The jubilee and record-breaking in terms of attendance, 10th Night at the Institute of Aviation is over. This year, the event was attended by over 51,000 enthusiasts of aviation and space – 8,000 people more than last year!
The main theme of this year’s edition was space technology. The Night’s program included many thematic attractions, events and shows related to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission landing on the Moon, the Space X revolution or Polish contribution to space exploration.
The organizers managed to gather many experts who willingly shared their knowledge, experiences and passion related to space. The special guest of the event was Artur Chmielewski, a Polish engineer working for NASA on a daily basis.
The subject matter of the event allowed us to present projects developed by engineers from Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation. Guests of the event could admire, among others, the Amber rocket which this year passed another successful flight test on the training ground in Ustka, and visit laboratories unavailable on a daily basis. The accompanying event was EDC Hackathon 2019 Drones organized jointly by engineers from Engineering Design Center and Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation from the Department of Unmanned Aerial Systems. In Poland, a competition in which the participants would have to program a real unmanned aerial vehicle from scratch and perform an automatic flight within 24 hours, has never been held before.
The program of the event also included air accents. Attention of the visitors was drawn to military and civil aircraft placed in the airplane and helicopter zones. During the Night were presented among others: the F-16 fighter demonstrated by F-16 Tiger Demo Team Poland, the transport plane CASA C-295M; historic planes: the T-6 Harvard and Chipmunk; training planes: the AT3, the Cessna 172S, as well as numerous helicopters including the W-3WA Sokół SAR, the Mi-17 and the Mi-8, and helicopters belonging to the Air Rescue Service, Salt Aviation and Maria Muś.
Additional attractions for aviation fans were engine firing demonstrations prepared by the White and Red Wings Foundation and the Flying Foundation of the Polish Air Force Museum, virtual observation of aviation operations and the possibility of piloting aircraft on numerous simulators (including the A320 aircraft and the F-35 fighter).
The highlight of the evening were also meetings with pilots within the EXTREME AIR discussion panel that included: Major Dominik ‘ZIPPITY’ Duda – pilot of the F-16 Tiger Demo Team, Capt. Wojciech ‘RAMROD’ Kieczur – the F-16 Tiger Demo Team pilot, Wojciech Bógdał – individual motoparaglider world champion, Maria Muś – professional pilot and helicopter instructor and Jan Makuła – representative of the National Team in glider acrobatic acrobatics, instructor, airplane pilot.
The audience was also gathered by a well-known popularizer of science – Karol Wójcicki, organizers and participants of the meeting “Masters of Blue”, representatives of the Acrobatic Group of the Polish Air Force “Orlik” and the Acrobatic Group of White and Red Sparks. The lecture on aerial photography was once again given by the favourite of the Night’s audience: Sławek ‘Hesja’ Krajniewski.
This year, a rich offer of attractions, workshops and educational activities for children was also prepared. For the youngest and slightly older guests there was an exhibition of space vehicles made of blocks, night observations of the sky through a telescope, coding workshops, figures inspired by Hollywood super productions (Alien, Predator, Transformers), fire trucks and airports, border guard vehicles, moto ambulances, a performance by a military orchestra and many other attractions.
This year’s Night was started by the most famous Warsaw duo of DJs Exboyfriends. Guests of the event could arrive on a specially marked historical tram (Public Transport Authority), where they were greeted by the Urban Transport Fans Club in Warsaw.
10th Night at the Institute of Aviation was very popular not only among the participants and exhibitors, but also among the media. The event attracted the attention of the largest and most important media stations, news agencies, radio stations and trade media.
The organizers would like to thank all those who in any way contributed to the success of this event for their organizational, technical, logistic and substantive support, in particular: management, engineers, IT department, technical service and security staff of Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation, exhibitors, both military and civilian pilots, speakers, panel participants as well as volunteers.
Special thanks go to the Polish Airports State Enterprise and the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency for assistance and involvement in the coordination of the arrival of helicopters and airplanes, LS Airport Services for huge support in the process of towing aircraft to the area of Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation, and PZL Warszawa-Okęcie/Airbus Poland for making the area under the airplane exhibition area available.
The event was held under the honorary patronage of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, Minister of National Education, Minister of National Defence, Mazovian Voivod, Marshal of the Mazovian Voivodeship, President of the Capital City of Warsaw, Polish Federation of Engineering Associations (NOT), Civil Aviation Office, Frederic Chopin Airport, Polish Airports Authority, Military Academy of Air Force, Academy of War Arts, Warsaw University of Technology, Military University of Technology, Polish Chamber of Commerce of Advanced Technologies, Copernicus Science Centre, Polish Space Agency, City Headquarters of the State Fire Service, Włochy District Office of the Capital City of Warsaw, the Polish Aeroclub, the Employers’ Association of the Space Sector, the Warsaw Aeroclub, the Office of Electronic Communications, the White and Red Wings Foundation and the patronage of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
Media patronage included: TVP3 Warsaw, Radio Kolor, Nasze Miasto, Przegląd Lotniczy, Skrzydlata Polska, Lotnictwo, Kosmonauta.net, pasażer.com, Nauka w Polsce, Defence24, Dlapilota.pl, Airfighters.pl, Aviation24.pl, Warszawa.pl, Samoloty.pl, Głos Akademicki and Polska Zbrojna.
The event was organized as part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of regaining independence and rebuilding Polish statehood.
10th Night in the Institute of Aviation took place on Friday, 11th October 2019 at 110/114 Krakowska Avenue.
