Ausfly organisers, the Sport Aircraft Association of Australia (SAAA), has said last weekend's event at Wentworth NSW surpassed pre-event expectations in terms of attendance.
Ausfly moved from Narromine to Wentworth this year, marking the first time the event has moved away from its traditional home in 10 years.
SAAA spokesperson James Fisher told Australian Flying that the new venue, whilst presenting some challenges, looks to have been a better fit for the event than Narromine had been.
"Being at a new venue, and only having about four months to advise people of the event, we needed about 80 aircraft and attendees to make the venue worth pursuing moving forward," he said.
"We had greater than 150 aircraft and the Saturday night dinner on the paddle steamer was so well subscribed we had to start knocking people back.
"It exceeded our expectations, but we were still able to provide a good level of service."
Although small, the Saturday air display turned out to be a crowd-pleaser, headlined by the very professional Freedom Formation RV display team who stunned the crowd at Pacific Airshows on the Gold Coast last year. They were backed up by the Screaming Diamonds, Gary Weeks in his Lancair and Andrew Temby in an Extra 300L.
But, Ausfly has always been measured by the happiness (or otherwise) of the exhibitors who have invested in the event, expecting some return on that investment in the form of exposure to potential customers. At Wentworth, the number of people who walked into the expo was reported as lighter than expected.
As well as being the Ausfly spokesperson, Fisher was also an exhibitor, whose company Swish Products is the Australian agent for the Zenith series of kit aircraft, among others. He is therefore well qualified to assess the foot traffic.
"The foot traffic was probably about half of what we would have liked it to have been," he said. "That said, it was good-quality foot traffic.
"Normally at these shows you get people with no interest whatsoever, but this year just about everyone who came up to the exhibit had time to spend with us, and they were interested to buy."
Surprisingly for a town one-third the size of Narromine, the township of Wentworth was actually one of the stars of the event, providing plenty of accommodation and dining options for Ausfly goers. The same could be said of Wentworth Shire Council, which threw itself heartily into the event, taking a significant load off Ausfly organisers.
James Fisher believes Wentworth held up well as a potential home for Ausfly.
"The show at the airfield was about the same as Narromine, but the experience was superior," he believes. "The facilities in Wentworth were far superior; the township was better able to support the event than Narromine was
"Once we get the foot traffic up at Ausfly, it will be much better."
He's not the only one. Australian Flying conducted a ring-round post-event that revealed a general happiness in the wake of Ausfly that the SAAA hopes will carry over to next year. Fisher did some post-event research himself.
"We got some unsolicited feedback from a couple of distributors that scored Ausfly as an 8+ out of 10. The general feeling is that Wentworth was good venue.
"What we need to lock in firstly is are we going to do this annually; secondly, will it always be at Wentworth; and thirdly, are we going to make it on the same weekend every year so people can plan in advance? The sooner exhibitors know its on, the better."
But among the roses were a couple of thorns, with some aircraft exhibitors corraled in a corner where patrons clearly feared to tread. A couple of mis-located food vendors provided a barrier to through traffic that stall holders were very unhappy about.
Fisher believes the organising team will learn from this, and has ambitious plans to ensure to put the lessons to good use for the next edition of Ausfly.
"One of the things we did really well was co-ordinating with the council in finding a dates when there was nothing else in town so catering and accommodation wouldn't be stretched," Fisher said. "We basically had the place to ourselves, which was really great.
"What we need to do is get the leadership groups together earlier–the SAAA, HGFA, RAAus–and create a genuinely integrated show. How wouldn't have liked to have seen a couple of skydivers or an attending balloon. That's the thing that is really missing.
"We're going to do more to make those groups groups feel welcome rather than just invite them along and see who turns up."