nyone who has even the
slightest interest in aviation
loves a good air show.
Ever since the dawn of
manned flight, people
have had a fascination
with watching flying
machines weave their way around
the sky under the control of a skilled
pilot or crew.
Unlike America, Asia and Europe
where there are major air shows
just about every weekend (if you are
prepared to travel), a big air show in
Australia is quite a rare event.
Flying displays are very expensive
things to stage – take a look at the
Australian International Airshow at
Avalon, it is a massive undertaking
and takes two years to prepare for an
event that runs for a couple of days
for industry and a couple of days for
the public. It takes a dedicated team
of staff working away steadily in the
background, some professional flightcrews, talented engineering support,
skilled air traffic control support
plus a small army of enthusiastic
volunteers on the day to make the
event run like clockwork.
As fabulous as Avalon is, you
cannot help thinking that the smaller
aircraft get lost in the shadow of
the fast jets and expensive heavy
hardware that is on display to the
public. The public probably doesn’t
even notice the many small planes at
Avalon as their attention is drawn to
the heavy machinery roaring around
the sky above their heads, causing
the ground to shake beneath them
as they convert burned avtur into jet
noise and thrust.
So what can we do about raising
the profile of the smaller aircraft
to the public and maybe try and win
a few converts to try out aviation
for themselves?
This September the SAAA will
hold Ausfly 2015. It won’t be as
impressive as Avalon’s air show and
the crowds certainly won’t be as big,
but it will be about showcasing the
lighter end of aviation in Australia
to enthusiastic members of the
public as well as other aircrew.
To try and stage an air show in a
capital city has become very difficult
these days. To satisfy CASA,
the organizers have to be able to
demonstrate that the chances of
anything going badly wrong on the
day will have minimal chance of
impacting on third parties. Withresidential housing estates creeping
ever closer to the city airports, it
has become next to impossible to
provide CASA with the reassurance
they need to issue a display permit.
This is one of the reasons that you
just don’t see the sort of air show
that you used to see regularly at an
airport near you in the city.
Ausfly 2015 will take place at
Narromine airport in New South
Wales on the second weekend of
September, with flying displays
taking place on Friday and Saturday
11-12 September.
Narromine has the advantage
of having a country airport located
on the Western Plains of NSW.
At that time of year it usually has
stable weather, no stupid ASIC
requirements, airspace that is
accessible to all and is reasonable
flying time from the capital cities.
Granted it is “in the middle of
nowhere”, but that also means it’s in
the middle of everywhere. (OK I know
that for our aviation friends in SA and
WA it’s a very long way to Narromine,
but every year we see our flying friends
make the effort to fly over to catch up
with their buddies – and they leave
with huge smiles on their faces having
had a great time). Even if you have to
load up the four-wheel-drive or hitch
up the caravan and make a week long
expedition to get there, just do it.
The point being if you make the
effort to get to Narromine, the
reward is worth it, plus you get tosee some great country and meet
some real characters along the way.
The townsfolk of Narromine have
aviation running through their
blood, with a long association with
flying and they share that country
hospitality that makes you want to
return year after year.
The SAAA throws open the
door to all-comers – if it flies it is
welcome. If you belong to RA-Aus,
AWAL, AOPA, AAC, GFA, ASRA,
HGFA, APF, ABF, ASA, MAAA,
a flying club, a flight instructor
with students in need of some nav
practice for their PPL, NASA rocket
scientist, RAAF, RAN, AAA, fly or
work for an airline, have a Granny
in the Ghurkas, or are a member of
the public and you have an interest
in aviation, you are most welcome to
join us for a great weekend.
We already have in principle
agreement from some great display
pilots, we will have the airspace closed
during the display times to allow
some expensive hardware to strut its
stuff. We have a list of past exhibitors,
but we have room for some new ones
too, and there is always room for
generous sponsors that would like
to get behind the event and support
Australian aviation.
If you have an aviation product,
you really should be at Narromine
this September showing it off to
the Aussie aviators and public. The
more exhibitors the merrier – if
we run out of room for everyone
it will be a great problem to have
(Narromine is a big airfield, I don’t
think it will be a problem).
We have a dedicated team putting
together a great show for you, but we
will need the support of enthusiastic
volunteers, some generous sponsors
and the willingness of people to get
off their backsides and help promote
their particular brand of aviation. If
you are one of those people from the
organisations I listed in a paragraph
above, our organising team would
like to hear from you. You can get
in touch with them via e-mail by
putting “Ausfly 2015” in the title
at [email protected] or call
SAAA HQ on 02 6889 7777. If
we all work together we can make
aviation history and show the rest of
the world that flying is still fun and a
great way to make new friends.SPORT AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA australianflying.com.auFrom
Avalon to
Ausfly
Paul Bennet has been a great
supporter of Ausfly with his
energetic aerobatic displays.SAAA Correspondent
Martin Ongley gives
us a brief on plans for
Ausfly 2015.AUSTRALIAN FLYING March – April 2015(^78) Good Sports