One of the pleasures of attending the many aviation trade shows on our annual to-do list is the opportunity to see new aircraft, products and people. I’m sure many of the “new” exhibitors that I run across every year have probably been exhibiting for years and I just haven’t noticed them, but it’s still fun to meet new people, like Maxim Antonov of Avioconversiya (no relation to the Russian aircraft designer).
Antonov’s company makes GPS and radio jammers. His booth at the Dubai Air Show in November couldn’t have been more front and center, right near the main entrance to the exhibit hall. The name on the booth display said it all: JAMMERS Are Here.
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
