OpsGroup is again entertaining flight crews and schedulers in its booth this week at NBAA-BACE 2023. The company is offering a variety of swag, including t-shirts, stickers, caps, and “all the usual junk.”
A plethora of booth activities are available, such as “cockpit cocktails,” beginning at 10:30 a.m. every morning. Visitors using the code words “ramp check” also get a free shot of Irish Cream in their coffee.
For imbibers who remain standing, other booth activities include Nintendo video games (Super Mario and the original Top Gun), “name the fish” (winners get the live fish in a plastic bag to take home and are reassured that this conveyance is “TSA-approved”), and a game called “chart-changer” where you can “make your mark” on the new OpsGroup Pacific plotting chart or update the NAT chart. Additionally, there is an opportunity to dress up in provided costumes and join the “Polaroid Wall” (changing room on site). Other prizes are available for those who partake in “Dave’s International Ops Quiz” every morning at 11:30 a.m.
A representative of the International Federation of Okay Pilots (IFOKP) will be on site. Membership is free, and joiners get a welcome pack, sticker, and the flight crew zine #2 Bleed Hot Caution that comes with a warning label as it is allegedly banned in nine countries.
For those who can’t make a personal booth visit—or are afraid to—they can still follow the merriment via the Vegas WhatsApp group for Flight Ops Group by sending a WhatsApp to (747) 200-1993 and saying “V-FOG!” to be added to the group. OpsGroup said nobody is running the group and its primary purpose is to “tell each other where the free drinks are.”