– Steve Hitchen
Manufacturers are reporting very strong demand for new aircraft in Australia, which is encouraging for the entire GA industry as it is one of our major health markers. More aircraft means either more flying or older types are being replaced. Both are good news. But Cirrus is reporting a whopping 400% increase in deliveries in Australia, of which half the buyers are new to general aviation. This is a direct result of the airlines becoming unreliable during the pandemic and the opening months of the pre-pandemic era. Airlines, however, are slowly getting their act together, which means as they do, aircraft shipments should contract to "normal" levels. Except that might not happen; the increased demand could be permanent. There is an old business proverb that says never give your customers a reason to try the opposition because they might like it too much, and this could be the case with the airlines. We aviators have always known that in many situations, flying GA is more advantageous than going via RPT, especially if your destination is not on a serviced route. Business people in particular have been hamstrung by adhering to airline schedules with the only alternative being a car drive of many hours. Now that they have been introduced to the flexibility of flying yourself and the new technology that closes the gap between GA and the airlines in terms of safety, they may be reluctant to go back. And that is also good news for general aviation.
Australian Flying received some feedback this week that our review of the Australian International Airshow was too positive. The reader–anonymously even to us–stated that Avalon was rubbish this year on a number of levels. That was sort of contradictory to the exhibitors who in general labeled it the best Avalon ever held. I suppose it comes down to perspective, which is what we try to keep in mind when we write reviews of anything: perspective. There is yet to be an Avalon held that everyone liked universally, and that goes for punters, exhibitors, display pilots and even the organisers. Consequently, opinion is always varied and so very often completely valid. Naturally, the heaviest brickbats have been saved this year for the traffic flow. I would not be in AMDA Foundation's shoes for anything on this one. There is not a lot they can do about the highway; Geelong Road there is three lanes and it will stay at that for some time to come, I suspect. The Point Wilson Rd, which is the access avenue for public vehicles, was never meant to carry that sort of traffic. The traffic jam this year was the largest there's ever been, but not the first there's ever been. AMDA Foundation did the best they could with what they have: entries to an airport that was originally designed as an air base. Mass traffic ingress lanes such as those at MEL or SYD don't exist at Avalon. AMDA out-succeeded themselves this year, which is always a back-handed positive. Excessive demand can be as damaging as low demand, but it's a preferable state of affairs. It has not gone unnoticed at AMDA, so remedies are likely to be in the pipeline.
Bose's new A30 headset is the hottest new product to hit the market since the SkyEcho came out. The Australian distributor is having trouble keeping up with demand for the A30, and all because it is simply the latest Bose to hit the market. Some in the general aviation community don't believe the A20 can be improved on, but people still want the next new thing anyway. Is the A30 a better headset? We don't know yet, but we have managed to secure a demonstrator unit, which we plan to run through the testing mill later this week and will reveal our conclusions in the July-August issue of Australian Flying, which is due out mid June. Keep your eyes out for it.
And speaking of good stuff, our latest competition prize is the very nifty Garmin InReach Mini 2. If you're not familiar, this is a satellite communicator small enough to fit in your nav bag that will go with you where mobile reception fears to tread. InReach will keep you connected so you're never alone over remote areas. Australia has a lot of that, so an InReach Mini 2 inflates your peace of mind in the event of crisis in the cockpit. Thanks to FlightStore, we're giving away one unit in conjuction with the May-June issue of Australian Flying. All you need to do is go on our website and sign-up for the newsletter and you're in the running!
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch