Past Forums

2022 AIAA AVIATION Forum Archive

27 June–1 July 2022
Chicago, IL & Online

Theme: Challenging Time, Unique Opportunities

Over 2,300 participants, including 653 students, from 39 countries attended the 2022 AIAA AVIATION Forum. Throughout the week, leaders from industry, academia, and government discussed the challenges facing the aviation industry and how we can work to reset expectations, redefine roles, and accelerate change. The technical program contained over 1,000 technical presentations.

Highlights included keynote speakers Kevin Michaels, Managing Director, AeroDynamic Advisory; Ronald Epstein, Managing Director, Aerospace & Defense, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Mel Johnson, Director, Compliance and Airworthiness Division, Aircraft Certification Services, Federal Aviation Administration; Laurence Wildgoose, Assistant Administrator for Policy, International Affairs, and Environment, Federal Aviation Administration and Diana Birkett Rakow, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs and Sustainability, Alaska Airlines.

Plenary Sessions

• State of the Industry
• Supply Chain
• Future State of the Industry

Forum 360 Sessions

• Current State of the Industry
• Meeting the Current Workforce Challenges
• Supply Chain – The Greater Picture
• Aviation Supply Chain: Challenges, Opportunities, and Path Forward
• Evaluation of the Transport Airplane Risk Assessment Methodology
• How Do We Engineer for Safety?
• Forum 360: NASA Aeronautics Aviation Sustainability Strategy
• Government Perspectives on the U.S. Civil Government Aviation Climate Action Plan
• Industry Perspectives on the U.S. Civil Government Aviation Climate Action Plan
• Future Airspace Operations

 Session List
 Final Program
 Photos

2021 AIAA AVIATION Forum Archive

2–6 August 2021
Virtual

Theme: Aerospace Leadership in a Transitioning World  

Over 1,900 participants, including 828 students, from 43 countries attended the 2021 AIAA AVIATION Forum. Throughout the week, leaders from industry, academia, and government discussed the challenges and opportunities affecting the direction of global aviation policy, emerging markets, technological proliferation and more. The technical program contained over 1,000 technical presentations.

Highlights included keynote speakers David Seymour, Chief Operating Officer, American Airlines; Kevin Michaels, Managing Director, AeroDynamic Advisory; Robert D. Cabana, Associate Administrator, NASA; Will Roper, Former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics and Chief Executive Officer, Volansi; Michael Leahy, Director, Tactical Technology Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Clint Crosier, Director, AWS Aerospace and Satellite.

Plenary Sessions

• Aviation Recovery, Transition and New Horizons
• Digital is the New Battlefield
  

Forum 360 Sessions

• Collaboration to Mitigate the Risks of COVID-19
• Hope on the Horizon: Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Solve Future Challenges
• NASA’s Aviation Sustainability Strategy
• Exploring NASA Aeronautics Innovations for Transforming Aviation
• Modern Development in a Digital Environment
• Advantages of Digital Thread for the Entire Product Lifecycle
• Technologies and Processes for Future Air Vehicles
• Industry Response on Delivering Performance at the Speed of Relevance
• Safety Certification for Machine Learning
• Diversity and Inclusion in Next-Generation Airspace 

 Session List

2020 AIAA AVIATION Forum Archive

15–19 June 2020
Virtual
Theme: We Get You–Here, There, and Now Everywhere!

Over 2,100 participants, including 633 students, from 30 countries attended the 2020 AIAA AVIATION Forum. Throughout the week, leaders from industry, academia, and government explored how rapidly changing technology and emerging trends are shaping a future which promises to be strikingly different from the modern, global transportation built by our pioneers. The technical program contained over 1,000 technical presentations. Highlights included keynote speakers Walt Odisho, Vice President and General Manager, Manufacturing, Safety & Quality, 737 Program and Renton Site, Boeing Commercial Airplanes; James Bridenstine, Administrator, NASA; Tom Vice, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Aerion Corporation; Grazia Vittadini, Chief Technology Officer, Airbus and Richard Aboulafia, Vice President, Analysis, Teal Group Corporation.

Plenary Sessions

• Engineering in the Production System
• COVID-19 and Civil Aviation Markets: A Bit Like Falling Off a Cliff, Only Without the Nice View

Forum 360 Sessions

• Sustainable Product Lifestyle – Integration Everywhere
• NASA Aeronautics Shaping the New Era of Aviation
• CFD2030 Aerospace Grand Challenges for Revolutionary CFD Capabilities
• Need for Speed
• Growing Today’s Workforce for Tomorrow’s Technology
• View From the Inside: The Promise of Electric Propulsion across the Aviation Spectrum
• View from Technology: A National Blueprint for Advanced Aerial Mobility
• “Sometimes you will never know the value of something, until it becomes a memory.”

 Proceedings
 Final Program

2019 AIAA AVIATION Forum Archive

17-21 June 2019
Hilton Anatole, Dallas, Texas
Theme: Shaping the Future of Flight

Over 2,100 participants, including 479 students, from 30 countries attended the 2019 AIAA AVIATION Forum. Throughout the week, leaders from industry, academia, and government explored how rapidly changing technology and emerging trends are shaping a future which promises to be strikingly different from the modern, global transportation built by our pioneers. The technical program contained over 1,100 technical presentations. Highlights included keynote speakers Stephen Jurczyk, Associate Administrator, NASA; Christopher Emerson, President and Head, North America Region, Airbus Helicopters Inc.; and Greg Hyslop, Chief Technology Officer, The Boeing Company.

Plenary Sessions

• Living in the Age of Airplanes
• NASA Aeronautics
• The Reality of a Vertical Dream
• The Future of Mobility – Aviation is Changing the World
• Apollo's Legacy and Impact on Modern Flight

Forum 360 Sessions

• The Operations of Flying Further and Higher
• Flying Faster with the Science of Hypersonics: Challenges and Opportunities
• NASA Aeronautics Shaping the Future of Flight
• Why Wait? Point-to-Point Mobility Today!
• Innovation in Vertical Lift
• Enabling the Engineering Transformation
• Autonomous Operation in an Evolving Ecosystem
• Building on Today's Safety Foundation for Tomorrow's Mobility
• Accelerating Through the TRL Scale

2018 AIAA AVIATION Forum Archive

25-29 June 2018
Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia
Theme: Expanding the Envelope: Partnering for Transformation

Nearly 2,900 participants, including 700 students, from 41 countries participated in the 2018 AIAA AVIATION Forum. Throughout the week, leaders from industry, academia, and government discussed why they believe we’re at the dawn of a new era of aviation where technology convergence is fueling improvements in speed and efficiency, enabling new markets, and building the infrastructure necessary to allow the ecosystem to expand. The technical program contained over 1,600 technical presentations and 340 technical sessions. A highlight of the forum was the first behind-the-scenes look at the design, development, and testing of the world’s most advanced fighter aircraft, the F-35 Lightning.

Topics addressed included:

Plenary Sessions

• New Paradigms in Aviation
• Evolution of the F-35
• Aviation Transformation – The Ultimate Team Sport
• A New Era of Flight
• Drone Technology: Leading the Date Revolution

Forum 360 Sessions

• Rapid Spiral Development from Ground to Flight
• Investment Perspectives on the Aviation Market
• Reflection on Partnerships within the F-35 Enterprise
• Inventors and Innovators
• Air Traffic Management Modernization
• Entering a New Era of General Aviation (Part 23)
• NASA Aeronautics at the Dawn of a New Era of Aviation
• Europe: Open to the World to Transform Aviation
• A Path to Supersonic Commercial Travel
  

2017 AIAA AVIATION Forum Archive

5-9 June 2017  
Denver, Colorado
Theme: Innovation or Disruption—Which Comes First?

More than 2,800 attendees, including over 600, from across the U.S. and 40 other countries gathered in Denver for the 2017 AIAA AVIATION Forum. More than 8,500 participated virtually through the Livestream Channel. 

The forum, which included 18 technical conferences and 1,576 technical presentations, also featured DEMAND for UNMANNED®, a cybersecurity symposium, Transformational Electric Flight Workshop, 1st AIAA Geometry and Mesh Generation Workshop, 3rd AIAA CFD High Lift Prediction Workshop, Optimal Design in Multidisciplinary Systems Course, and Practical Methods for Aircraft and Rotorcraft Flight Control Design and Hands-on Training Using CONDUIT ® course. 

Topics addressed included:

Plenary Sessions

• Need for Speed
• Innovation in the Age of the Third Aerospace Revolution
• Beyond the Robots: Toward Situated Autonomy
• Innovation and Disruption Opportunities for Civil and Military Transport Acquisitions & Operations
• Urban On-Demand Aerial Ridesharing — The Next Commercial Aviation Market

Forum 360 Sessions

• Perspectives and Progress on Green Aviation
• X-Planes: Discovery Through Flight
• The Evolving Culture of Aviation
• Supersonic Transport
• Human-Machine Interaction
• Aircraft Electric Propulsion: Transforming Aviation
• Internet of Things (IoT) as Applied to Aircraft Systems for Industrial Drones
• Realization of a Digital Twin & Thread
• NASA Aeronautics New Aviation Horizons

 Proceedings
 Final Program
 Photos

2016 AIAA AVIATION Forum Archive

13-17 June 2016
Washington, D.C.
Theme: Concepts to Reality: Driving the Next Century of Flight Innovation

Nearly 2,200 innovators in aviation attended the 2016 AIAA AVIATION Forum. During the week more than 1,500 technical presentations from over 1,000 government, academic, industrial, and private institutions across 37 countries reported on the latest developments in aviation-related science and technology. The first-ever DEMAND for UNMANNED symposium was held in conjunction with the forum. 

Topics addressed included:

Plenary Sessions

• The Second Century of Flight — Looking Back to Look Forward
• Making Dreams into Reality — The Epochal Stories That Define The Boeing Company
• Balancing Innovation and Inspiration — The HondaJet
• Renewing Innovation in U.S. Aeronautics
• Cybersecurity
• The Ascent of (Un)manned
• Concept to Reality — Our Journey to Transforming Aviation

Forum 360 Sessions

• Commercial Aviation — Solving the Disruption Challenge
• The Future of Education
• Concepts to Reality — Airplane Development in a Global Environment
• NASA Roadmaps — Guiding Direction for Aeronautics Research Investments
• The Future of Military Aviation
• Cybersecurity Table Top War Gaming Exercise
• TTX Hot Wash and Cybersecurity Interactive Training Session
• Restoring the Foundation of Aviation
• Aircraft Design and Testing—Today and Tomorrow
• Hypersonic and Re-Entry Flight Testing — X-15 to Space Shuttle and Beyond

 Proceedings  
 Final Program  
 Photos

2015 AIAA AVIATION Forum Archive

22-26 June 2015
Dallas, Texas
Theme: Pushing the Boundaries of the Imaginable

More than 2,000 innovators attended the 2015 AIAA AVIATION Forum. During the week over 1,500 technical presentations from 600 government, academic, industrial, and private institutions across 37 countries reported on the latest developments in aviation-related science and technology.

Topics addressed included:

Plenary Sessions

• Are We Moving Fast Enough?
• NextGen: A Model of Stakeholder Engagement
• NASA and the Future of Aerospace
• DHS’s Perspectives on Cybersecurity in Aviation
• The G650 Design, Development, and Test

Forum 360 Sessions

• The Voice of the Customer — Designing the Right Aircraft
• Whatever Happened to the Four-Year Airplane?
• Day in the Life of Operations – Effectively Managing Disruption
• International UAS Integration Forum
• NACA to NASA: Embarking on the Next 100 Years of Excellence and Innovation in Aeronautics and Beyond
• Energy/Environment Panel — The Challenges of Green Aviation
• System Complexity: Government Needs and Practical Research Results
• The Impact of Particle Image Velocimetry on Aerospace Technology
• Supercomputing: Roadmap and Its Future Role in Aerospace Engineering

2014 AIAA AVIATION Forum Archive

16-20 June 2014
Atlanta, Georgia
Theme: Aviation’s Global Promise – Challenges & Opportunities

The 2014 AIAA AVIATION Forum built on the foundation of 2013's inaugural forum to stimulate thought-provoking conversations among industry leaders and the engineering and technical professionals that develop and operate aviation systems. In addition to cutting-edge technical research presentations, the program featured panel discussions and keynote presentations addressing some of the pressing opportunities and challenges for the aviation industry.

Topics addressed included:

Plenary Sessions

• The Global Economic Impact of the F-35 Lightning II Program
• Integration and Interoperability: Fly Smarter, Fly Cleaner, Fly Safer
• Fly Your Ideas with Airbus
• Global Supply Chain Challenges and Opportunities
• NextGen Implementation Challenges and Opportunities in an International Context
• Aeronautics Technology Development

Forum 360 Sessions

• Aviation’s Challenges & Opportunities - Georgia’s Global Perspectives
• Transformative Aerospace System Analysis, Design and Certification: A Vision for CFD in 2030
• Aviation’s Challenges & Opportunities - Perspectives from Brazil & China
• FAA Has Selected UAS Test Sites - What Happens Next?
• Aviation Noise and Emissions Reduction: Challenges and Opportunities
• Research Networks — Progress & Future Plans
• Creating a Successful Commercial UAS Business Environment — Challenges & Opportunities
• Toward an Integrated Global ATM — NextGen/Sesar
• Getting Ready for the Next Billion Dollar Aerospace Industry — The Low Altitude Frontier
• NASA Aeronautics Vision for the 21st Century: Why a New Strategy?

 Proceedings  
 Final Program  
 Photos

2013 AIAA AVIATION Forum Archive

12-14 August 2013 
Los Angeles, California
Theme: Charting the Future of Flight

The 2013 AIAA AVIATION Forum was a premier, forward-looking event designed to showcase recent innovations and achievements in aviation, highlight new initiatives and plans, and address key issues that need to be resolved in order to define clear roadmaps for future progress. The event was sponsored by Boeing, Gulfstream, and  Lockheed Martin. 

Topics addressed included:

• Commercial Aviation: Global Outlook, Opportunities, and Challenges
• Military Aviation: Future Challenges Facing Military Aviation
• Business Aviation, General Aviation, and Rotorcraft: Global Outlook, Opportunities, and Challenges
• The Connectivity Challenge: Protecting Critical Assets in a Networked World
• The Energy Imperative
• Developing the Market for UAS
• Shaping the Discussion: Key Policy Issues

 Proceedings
 Final Program 
 Photos