ASOG 2022 Focus Areas | Networking, News & Information
Posted By | ASOG Desk Editor
If you've been tracking all the special ASOG announcements the last two months, we organized and conducted our first in-person ASOG Conference & Networking Meet-Up at this year's EUROPEAN ROTORS VTOL show (8-10 Nov) in Cologne, Germany.
For the first go of an event like this, we had over 15 members attend throughout the show. Also, with such a sizeable public trade show gathering, the ASOG Conference drew the attention of many from industry and the VTOL community into the audience, followed by a positive interest in joining & supporting our growing association.
ASOG CONFERENCE
On the conference side of things, the conference started on the first day of the show (8 Nov) at 13:00 on stage 2. ASOG President Patrick Ryan opened the conference, followed by presentations and a discussion panel by members related to the Airborne Sensor Operator profession. Here's a rundown of what took place:
- ASOG President Patrick Ryan provided the audience with an overview of the ASOG association. Patrick highlighted the need for such an association, i.e., a professional place where non-rated crewmembers can network and professionally develop. Following this, Patrick walked the conference attendees through the who, what, when, where & how of the association. Some interesting facts Patrick presented was that ASOG is growing by 7+ new core members per month and has over 600,000 1st & 2nd level followers & connections on social media. Regarding the future, Patrick gave a forthcoming view of where ASOG is heading, i.e., enhancing benefits + services and adding a small members dues and industry sponsorship program to cover operating costs, i.e., "keep the cost down for the members but enhance the quality of the benefits."
- Following Patrick was George DeCock, i.e., ASOG Traveling Ambassador and SME for Airborne Technologies GmbH. George gave an excellent presentation on "The Shadow Crewmember & Sensors." His presentation covered the spectrum of the "good, bad, and the ugly" of the ASO profession and the importance of their skill set in managing sensors in this ever-growing technological world. One of the highlights of George's presentation was his breakdown of many issues related to operators, sensors, and flying, for example:
- Problem – Report before landing,
- Solution – Mission Management system built-in reporting software
- Benefit – Faster reporting & analysis
- Status – Future development, etc.
Additionally, it was interesting to hear other presenters and members quote George after his presentation throughout the rest of the show.
- Probably the best part of the conference was the discussion panel. The panel consisted of ASOG members Mark Keogh, Andy Watson, Hector Estevez, and George DeCock, with Patrick Ryan moderating. The theme of the discussion was "The Airborne Sensor Operator Profession – Past, Present & Future." The questions focused on Roles & Responsibilities, Systems & Equipment, and Training. Even though the panel only had a half hour to discuss, the professional opinions and views from these very experienced & knowledgeable members was "Worth Gold." We're definitely going to do more of these discussion panels in the future.
- After the discussion panel, Hector Estevez from the industry presented new technology to benefit ASOs. Hector, an ASOG member and CEO of CENTUM Research & Technology, presented his company's latest technology – LifeSeeker – which helps SAR operators find and rescue missing individuals by exploiting the premise that everyone has a mobile phone. In addition, Hector highlighted the capability of their system to geo-locate an individual's location and communicate with the distressed individual, i.e., in remote locations.
- Following Hector, Peter Schaffer, ASOG member and Global Head of Business Development OFIL Europe, presented the current state of the art in multispectral imaging for power line inspection on helicopter platforms. He also touched on upcoming smart features for further automation to support operators during their mission.
- Last but not least, long-time ASOG member Peter Myer, Managing Director at Smith Myers Communications Ltd, presented another life-saving capability for SAR ASOs to employ, i.e., ARTEMIS. Peter highlighted ARTEMIS is designed to accurately locate mobile telephones in challenging airborne SAR environments using only two small antennas. Furthermore, Peter underlined ARTEMIS could detect a phone at extended ranges and provide unique capabilities such as mass-mapping and geofencing to minimize aircrew workload.
ASOG NETWORKING "MEET-UPS"
On the in-person networking side of the event, ASOG networking started a day before the show opened. The ASOG event team started a WhatsApp group - "ASOG Köln 2022" - for those members attending to coordinate activities during the show. It was great to see everyone jump in and message the group so quickly during their travels (Don't forget, at this point, most members haven't personally met one another). The WhatsApp group continued strong throughout the week. Plus, what's even better, the group is still chatting to this day. We'll probably do more of these WhatsApp groups in the future.
Outside the virtual world, in-person networking (per the ASOG Charter) was outstanding for many members. Besides meeting and making friends with fellow members, members were open to other members' professional networks in a very positive (in some cases business-rewarding) way both during the show and in the evening.
Speaking of evenings, from 7 Nov to 10 Nov, the group established a standard rendezvous point after each show day in the Radisson Blue Hotel lobby bar (across the street from the show) for members to informally relax, continue to network, and have a few drinks at the same time. Even though some members had to break off and attend business dinners, the group continued during the evening to sample the local restaurants in Cologne – Side Note - Big Thank You to members Thomas Unger, Astrid Ayling, and George DeCock for your invitations.
FUTURE ASOG EVENTS
Based on feedback from members and industry regarding in-person ASOG events, we have several invitations to conduct conferences, workshops, and training events at established trade shows and at specific ASOG Corporate Supporter facilities in North America and Europe. So with that and with your feedback, we will continue to build on these ideas as time goes on….again, the big question is, what do you want?
So, as mentioned before, this was the first ever ASOG in-person event of its kind. This ASOG event was indeed a good test of concepts while at the same time professionally fun. From the perspective of the ASOG Board of Directors (Patrick R., Benjamin K. & Tanja W.), it was an excellent opportunity to learn what works and what doesn't, i.e., what members want & need and how to plan for such events in the future. So with that, we'll continue to "crawl, walk, run" to make a difference in our profession!
THANK YOU TO OUR ASOG EVENT SPONSORS!
Our ASOG event at this year's EUROPEAN ROTORS show is primarily made possible due to the generous support of our sponsors.
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