Airtourer Association Presidents Fly-In

[Matt]

As you've probably noticed, we (well mainly me) have been a bit slack with the trip reports of late...so tonight I plan to resolve that with some of our most recent adventures.

 

Last weekend we attended the Airtourer Association Presidents Fly-In which was held at Yarrawonga. This annual event is held wherever the current President chooses and this year it was Yarrawonga...a good thing for us as we could only make it for the Saturday and Sunday (of a 4 day event) and the short 45 minute flight from Kyneton meant we could make the most of the weekend without spending too much time in transit.

 

As luck would have it, we woke on the Saturday morning to typical Melbourne weather and arrived at Kyneton airfield looking at low cloud and drizzle...thankfully the forecast and radar would soon see this off with a solid cloud base rising to about 3500'...enough to get airborne and "down" to Yarrawonga. Again, typical of Victorian weather, by the time we reached Yarrawonga there wasn't a cloud in sight.

 

On arrival we headed into Hangar 19 where all the members had gathered for lunch and we were warmly welcomed with a round of applause following an introduction by John Treble, the President of the Airtourer Association. Over the weekend we managed to meet just about all those that attended - about 50 in all. These included John O'Halloran who is the association Secretary and ex-RAAF Mirage pilot, John was also a RAAF Test Pilot and, as irony would have it, had flown our CT4 while he was posted to ARDU in the mid 80s, he's now a test pilot with Cathay Pacific.

 

We also met Stan Tilley from Hobart who I would think has more hours in an Airtourer than anyone on the planet. Stan has just completed writing a book on Aerobatics for Airtourers...and thankfully included the Airtrainer (CT4) in the content. Stan and his wife are an amazing couple, I'd guess their age to be in the early 70's and having flown up from Hobart for the fly-in, the were then heading up to Cairns for a holiday...apparently an annual trip for them.

 

There were so many interesting people we spoke to, trying to capture it all here would take a while and not do them any justice...suffice to say we enjoyed talking with everyone that attended over the two days and look forward to the next gathering of Airtourer folk at Shepparton in December.

 

Of course we managed to get some flying in while we were there, as usual I was offering up the right hand seat to anyone keen to experience a "grown up" Airtourer. Those who took up the offer included Peter Bons, an ex-Army pilot who after a 30 year flying career had a very unfortunate accident with a remote controlled aircraft that happened to strike him in the temple having gone out of control - lucky to be alive, but unfortunately Peter is no longer able to fly and savours every opportunity he gets to get airborne...as we all do. Another keen passenger was Bruce Ross, Bruce isn't a pilot but the husband of a former Airtourer owner and, like Kaz, loves going flying but just doesn't have any interest in becoming a pilot. The last passenger for the day was Jan O'Halloran...the wife of John mentioned above...taking Jan for a flight was a little daunting I must admit, given her husband's background and experience...thankfully the feedback was positive :thumb_up:

 

Anyhow, enough of the chat, here's some pics.

 

Cheers,

 

Matt & Kaz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mazda]

Thanks Matt & Kaz, I wish I could have been there but circumstances prevented it. I had a great time at the Airtourer Convention at Griffith, although I was fined for doing aerobatics instead of attending the AGM!!! (It was such a perfect morning).

 

Thanks for the photos, they are a familiar bunch of aircraft. (What is the collective noun for a group of Airtourers - a 'mow' perhaps?)

 

They are a good bunch of people. Say Hi from me to John, Jan, Stan & Bonnie if you see them again.

 

If you ever head back up to Sydney, try do to an approach to runway 10 at CN, Peter Bons lives underneath and loves to see Airtourer types flying by!

 

 

[Mazda]

Matt & Kaz, this might be of interest. I did this report on the Griffith trip for a UK site. Aviation Forums for pilots - from FLYER Magazine