Clare Valley Aerodrome

[Dave Willson]

An update as to the new aerodrome at Clare in the mid north of South Australia.

 

The strip has been built by a group of local pilots and supporters with minimal help from council, state and federal governments. Our local MLC procurred $153,000 from the Rann govenment our local council has given $50,000 to put towards the infrastructure. We appreciate these donations and the support from the community which has enabled the Clare Valley Flying Group to form and shape the strip for drainage and construction of an earthen sand based strip which is as smooth as the proverbial babies bottom. We have rubbled an area for a hard stand which we hope to bitumise soon and we have sown grasses and clovers along side the strip and in front of the proposed terminal building for parking and tie downs. At the moment the aerodrome looks magnificent with the grasses deep lush green contrasting with the canola's yellow flower.

 

Visitors are discovering Clare , "The Garden of the North", via the air and enjoying all we have to offer. We still lack infrastructure but Rome wasn't built in a day, burnt in one though, we would love to see you. Details are

 

1200 meters long by 18 meters wide

 

Elevation 1120 feet

 

Runway 17-35

 

Deer and Kangaroos in the area

 

Ag planes work intermittently from and close by the strip

 

Dry weather strip ,can be sloppy when wet, however dries within an hour Please ring

 

Contact details

 

President Adrian Smith 0417 842 974 Vice President Dave Willson 0487 391 326

 

Treasurer Tony Smith 0407 718 045 Secretary Bernie Braddock 0429 094 712

 

email [email protected]

 

 

[Tomo]

Sounds great!

 

 

[Guest SAJabiruflyer]

Sounds great!

..only 50 odd km from Clare to Balaklava Tomo...

 

 

[Tomo]

..only 50 odd km from Clare to Balaklava Tomo...

Yeah, I noticed that! You just never know, I may put my wheels down there if I get time!

 

 

[planedriver]

Yeah, I noticed that! You just never know, I may put my wheels down there if I get time!

How refreshing is this to hear.

 

Normally we only get to hear of justified whinges because airstrips are being closed by money-grabbing developers and councils with no forward vision.

 

Congratulations to all concerned who managed to achive this outcome.

 

Pity they don't have the same success in the Sydney basin.

 

Kind Rgds Planey

 

 

[Guest SAJabiruflyer]

$153,000 from State and $50,000 from Local Government is a little more than 'minimal help' and should be acknowledged.....

cficare you're right, whoever was in charge of getting that funding would hopefully have officially thanked the appropriate Departments. A little bit of thanks goes a long way

 

 

[Aussie Steve]

How refreshing is this to hear.Normally we only get to hear of justified whinges because airstrips are being closed by money-grabbing developers and councils with no forward vision.

Congratulations to all concerned who managed to achive this outcome.

 

Pity they don't have the same success in the Sydney basin.

 

Kind Rgds Planey

There is a group (SWAG -Sydney West Airfield Group) working on this situation Driver. Sorry I dont have any contact details available at the moment.Perhaps someone else here can provide such.

 

 

[Aussie Steve]

An update as to the new aerodrome at Clare in the mid north of South Australia.The strip has been built by a group of local pilots and supporters with minimal help from council, state and federal governments. Our local MLC procurred $153,000 from the Rann govenment our local council has given $50,000 to put towards the infrastructure. We appreciate these donations and the support from the community which has enabled the Clare Valley Flying Group to form and shape the strip for drainage and construction of an earthen sand based strip which is as smooth as the proverbial babies bottom. We have rubbled an area for a hard stand which we hope to bitumise soon and we have sown grasses and clovers along side the strip and in front of the proposed terminal building for parking and tie downs. At the moment the aerodrome looks magnificent with the grasses deep lush green contrasting with the canola's yellow flower.

Visitors are discovering Clare , "The Garden of the North", via the air and enjoying all we have to offer. We still lack infrastructure but Rome wasn't built in a day, burnt in one though, we would love to see you. Details are

 

1200 meters long by 18 meters wide

 

Elevation 1120 feet

 

Runway 17-35

 

Deer and Kangaroos in the area

 

Ag planes work intermittently from and close by the strip

 

Dry weather strip ,can be sloppy when wet, however dries within an hour Please ring

 

Contact details

 

President Adrian Smith 0417 842 974 Vice President Dave Willson 0487 391 326

 

Treasurer Tony Smith 0407 718 045 Secretary Bernie Braddock 0429 094 712

 

email [email protected]

Dave this great news for flyers in the region, do you have any photos you can post and how about a street address so that we could have a look with Google Earth (albeit we may not see any aerodrome on it as the GE images can be a bit old, but it gives us a chance to observe the terrain)

Its always good to be able to check out these places as future destinations.

 

Good luck with everything there, we look forward to hearing a lot more about the progress of the aerodrome.

 

 

[Dave Willson]

Assumptions are easily made without knowledge. to those who read I did not appreciate the donations made are they are very much in the wrong.

 

Most airstrips are built and 100% owned and operated by local Councils to enhance and further promote their district through tourism and business and emergency aerial operations or in the outback funded 100% by remote outback funding which is not available to Clare.

 

I stated "We appreciate these donations and the support from the community". Geoff Brock from Pt Pirie is our MLC whom is a member of our group and very very supportive He has been thanked so many times and we utilise his conections as much as we can.

 

The government departments and the people we worked with have been thanked and we have a fantastic working relationship with them, so yes to to the nameless cficare we have done so. I would also put out there this project has to date a further $190,000.00 of in kind support through machinery ,rubble, trucks, time given working bees totalling 1250 man hours on site and countless hours put in by committee members driving this project to fruition, with as I said minimal help form authorities whom would generally fund a community infrastructure 100%. A further $5-600,000 is needed to bring this areodrome to completion and then the additional running costs borne by the committee. We do not and are not going to charge landing fees. I am very proud to have been a part of this project built by locals giving back to a community an infrastructure which enables all pilots Australia wide to visit the Clare Valley.

 

I would suggest to those who wish to make comment that they make them with sound knowledge. This is a project that has been done in the face of adversity by a committee, not a council, and the hurdles which the authorities have put in front of us have been high, some are still coming being raised higher again and most of it is plain stupid policy however we have complied.

 

To those whom have praised the project so far, thank you. I will post photos etc as my time permits ,I have put the localtion and details onto the airstrip guide in here but the google map is old. Approachs from north and south are good with hills to both east and west. Dave Willson 0438 391 326

 

 

[turboplanner]

Dave, I think you have misunderstood CFI. He was referring to the adjective "minimal" which can be seen as insulting to the very authorities who helped you, not to mention Geoff Brock, and the Local Government representatives. That's a LOT more money than hundreds of airfields around Australia get so it was certainly not minimal.