Trip to Wings Over Warwick

[wanabigaplane]

Trip to Wings Over Warwick

 

Julian with Stan in his Jabiru from Tumut, and I in a Titan Tornado from Goulburn, flew up to Wings Over Warwick this last weekend.

 

Perfect weather on the Friday 14th for the flight up. One stop in Gunnedah.

 

We stayed in a local hotel Friday and Saturday night. Old pub, being refurbished and struggling. $30 each gave us a room each, toast and coffee for breakfast, and a ride to the airfield in the morning.

 

Mostly good flying conditions for the flight back on the Sunday, except for stormy weather for a few hours south of Mudgee. We stopped in Gunnedah and Orange, getting back comfortably in one day – which is as life should be in the ideal world of recreational aviation.

 

The show day was to be on the Sunday, but there was still plenty of activity on the Saturday. A Yak and a Trojan were giving joy flights, with the Yak being busy all day. Gliders were out, drifters and thrusters visited from neighbouring fields. A 2 place gyro, a Trike, a small helicopter, and a number of Jabiru people, some with their ground support, camped overnight. A Stearman turned up, as well as a few privately owned Yakchans, and some were doing joyflights too. On the Sunday, by the 9am we left, there was plenty of activity with quite a bottleneck on the strip at times.

 

What struck us was the friendliness of the community. We could easily have been accommodated in a hangar, and a number of people offered transport into town. There was only complete cooperation between all facets of flying, and we felt a general excitement for the future of recreational aviation in Warwick. There were quite a number of hangars on the field already, and there were places being prepared for many more.

 

NOW READ THIS. RPT in Warwick ceased quite a few years ago, but the council tarred the strip only three years ago. Why? Support for recreational aviation, development of aviation associated industry, and the recognition that Warwick was picking up medium sized industrial developments that wanted out of the rat race. Such businesses would want accessibility for managers and directors by General Aviation, and Warwick council recognised that they would lose business to other regional towns with such facilities. If only The Snowy River Aviators had this sort of support from our local council! Indeed, to drive through, or fly over the Warwick area, you can see all sorts of development going on. Despite the drought, the town is putting on a fresh face, and things are happening. In comparison, our Snowy River Shire is dead!

 

We had a great time, and not only came back with a lot of ideas, but a dream of how things could be at Adaminaby where we are in the process of purchasing the local airfield from the lethargic local council. Many thanks to the people at Warwick who made us so welcome.

 

Jack.

 

 

[PaulN]

Great report Jack ;)