This past weekend I attended the AOPA Summit in Tampa. I saw the list of forum topics and had eyed a few that I wanted to attend - however, in the end I spent all of my time in the exhibit hall.

The summit was nicely put together and the Tampa Convention Center was a great (upscale) venue to hold this event.

The exhibit hall was gigantic and had the usual booths such as Sportys, Pilot Mall, Garmin, Jepp, ERAU, etc. Additionally, the FAA was well represented - I spoke at length with the folks at the FAA Safety booth (www.faasafety.gov). Here I was shown (in detail) all of the features of their new website with a ton of information, bulletins, self-study topics, and more. I was searching for material/sources of safety information for the Aviation e-Newsletter that I am trying to kick off, and I think I found quite a bit here. I also spoke with Mr. Steve Smith (former AFSOC pilot) at the FAA Sunway Safety Booth (separate from the FAASafety booth) that was dedicated specifically to runway safety, preventing runway incursions, etc.

I saw one particular product from a small vendor that captured my attention - it was the flight bag that is made by Brightline Bags (www.brightlinebags.com) - this is a great product that is just the right size, has plenty of separate compartments / dividers, and seems rugged enough to last. It has a separate compartment that will fit 2x Dave Clarks (or perhaps 1x NVGs). Also, the pubs compartment is perfectly sized to fit sectionals / high or low charts without having to crinkle them or bend them. And the bag's two sections actually zip-apart into two separate bags (if you don't need to carry all the pubs for instance).

In the near future, look for the 1st issue of our Aviation e-Newsletter.