by Jim Bildilli
The National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) recently held its 95th annual convention and trade show at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota on September 13 to 16, 2026. For those of you who are unfamiliar with NASAO, it was originally founded in 1931 to represent state agencies involved in the promotion of aviation. Activities range from ensuring a continuing stream of federal funding of airport development projects and safety to new concepts and activities that directly or indirectly involve the aviation community. This year’s conference drew 340 attendees and representatives from 37 states.
The convention and trade show provides an opportunity for states including Guam and Puerto Rico to share information and integrating new technologies and initiatives among the states. In many cases, this sharing has helped to resolve common problems, reduce design, construction and maintenance costs for airports through increased efficiencies. Along with the presentations, many airport service providers, equipment suppliers and consultants had booths where they exhibited their products and services.
This year’s theme was “50 States, One Sky.” North Dakota’s Executive Director of the Aeronautics Commission said that it “captures the spirit of the Convention.” We all share the same sky even though each state may have unique practices, standards, rules and regulations. Some subjects are common to all, while others have differing interests for which they share and seek more information. To accommodate as many interests as possible, the conference consisted of many break-out sessions covering differing subject matter. Some of those break-out sessions included, building an aviation workforce pipeline, unique approaches to funding state aviation systems, developing advanced air mobility networks, planning, zoning and land asset strategies at the local level, UAS beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) for Agriculture, eIPP (eVTOL integration pilot program), laying the groundworks for Cargo, Medical Logistics and Autonomous Operations in Los Angeles, North Dakota and Albuquerque, NM, collaboration among states, the FAA and local airports to fund major infrastructure projects, and an update from the FAA on new policies, funding and future ideas on the drawing board. As you can see, the subject matter was far ranging and the above is only a sampling of items covered.
In addition to the many excellent presenters, there were two outstanding keynote speakers, Stephanie Goetz and Simon Hewitt. Stephanie is a leadership coach, TEDEX speaker, flight instructor and former award-winning NEWS anchor for all three major networks. Most of us know her as the pilot of the “pink” L-39 jet that she uses to promote breast cancer awareness. She also flies a Bombardier 6000 and a Cessna Citation Latitude for NetJets. In addition, she is a spokesperson and ambassador for the Corporal Angel Network. Simon Hewitt is the head of sales for Beta Technologies which is a Vermont-based aerospace company developing commercialized electric aircraft and the charging infrastructure to support them. He has spent more than two decades in commercial aviation with senior roles at Embraer where he was a part of the core team that developed the E-Jet family. Also, prior to Beta, Simon was the President and Chief Commercial Officer at Heart Aerospace where he worked on developing electric regional aircraft.
Attending NASAO’s annual Convention and Trade Show is somewhat similar to attending EAA’s Air Venture for aircraft aficionados. There’s usually something covering most every interest in aviation and presented by many excellent speakers available for those wanting to learn and others willing to share their expertise and experience.
NASAO’s next Convention and Trade Show will be held in Atlanta, GA from September 26-29, 2027, and Seattle in 2028.