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PADA - Personal Aircraft Design Academy

PADA 2010

The annual networking PADA catered dinner is set for 6:15 PM at the Nature Tent III in the Nature Area East of the Museum. Reservations for the dinner can be made [here]. The usual attendees include the top aircraft designers in the world and leading scientists from NASA.

PADA's 2010 keynote speaker will be Greg Cole, designer of the Lancair Legacy and Evolution, Sparrowhawk and Duckhawk high-performance sailplanes, the Perlan world altitude record-attempt plane, the Joby VTOL and the Windward Performance 200 pMPG Green Flight Challenge team leader. The Program will include special announcements about new designs, highlights of AirVenture, and the annual presentation of the Perpetual PADA Trophy (to a surprise recipient).

PADA Awards at AirVenture 2009

From left: Alan Klapmeier (Cirrus founder),
Burt Rutan (Scaled Composites),
Bruce Holmes (NASA, SATS)
and Dick VanGrunsven (Van's Aircraft)
Click to enlarge

The Personal Aircraft Design Academy (PADA) evolved from the Laminar Flow True Believers Society that met at the Oshkosh AirShow every summer. The PADA Board of directors (listed below), plans its annual meeting of aeronautical engineers and EAA innovators to have presenters who are highly accomplished in personal aircraft design/science.

In 2003, the perpetual PADA Trophy was designed and built for PADA by Brien Seeley, Cris Hawkins and Tim Seeley to commemorate outstanding career achievement in personal aircraft design. It resides in the EAA AirVenture Museum. Several of its esteemed honorees (listed below) gathered for the PADA 2009 to receive their commemorative PADA Medal of Honor.

PADA Trophy Honorees