– Steve Hitchen
Airshows Downunder Shellharbour launches tomorrow, with the air shows on Saturday and Sunday. This is one of the most anticipated instalments of what was Wings over Illawarra, because it comes with the support and organising prowess of AMDA Foundation, which took over and re-branded the show in March 2023. Yes, AMDA Foundation has the goods, but it also has size 13 boots to fill. The previous organisers, Bright Events, turned out a decent air show every year (something that AMDA has never done) on a shoestring budget and fueled mainly by the enthusiasm and determination of Mark Bright, the late Kerry Bright, and Lucy Mellor. This team worked wonders with not a lot, so the aviation community is eager to see what they can turn out with the vast resources of AMDA Foundation behind them. I am making my way to Shellharbour by car tomorrow (too much stuff for the back of the LSA!), which is why you are reading LMH on a Thursday. Hopefully, I will have a chance to catch-up with many of you sometime over the weekend. Am I excited? You betcha!
The GA manufacturing industry is bubbling over about the 2023 delivery figures, which showed the highest number of aircraft shipments in the past 10 years. It represents a return to the energy that existed in the industry pre-COVID, but is still short of the numbers that were scored in the years before the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. In those days, the General Aviation Manufacturers' Association (GAMA) didn't report helicopter deliveries, which they do today, so comparing the 4012 aeroplane/helicopter numbers of 2023 to the aeroplane-only numbers of pre-2011 is not really apples versus apples. However, Australian Flying's analysis shows that, regardless of comparability, since 2013 the trend in aircraft sales has been on a steady incline. We can take a lot of encouragement from that because it means that more new aircraft are coming into the aviation community to push out the 40-year-old legacy models. It also shows a level of confidence in the future of GA. New aircraft are a significant investment in anyone's currency, and no-one wants to spend capital money unless they have some reason to believe the risk is not too great. What we need to see now is the 2024 figures either hold the ground won or set a new mark that leads to even more cork-popping in the offices of GA manufacturers.
Recreational Pilot Certificate (RPC) holders will get access to controlled airspace. It's only a matter of when. CASA's GA Workplan had a deadline of Q4 2023, but as it's now two-thirds of the way through Q1 2024, it's fair to assume that they're running behind. The word out of CASA is that they are still formulating their response to the public consultation on the discussion paper, and are hoping to publish that very soon. Although there are bound to be people in the GA community who adhere to the idea that flying in CTA on a self-declared medical is dangerous, CASA themselves have been through a complete rethink and have approved the new Class 5 GA self-declared medical as suitable for CTA operations. That opens the door for RPCs to fly right through and into CTA ... after the appropriate training is completed. The impact on RAAus operations will be profound; CTA is growing (Ballina-Byron, overhead Avalon, most of Sydney under the new airspace design) and without approval to enter CTA, RAAus pilots have to go around the control zones. The completion of this project and the benefits that go with it cannot come soon enough.
One of the most heart-breaking decisions of my life is the one to step down as editor of Australian Flying. It's not one I wanted to make; circumstances have forced my hand into choosing private life over working life. I will still be around managing the digital content, writing LMH and producing features for the print mag as Editor-at-Large, so those of you who thought you were rid of me need to put down the champagne glasses. I'm still going to be ringing, texting and e-mailing you for the foreseeable future. The magazine I am reluctantly consigning to the skills of Kreisha Ballantyne, who, under the new editorial structure, will be my boss. So this is a good time to thank all the media staff, consultants, association CEOs, regulators, aviators, CFIs, engineers, aircraft manufacturers, aero clubs and general spies who have provided me with the raw material over the years to craft into content for both the website and the magazine. They, too, have served Australian Flying. Other content warriors are the freelance contributors and photographers that have spent their own sweat on making the magazine the best GA title in Australia. The last 12 years have truly been a communal effort, and I hope that will continue for Kreisha as the new editor.
The general aviation community in Australia was shocked this week by the announcement that popular GA vlogger Stef Drury has a brain tumour. It is, apparently, not cancerous, but needs to be removed before growth causes more damage. The best wishes of everyone at Australian Flying will be at Stef's side as he embarks on a journey back to good health. We'll see you back at the controls of EYZ sooner than you know it.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch