A quieter time of year aviationwise but there are still some lovely flying days to be found between the cold front activity passing through SA.
Indeed it is a perfect time of year to consider flying north to the outback or Queensland. The summer rains have now flowed down to Lake Eyre and it now contains a considerable amount of water that has transformed the desert landscape. And from the air is the best way to see it. If you have not done this flight before, I can thoroughly recommend it.
Closer to home, we had 2 groups of club members tour the Parafield tower facilities during June.
Parafield is South Australia’s oldest airport and still the busiest with some 200,000 movements per annum. Granted it is nearly all GA aircraft doing training, but still an impressive number. The tower is manned 10 hours per day usually by 4 controllers, one for each runway circuit, left and right, one ground controller and one supervisor. When the weather is nice and the circuit is full it is certainly a busy and demanding task for ATC.
This time of year is when preparations are being made for the worlds greatest flyin, Oshkosh in Wisconsin, USA. A seven day celebration of all things aviation all in one place. More than 10,000 aircraft parked on one airfield is a sight to behold. If you have any kind of interest in aviation then Oshkosh is a must for your bucket list.
Many of you are recipients of Geoff Hennig’s emails showing what is happening in the South Australian general aviation scene. He just recently put out information about the plight of our most famous South Australian aircraft, The Vickers Vimy flown from England to Australia in 1919 by Sir Ross and Keith Smith. This aircraft has been languishing in the Adelaide airport long term carpark since the current terminal opened more than 10 years ago. With the announcement of terminal extensions the Vimy needs to be preserved within the new terminal development for all to see. As the centenary of this famous flight approaches please support this initiative by writing to your local member.
At next week’s club meeting our guest speaker is club member Richard Young. Richard will be talking about building aircraft the hard way, scratch building from plans. Most builders these days take advantage of kits to reduce the building time, but there are still some purists out there who enjoy the original way aeroplanes were built- from scratch.
Richard will give us some insight into the extra work and techniques required in scratch building his Sonex aircraft.
This will lead nicely into the workshop visit Richard is hosting on 21st July, 2pm at Lot 52, Park Rd Virginia. Please let me know if you wish to come along.
Also next week, Barry Windle will update us on the RAAUS board nominations.
Until then, fly safe and stay warm.
Blue Skies,
Steve
Basic Flying Rules:
Try to stay in the middle of the air.
Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of air can be recognised by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea and trees.
It is much more difficult to fly there. WW2 Undergraduate Pilot Training Sign
