National fly-in Ausfly will relocate from its traditional home at Narromine to Wentworth NSW for 2024.
The event is scheduled for Friday 22 and Saturday 23 March at Wentworth Airport, about 17 nm north-west of Mildura.
Ausfly has been held at Narromine since its inception in September 2012, organised by the Sport Aircraft Association of Australia (SAAA), with AOPA Australia and the Aviation Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Business Association (AMROBA) coming in later under the collective banner of the Australian General Aviation Alliance (AGAA).
Ausfly spokesperson James Fisher told Australian Flying that the time was right to move the event, pointing to ongoing problems with weather blocking aviators from attending.
"Out of necessity, we felt it was definitely time to look around and see what's available," Fisher said. "The last two Ausflys at Narromine were tricky because the weather stopped people getting across the Great Divide.
"The weather was just dismal, and if you look historically, about the time we want to put the event on, there's either a dust storm or low cloud, so everyone inside the J curve from Rockhampton to Melbourne struggles to get to Narromine at that time of the year."
Wentworth is 453 nm west of Sydney, adding 115 nm to the trip to Ausfly; but it doubles the length of the journey from Archerfield. For Melbourne pilots, the journey is only 280 nm, chopping nearly 100 nm from the Narromine trip.
The big winners are the South Australians, with Wentworth being only 167 nm north-east of Parafield, a whopping 338 nm closer than Narromine.
Regardless of distance, Fisher believes that the weight of opinion was behind a move, and that despite the extra distance for Sydney basin pilots, Wentworth may be easier to get to than Narromine.
"To anyone west of the Great Divide it won't make much difference, and those east of the divide have the option to go coastal," he said
"We had comments from attendees over the past two shows that it's a bit hard to get to Narromine, and there's a dearth of accommodation options. The commute to Dubbo can also be a pain; a taxi can cost you nearly $100!
"Narromine became entrenched as the spiritual home of Ausfly, but at no time was it considered that this was where the event was always going to be. If the down-hill trajectory in interest from attendees and exhibitors was going to continue, then there wasn't much point having the event at all."
The SAAA had set criteria for what the new Ausfly venue would ideally look like, and although Wentworth doesn't tick all the boxes, it was still considered a viable new home for the event.
"Wentworth township is somewhere different for people to go, and is a more scenic location on the confluence of the Darling and Murray Rivers and has proximity to Mildura," Fisher points out. "Like Narromine, it is open all around for miles.
"Any new venue would need to have a decent airport, accommodation options, points of interest for non-flyers, and not cost us an arm and a leg to stage the event.
"Wentworth Shire Council was bending over backwards to welcome us, whereas some other shires we looked at were trying to make it all too complicated.
Ausfly 2024 is being organised by the SAAA, Wentworth Shire Council and Sunraysia Sport Aircraft Club.
More information is on the Ausfly website.