A_F_2015_03_04_

With Avalon 2015 upon us, Dave Wheatland reflects

on the safety habits (or not) of air show display pilots

based on many years of experience.

nce again the sun

shines and the air

show season begins in

earnest. The northern

hemisphere show

season has ground to

a halt as snow and cold

weather throughout most of the

USA and Europe takes over.

Every second year Avalon looms

large into the Australian air show

scene but numerous other events

around Australia also bring historic,

vintage, homebuilt and warbirds to

celebrations of our collective aviation

passion. Of course there are a certain

number of the general public who

attend such events for the moments

of drama and excitement that go

hand in glove with the perception

of danger associated with these

spectacular displays of aeronautical

skill. It is difficult to know if people

like this are actually disappointed

when there is no emergency or

incident for them to personally

witness, but along the way there

will be some who will get their

anticipation blood lust rewarded

if they attend enough air displays,

shows or pageants.

I was two years old when I

attended my first air pageant at

Wentworth in NSW. I have little

actual recall, but the Agfacolor slides

that my dad took of the Pobjoy

Niagra powered Comper Swift, the

venerable Westland Widgeon, the

state-of-the-art Cessna 172 and,

of course, the Mustang flown by

Jack Macdonald. These slides show

aircraft taxiing, and milling crowds

wandering through the dust and

heat at the very heart of the display

event. Parents carrying hampers

of sandwiches and thermos of hot

tea, children running around and

the massive red and white tipped

propeller arc of the mighty Mustang

carving a path through the mayhem

with a leather helmeted head out

one side of the cockpit. In some

pics you can see fedora-hatted gents

with nondescript cloth armbands

attempting to marshal the crowds

away from the front of the pride and

joy or the air show organisers.

At the end of the day everyone

goes home sunburned; the attending

pilots fight for precedence in the

departure queue, pandemonium

briefly reigns and the same thing

happens somewhere else the

following weekend.

The first show I do clearly

remember was East Sale open

day 1960. The Red Sales in their

Vampires, the USAF U2 arriving

overhead and landing; the space-

suited pilot climbing out and

boarding a jeep, prior to the beautiful

silver aircraft being towed away.

Accompanying the U2 were RB-

75s and Convair C-131 transports.

The USAF aircraft are indelibly

stamped, but other than the

Vampires and Daks, I can’t recall any

other RAAF aircraft.

Also about this time I remember

accompanying my parents on a visit to

Melbourne where we were treated to

the spectacle of a “vic” of snow-white

RAF V Bombers sweeping across the

city followed by a long nosed Meteor,

I think. Must have been some sort

of event, but it was just fortuitous

for me a kid from regional Victoria.

My great uncle’s house backed onto

Essendon airport, and I would hang

off the paling fence all day, and into

the evening watching the Viscounts,

Electras and DC3s servicing our

state’s capital.

My dad flew, and we got the Crash

Comic delivered to the door courtesy

of the DCA, forerunner of the DOA,

DOT, DOTATG, CAA and of

course with the word “safety” added

( just the word mind you), CASA.

I read those magazines from cover

to cover and even wrote accident

reports when one of my control line

models got “re-kitted ”. The Don

Bush Mustang accident at Bendigo

was a report that stuck with me for

years, and I was devastated that one

of these fabulously rare aircraft had

been destroyed.

This brings me to the whole

point of this meandering missive:

air shows can be great fun, they

can be awesomely entertaining,

but there is always the chance that

someone can get dead.

While no one participates in an

air show or flying display with any

intention of getting hurt or worse, I

have seen some who played the cards

of luck against themselves and went

home in an ambulance or worse. I

was just 17 when I witnessed my first

real-life aircraft accident and stood

transfixed as an Auster with a friend

flying hit a tall tree with one wing,

The Air Show

Safety Paradigm

AUSTRALIAN FLYING March – April 2015

DAVE WHEATLAND

wheatie

The kernels of Dave “Wheatie” Wheatland started out flying crop sprayers

around South Gippsland in Victoria and was instrumental in

the development of the GippsAero GA200 Fatman and the GA8

Airvan. He has ferried and demonstrated the GA8 all around

the world, clocking up 3000 hours on the type. Dave is currently

heading up the test schedule for the GippsAero GA10.

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BILL WARDLE