– Steve Hitchen
Every time an airport goes on the open market the general aviation community gets the shivers. We know how this works: developers buy the property, shove everyone off the airport and move in the bulldozers in preparation for a non-aviation cash-cow development. Ask anyone who flew out of Hoxton Park or Casey Field how it goes. So, naturally the GA community got the jitters again when Coldstream Airport in Victoria's Yarra Valley also went under the hammer. But wait! The airport has been bought by a development company headed by a CPL, which has plans to expand the airport and build more hangars. Could we have asked for a better outcome? Don't be in such a hurry to answer that question; there are too many unknowns at the moment. Given that CEM has been run on a largely private, recreational basis, Acuity Development Group, the new owners, will put the airport on a more commercial footing, which means it needs to make money for the investors. The danger for GA here is that current airport tenants could find themselves without hangars over their their heads as leases rise exponentially, or existing hangars are demolished to free-up land for the mooted airpark-style development. That makes it hard to accurately assess the future of Coldstream, but at least Acuity has plans that provide reason for at least a level of optimism. I've put calls through to Acuity to get some clarity, and hopefully will have some updates soon.
Every year it becomes more obvious that the future power for GA aircraft is going to be electricity. The main reason behind that is that no-one seems to be developing alternatives that have commercial viability. The USA, the world's largest GA market, has largely diverted itself down the unleaded avgas or diesel routes (acknowledging the work of magniX), but in Europe, the energy for alternatives to avgas is being directed at electric power. It makes sense when you understand that most of the companies at the coalface of electric development are based in Europe: Diamond, Pipistrel, ZeroAvia, VoltAero et al. Whether that emerges simply as rechargeable batteries or hydrogen-electric is still many development hours down the track at the moment. This has implications in Australia, because the ALP's white paper–scheduled for mid-2024–is expected to focus on achieving zero-emissions goals, and electric power for GA is part of that. Whereas I agree with many in the GA community that diesel engines running sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a better capability match for GA, the world is currently capable of supplying (at an informed guess) less than 1% of SAF demand and the airlines are soaking up all of that. Second-guessing aside, I don't expect the white paper to include incentives to install diesel engines in legacy airframes, meaning we need to take a lot of notice of Europe's charge toward electricity because it may mirror our own future.
I am writing this column from a house in Darwin, where Sonya the Magnificent is currently lazing around a pool reading a book; I hope to join her soon. This, I have learnt over the years, is a GA city. The airport accommodates both airline and military traffic, but bustles with GA shuttling people to the Tiwi Islands or out to the remote communities where Boeings and Airbuses (rightly) fear to tread. For some communities, GA is their only connection to larger centres without taking very long drives along very poor roads. It's challenging stuff, which requires aviators that are not only up to the challenge, but also can emerge victorious every time. And it takes people like Trent Robinson to train pilots for this unique environment. We've just handed Trent the 2023 CASA Wings Award for Flying Instructor of the Year, which has turned out to be an inspired choice given the standing he holds in the aviation communities in both Darwin and Perth. And, through his Flight Training Australia podcast, his efforts are filtering right across the GA community in Australia. There's a lot of wisdom in his words, which many a PPL, RPC and flying instructor would do well to listen to.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch