Recreational Aviation Australia CEO Matt Bouttell said that last weekend's Fly'n for Fun event at Parkes was a great success despite wild weather in northern NSW blocking some pilots from attending.
The national fly-in is thought to have attracted up to 75 aircraft to Parkes across the weekend, which is more than organisers RAAus were expecting for a first-time event.
"Fly'n for Fun ticked all the boxes for RAAus, Bouttell told Australian Flying. "We were very happy with the turn-out, particularly with the weather in north-eastern NSW that did keep a few aviators away. Notwithstanding that, we still had more aircraft than we were hoping for.
"We would have been happy with 50 aircraft, but we think we had more than 70 there for the weekend."
Fly'n for Fun was the first post-lockdown attempt to organise a national fly-in for both recreational and GA pilots, and Bouttell said the feeling of community among the attendees was obvious.
"The vibe we got from those in attendance and also the vendors and exhibitors was that it was just great to be back, and to have the community of aviators back together again," he said, noting that there attendance was evenly spread between RAAus- and CASA-registered aircraft.
"I reckon the RAAus/GA mix was close to 50-50," he said. "The weather was probably more suitable for larger aircraft on the Friday, but the Saturday was better so we had a lot of RAAus aircraft come in then. It was a sensational mix of aircraft arriving throughout the weekend."
Fly'n for Fun also featured 12 exhibitor aircraft parked in the display area, with several more exhibitors occupying the expo marquee. Companies represented included AvPlan, Angel Flight, Cirrus, Sling, Flight Design, OzRunways, Horsham Aviation and key sponsor AMDA Foundation.
Bouttell said that organisation for the event was severely disrupted by COVID lockdowns and uncertainty.
"We got this up and running in about three months," he stressed. "Whilst the idea was there 12 months ago, going in and out of lockdown, there was a bit of risk involved, so we really didn’t hit our straps until three months ago.
"What that did was limit the amount of awareness that we could generate. In ways that worked in our favour because it meant we could try this out on a smaller scale."
Bouttell believes the 2022 event was a solid foundation that would allow RAAus to develop the fly-in, which is currently planned to be a biennial event in non-Avalon years.
"Going forward, what we really want is to have more of our aviation community there, and also entice people who want to join the community, whether it be as an engineer or pilot, so I think there’ll be a greater involvement from the general public next time.
"It’s more about coming and joining our community rather than watching a great flying display. We will have a flying display next time; I think there is appetite for that. We were hoping to have Matt Hall this time, but unfortunately he had to pull out because he was unwell."
Bouttell said that RAAus was keen to work with the Parkes council to make more of the airport's airside area available to the fly-in and noted that although Parkes is a security-controlled airport, access for those without an ASIC had not proved a problem this year.
The next Fly'n for Fun is scheduled for 2024 at a date yet to be announced.