The city itself recognizes this job done well. Its new brand: Oshkosh, Wisconsin's Event City.