Interview with Frank Liemandt European Rotors
Frank Liemandt CEO of European Rotors which has its second show in Cologne Germany 8-10 November 2022 kindly agreed to talk to me about the upcoming show.
Frank tell us something about the show and why people should come from all over the world to visit it.
This show is the second edition of the industry operators and regulators run show. It is so special because it is the only one organised by the associations with EASA. So, although it is commercial it is a lot more than that, it is much more about networking so the quality of the show is guaranteed.
Last year we had three stages of the ballroom in the hall but this year we have the full conference centre because we had so many request for conferences and we are now expanding to include Monday as a training day as well as the Tuesday to Thursday of the real show.
Last year, of course, was a delicate situation because we were between lockdowns and were fortunate to be able to have the show at the time we did. There were no complaints and rather people felt it made them mouth-water for more.
Is there also a static display as well as conferences?
For sure, there will be three HEMS helicopters on the floor. There will also be daily hoist displays for people to watch and learn about hoisting. There will be rotor safety zone and HeliFlight will be doing daily pre-flight training on the R44. They will be showing mistake finding and what to do about it. Educational and very useful.
Overall, we expect some twelve to thirteen machines in the static display including H120s and two Guimbals.
Last year we had 160 exhibitors, this year we are currently expecting 200 and there may be more as last minute entries occur.
Tell our readers about the conferences.
There will be an EASA symposium and also various debates on HEMS, offshore flying, police, Para public and many others. All the things that you want to discuss between colleagues but now have room to discuss with other professionals as well. We see the discussion groups as bringing together all the sides of the industry and allowing cross-fertilisation of ideas. This will be a safe space in which to bring out innovations and discuss current tactics.
Both pilots and mechanics as well as regulators and innovators will be part of the discussions so that there can be a wide view of the industry and the ability to look into the next generation of both aircraft and infrastructure. Some of the biggest problems with the future of the air taxi industry is the infrastructure and where these passenger carrying drones can find the space to land. That will be discussed in many ways and from many different angles.
There will also be discussions related to private users, who have most of the accidents and how to prevent these and improve the flying standards.
Will your debates include anything on the einvironment?
For sure, Patrick Ky, EASA, did some research and discovered that what people were most worried about with the new aerial transport was harming the birds. We will have some measures to show why this is not a problem. We will also be discussing the various methods in which we are reducing noise on the new generation aircraft and many other environmental discussions.
Do you have any discussions around women in aviation. There was a conference on this last year.
No, sadly we do not have anyone setting up such a conference however we are ready for such a discussion and women are much needed in all aspects of aviation. If anyone would like to set up a conference on the position of women in aviation we would be happy to accommodate it.
Finally, how many people do you expect at the show?
We are hoping to double to amount of people we had last year and could ideally welcome some 6,000 to 8,000. There is the space.
Moreover we have a radio channel and will be running live streaming events throughout the show.
European Rotors 365
Is our radio channel and when you register at European Rotors you become eligible to listen to the radio channel and the live streaming events at any time.