Last month the Club hosted a BBQ at Murray Bridge airfield in support of our charity, the RFDS. Some 7 aircraft flew in, in perfect spring weather, with a total of about 30 people in all attending, the best turnout this year.

Thanks to the generosity of those attending, a total of $278 was donated to the RFDS.

More recently, the club was tasked to do a Bunnings BBQ slot at their Windsor Gardens store. We do these fund raisers to benefit the club members and help cover the costs of running the club on items such as Christmas dinners, guest speakers and scholarships.

We usually clear a profit of around $1,000 but this one was exceptional. The sausages sold out by 2 pm and after buying another 7 kilograms we were sold out again by 3:40pm. All in all some 575 sausages were served on 27 loaves of bread topped (or should I say, bottomed) with 15 kilograms of onion! The cool drinks sold out completely as well. This generated a profit to the club of $1,613. A great effort! My thanks to all those who participated but particularly to Greg Tabe for organising. When the next one comes around early next year I would encourage all members to consider volunteering to help your club.

Coming up on Sunday 8th October is the Jamestown Air Spectacular, rescheduled from last year. I do hope the weather plays ball this time. The long range forecast looks promising. If you have not already booked accommodation it may well be all sold out in Jamestown but if you are driving up there would still be accommodation available in the Clare Valley which is not too far away.

The club Christmas dinner is confirmed for November 22nd at the West Adelaide Football Club. This event will replace our normal November meeting which would fall on November 8th. Pricing and tickets will be known soon and you will be able to book and pay for tickets through the club website. I would like to see as many members and their partners as possible there as it is always a great night.

Recently, the committee purchased a new set of scales for builders to do their aircraft Weight and Balance. A ‘Conditions of Use’ policy document has now been formulated and is posted on the club website here. They will be available free of charge to members only, by contacting councillor Greg Holland. My thanks to Greg for trolling through all the CASA documentation to ensure the scales get used correctly.

You may remember last year that member, Barry Windle and a group of his friends decided to do a 200 kilometre bicycle ride to raise funds for the RFDS. It was so successful, raising nearly $5,000, that they have decided to do it again this month. I will be circulating a sponsorship form at the October meeting if you wish to contribute.

The guest speaker for October will be Barrie Rogers. He spoke to us a few years ago about his electric powered Pipistrel and its record setting distance flight around South Australia. This time he will give us an update on the progress of electric propulsion in aircraft and his involvement in a local effort to build and sell an Australian electric aircraft.

I will also give a report and slideshow of my recent around Australia flight.
Come along on October 11th and hear what it is all about.

Blue skies,

Steve

For most people the sky’s the limit. For aviators the sky’s our home.