Some missions are just a blast and it's not so easy to explain why. Perhaps there is some natural sense that what you're doing and seeing taps directly in the spiritual value of aviation. One such mission occured on Good Friday high above waypoint TAITE to the south of Port Phillip Heads. An ordinary day below; a superb day above. A Piper Chieftain and a Piper Navajo flying in formation ... not the types of aircraft you immediately associate with formation flight. Perhaps that's what made this mission so much fun. Echelons, breakaways, turns to the left and right, getting used to the inertia of each aeroplane. I would have loved to have flown this myself, but I was "relegated" to the position of photographer, which in itself was not such a bad spot to be in. On the ground later, every crew member of both aeroplanes succumbed to the simmering euphoria as professionalism gave way to unbridled expressions of absolute glee! It was good to see hardened charter pilots finding the fun in aviation again. Thanks heaps to Kirkhope Aviation, Royal Vic and Murray Gerraty for thinking about me when it came to crew assignments.
RAAus continues to cement itself as a leader in general aviation, not just recreational aviation. CEO Michael Linke has made it onto the speakers' list for Safeskies this year as the sector representative, and with some justification. RAAus is one GA body that is charged with developing safe aviation, albeit in the recreational area only, whereas as most other groups may promote safety, but are have no responsibility for it. They are also taking responsibility for promoting general aviation to the outside world, and one of the few groups that are. It seems RAAus has identified and is exercising its own potential to advance GA, and the sector can only be better for them doing so. Right now the board is examining their strategic plan and they're looking for industry feedback via an online survey. This is everyone's chance to voice their opinions of the organisation; member, supporter and detractor.
I was disappointed to see that Warbirds Downunder won't be on this year. This has become the largest warbird show in Australia and attracted plenty of GA flyers to Temora. The decision to swap to October to take advantage of better weather is logical, but I believe the aviation world would have prefered a show this year rather than have a three-year gap between shows. New Temora Aviation Museum CEO Murray Kear has done his research in identifying a good date, but that may have reduced the time available to plan and execute the first-class air show that we have all come to expect from TAM; hence, the delay to 2018. However I see another issue that may or may not come to pass: a potential conflict with AirVenture Australia, which is traditionally held around the same time, and not so far away from Temora either. This could split the flying crowd down the centre, although there is potential for avid flyers to attend both events if they are indeed held on consecutive weekends. Let's hope these two organisers communicate with each other so neither show suffers.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch