AusFly 2015 reports

[DrZoos]

It was a fantastic event, very well attended , i dont know offical numbers but i would estimate150 - 200 planes..weather onroute both ways was very challenging cloud wise to Port Macquarie, but silky smooth. The airobatics display was brilliant...will be going again next year for sure... Peak hour exit yesterday after the aero show was an event and specticle in itself with over 60 aircraft leaving in rapid succession...

 

 

[DrZoos]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BPollock]

Reports just in that Jim Wickham has just flipped while landing back at tyabb, Yak 9 upside down.

 

 

[tillmanr]

Plane flips on landing at Tyabb Airport, pilot not hurt - ABC News ...

 

www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-06/plane-flips-on-landing.../6753478

 

2 hours ago - Peter Bernard, the president of the Peninsula Aero Club, who lives at the airport, said the "unusual incident" involved a Yak 9, a newly built ...

 

 

[DrZoos]

Appears hes ok thank god.

 

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2015/09/06/14/42/man-miraculously-escapes-injury-after-plane-flips-at-victorian-airport

 

 

[Ada Elle]

Thank god he's ok. I was at Tyabb last week and caught some taxiing runs with the cowling off:

 

 

 

[kaz3g]

Beautiful aeroplane...glad Jim is all ok and that the damage is not too serious.

 

Kaz

 

 

[Bubbleboy]

Was a great social event! Catering was abismal and the SAAA workshops I thought were poorly organized. We can only go forward from here.

 

Scotty

 

 

[tillmanr]

I didn't have time to attend any workshops but agree that the catering was overextended. However if you can advise the SAAA how to cater for an audience that can vary from about 20 if it rains to more than 1000 if it is sunny I am sure your advice would be appreciated. As Narromine has about 3000 locals the turnout of this order is hard to predict and then interest caterers to have vast perishables in the fridge just in case. I thought it was a success.

 

 

[tillmanr]

A view of the flight line Saturday

 

 

[tillmanr]

Queuing for departure 1608 local Saturday

 

 

[Bubbleboy]

The catering at Natfly 2 years ago was far better. This weekend there was a caravan selling more greasey food than my arteries could cope with and an ice cream van. What's changed? Are there no schools, scout groups, sports groups that wouldn't want to earn some good dollars for a few days work. It's been done before so what happened this time? The aeroclub put on a great spread at night for dinner but their attempt at a lunch time BBQ was very poor. There were many irrate people in the queue. I stood there for close to an hour for a steak Sanger. One workshop I went to the presenter was told the day before that he was doing it. This has been in the planning for months. It's got so much potential and I really want to see this work but they need to raise the bar. There were many comments heard from many visitors over the weekend that echoed this.

 

Scotty

 

 

[Ultralights]

Cancelling last year is what happened this year, no one would risk the loss if they turned up, all stocked with perishable produce, only to have a small crowd to cater to, i think you will find, following the success of this weekend, the next one will be well catered. apart from the mid day snacks, i found the aero club meals to be quite nice, friday night was a really nice mixed grill at the Royal.. could barely eat all the animals on the plate. let alone the salad or chips.

 

 

[Traveldoc]

As a newby student RAAus pilot I thought it was great. Less than 4 hours driving from Kurrajong via Mudgee without breaking speed limits.

 

Cheap room at the Court House Hotel was adequate. (Last minute cancellation from a flyer who was "fogged in" according to hotel lady)

 

Got to see and sit in several of the aircraft I am interested in either 2nd hand or as kit builds. Spoke to several builders and received some valuable insights.

 

Interesting talk from Jabiru boss fella as well as SAAA talks on Airworthiness inspection process and a really interesting talk about test-flying a newly built aircraft. A very logical sequence.

 

Although I have little interest in warbirds or aerobatics the flying displays were quite captivating. The sound of Grumman Avenger is something to remember. Cant understand how Paul Bennett can jump into such different machines so quickly and master them all.

 

For me the highlight was wandering around the underwing camping area (um, was this allowed?) snapping photos and chatting to owners. Loved the Rutan Long Eze that flew non stop from Cairns.

 

Biggest disappointment: Just Aircraft Superstol wasn't there.

 

Final observation: Jeez you guys are old. :-) I am "in transition" from bicycles/motorcycles and the demographic change is very stark.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I really enjoyed the weekend; well done SAAA and everyone else involved. Great to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. I finally got to actually see one of my all-time favourite aeroplanes and watch it fly.

 

 

So sad that it ended up being pranged, but good nobody got hurt.

 

After only ever seeing these amazing planes in books, how lucky am I to see them up close and in the air!

 

Spare a thought for the enormous investment these owners put into buying, restoring and maintaining aircraft that were designed to only last a few weeks in combat. Which leads me to an improvement I might suggest to the organisers:

 

After each flying display the commentators asked the crowd to applaud. The hard-working pilot never hears this. He/she lands their aircraft, taxis in, parks and climbs out to silence from the crowd which is now transfixed by the next flying performance. Perhaps next time commentators could be positioned so that they see the pilots climbing out of their planes and ask the crowd to applaud.

 

 

[DrZoos]

I didn't have time to attend any workshops but agree that the catering was overextended. However if you can advise the SAAA how to cater for an audience that can vary from about 20 if it rains to more than 1000 if it is sunny I am sure your advice would be appreciated. As Narromine has about 3000 locals the turnout of this order is hard to predict and then interest caterers to have vast perishables in the fridge just in case. I thought it was a success.

This is easy..various beverage sand bbq products can be done at very short notice...we used to have the sam issues with school functions...

An extra two sets of hands and some eskies with derinks could shorten those cues considerably..but it was still a great event

 

 

[Ultralights]

yes, you can wonder pretty much anywhere, except taxiways of course, CASA only moved people back behind the fences during air show routines,

 

yes, that Long EZ was stunning, great craftsmanship and a lot of love and effort went into that, it was beautiful. Lots of nice RV's but sadly no savannahs with big tyres! grr....

 

 

[DrZoos]

There was two Savannahs , one on display , new, and one in the day parking.

 

 

[Ultralights]

yes, i looked over every savannah, still no big tyres! :P

 

 

[Nobody]

Look, if the food is the biggest gripe then the team putting on the event have done a great job. There was the aeroclub, the gliding club and on the friday the Rotary club as well as some of the commercial stands selling food. The Narromine show was on robbing some of the local food supporters but in part, that date was chosen to enable Warren Truss to attend.

 

There were some great aircraft, both those on display as well as those flown in by builders. Many people flew great distances, from Western Australia, North Queensland and Victoria. From an external viewpoint, CASA didnt cause too much grief and I didn't see any ramp checks, but no doubt they probably made some aspects difficult.

 

There will be things that will be improved upon. This is only the beginning, having successfully run this event it will give the general members and the exhibitors more confidence that future events will be well run allowing them to commit to attending. The success of this event will also give those who ran it the confidence to dream bigger and improve on it in the coming years.

 

Aviation in Australia is sick at the moment. It may still die in the future but the past weekend has given a glimmer of hope that the end of general aviation in Australia isnt a certainty.

 

 

[red750]

you can wonder pretty much anywhere, except taxiways of course,

You can wonder anywhere you like, as long as you don't wander onto the taxiways.

 

 

[Camel]

Seems the problem has to be part of the solution.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

As a newby student RAAus pilot I thought it was great. Less than 4 hours driving from Kurrajong via Mudgee without breaking speed limits.Cheap room at the Court House Hotel was adequate. (Last minute cancellation from a flyer who was "fogged in" according to hotel lady)

Got to see and sit in several of the aircraft I am interested in either 2nd hand or as kit builds. Spoke to several builders and received some valuable insights.

 

Interesting talk from Jabiru boss fella as well as SAAA talks on Airworthiness inspection process and a really interesting talk about test-flying a newly built aircraft. A very logical sequence.

 

Although I have little interest in warbirds or aerobatics the flying displays were quite captivating. The sound of Grumman Avenger is something to remember. Cant understand how Paul Bennett can jump into such different machines so quickly and master them all.

 

For me the highlight was wandering around the underwing camping area (um, was this allowed?) snapping photos and chatting to owners. Loved the Rutan Long Eze that flew non stop from Cairns.

 

Biggest disappointment: Just Aircraft Superstol wasn't there.

 

Final observation: Jeez you guys are old. :-) I am "in transition" from bicycles/motorcycles and the demographic change is very stark.

Travel doc....Nice to hear you had a good experience. Yes we are old...average age in the fifties somewhere but it has and is dropping a bit. Many of us have been in this sport now approaching 30 years and many of us came from either Skydiving or hang- gliding prior to that. We certainly need you younger guys to keep the sport alive and ticking into the future, so welcome To our ranks.

 

 

[flyvulcan]

Off topic:

 

For the Yak enthusiasts, I was being driven from the airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Friday and spotted an interesting aircraft on a stick in the grounds of a primary school on the side of the road (you can see it on Google Earth in the town of Manas which is about 5km from Bishkek airport). On the way back to the airport the next day, I got the driver to stop at the school so I could take a photo which I am attaching for interest. There were 2 security guards standing right next to me when I took the photo and I'm sure that they would have thought I was a pervert taking photos of a primary school, had I not been in a pilot's uniform...

 

 

Back to topic:

 

There has been some great feedback about AusFly from attendees on this thread. I'll make sure that it all gets back to the SAAA National Council so the issues can be addressed for the next AusFly.

 

 

[flyvulcan]

And also, congratulations to forumite jakej who won the award for best composite aircraft with his trusted Glasair VH-JBJ!