Numbers Good Overall, Best For Central FL Despite Hurricane

Almost 9,000 people -- 8,584 to be exact -- attended this week's AOPA Expo in Tampa, Florida. That's more than the last time the Expo, which moves around from city to city, was held in central Florida (Orlando), but not as many as last year's Expo in Long Beach.

"The numbers are always higher on the West Coast," AOPA's Chris Dancy explained.

Dancy added that Mother Nature's latest whack at Florida definitely depressed attendance. "We got a lot of calls from members in South Florida who would have attended, except for hurricane Wilma. Some lost planes, some lost hangars, some lost homes. Some of them still had their power out."

In addition, some people who saw hurricane devastation on their TVs decided to stay home, not knowing that Tampa was relatively unscathed by Wilma's wrath. So the numbers would likely have been significantly higher without the hurricane.

The tight parking situation in downtown Tampa may have depressed attendance as well -- and Aero-News's Rob Finfrock has the parking ticket to prove it.

Of course, parking was not an issue for those that flew in to Tampa's Peter O. Knight field, which the Aero-News crew unanimously agree is one of the most beautiful GA fields we have ever seen. Dancy told us that some 1,200 planes flew in -- some to be on display or give demonstrations, some just to bring their occupants to Expo.

We talked to people who flew in in everything from a Cessna 150 to a New Piper Malibu Meridian. (Come to think of it, we talked to Vern Raburn, who flew in in the left seat of the Eclipse 500). From the Drifter on floats to the executive-configured Cessna Caravan, to the Citation, to the many novel Light Sport Aircraft, there was a plane to match almost any need or desire on display.

FMI: www.aopa.org