Kingaroy, Queensland-based Dean-Wilson Aviation is enjoying increasing interest from the training sector in its Whitney Boomerang, with both Jandakot-based Minovation Flying Training and Archerfield’s Flight One recently taking delivery of their second Boomerangs.
Since putting their first Boomerang into service in January 2008, Minovation have experienced growing demand for the trainer, says Chief Flying Instructor Min Stokes.
“The Boomerang has fulfilled its role as a good, sturdy basic trainer able to withstand the rigors of student pilots and our summer temperatures by using technology that has stood the test of time,” Stokes said.
“The Boomerang is built up to a standard, not compromised down to a price or weight. In the long term I feel sure that our Boomerangs will still be training student pilots in many years to come when other types will be long gone.”
Flight One’s Chief Operating Officer Lucas Tisdall echoed Stokes’ belief in the Boomerang as an effective light training aircraft.
Working with Queensland Aviation Services, Flight One has sought to differentiate its offering to the training market and the recent introduction of a second Boomerang into their fleet underscores this.
“The opportunity to bring a brand new FAR23 compliant machine on line was not taken lightly,” Tisdall said.
“We needed a machine that fitted our operating model in terms of cost and versatility, and represented value to the student for their hard earned training dollars.
“The fact that we could tour the factory in Kingaroy and see the pride with which aircraft were built was also a telling factor in our choice.
"The team at Dean-Wilson Aviation could not be more helpful as they look for ways to continually improve the adaptability of the Boomerang in the modern training environment, and this, along with the student take up, was a further factor in our electing to take on a second machine.”
Dean-Wilson Aviation handles all design and manufacturing of the Whitney Boomerang out of its Kingaroy factory.