Jetrader - March/April 2008 - 11

The conference is about networking, but it’s also a worldwide, international experience because we have members from all over the world, and it’s certainly an education experience. When I talk with other members of ISTAT, I learn things I don’t know. The conferences have grown tremendously as the word has gotten out. Getting prominent people to come as speakers creates a desire for more people to come to future conferences. We get the top people in our industry to speak at our conferences, the presidents of Lufthansa, Boeing and Airbus. We get them to speak to us in a Q-and-A situation, and that is invaluable. In Phoenix [Ariz.] last year, we had 1,050 in attendance, which is nothing short of remarkable. We’ve come so far in just a short period of time. Now when we have our conferences, we get written up all the time by reporters. These conferences are the highlight of the membership year. Bill Bath Administrative Director of the ISTAT Appraisers’ Program Without question, the most outstanding conference for me was the 18th, held in Tucson, Ariz., March 11-14, 2001, with the second ISTAT aircraft static display. Many of us got to fly low in the famous World War II B17 up the canyons with a forest fire-suppressor pilot who thought 1,000 feet was high altitude. We also flew in a restored Continental Airlines DC3 airliner with flight and cabin crews in period uniforms. The only deviation from those days was that the DC3 pilot had a GPS taped to the instrument panel for navigation. I took the photo of Boeing’s first modern airliner, the B247D (1934-35) from the B17 while flying over the static park—lots of vibration and some window distortion. One of my future Aviation History columns in Jetrader will cover that era. Mort Beyer Senior Adviser, Morten Beyer & Agnew Joe Murphy, who was the head of Air Transport World, founded ISTAT. He wanted to bring together the buyers, sellers and users of transport aircraft. Primarily, the attention was focused on used aircraft. This was 25 years ago. We had annual meetings of membership and guests to present speeches and assess the market as the airlines coped with deregulation and bankruptcy. The membership grew from a few dozen to probably over a thousand today. Early on, it became obvious that one of the major requirements of the industry was to qualify the experienced aircraft appraiser. Therefore, a series of examinations were written by the founders and have been a major function of ISTAT for the last 20 years. The ISTAT approval designation after an appraiser’s name became highly valued. Mike Skinner Chief Executive, AMS Aircraft Ltd. The ISTAT conference is a great event, one which I have always enjoyed and from which I have benefited in many ways. I have particularly fond memories of ISTAT 2002, at which impromptu meetings with fellow delegates directly led to aircraft-marketing contracts with two new clients. Martin Bleasdale Director International Sales, ANCRA International I remember the annual meeting (not a “proper” conference then) in Newport Beach, Calif., in the mid-1980s, where 70 people showed up—and we thought that was a good attendance! From inside a World War II Boeing B17 bomber, Bill Bath took these photos of a B247D at ISTAT’s 18th Annual Conference in Tucson, Ariz. Jetrader 11

Jetrader - March/April 2008

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