President's News

Rob Hannemann • July 26, 2020

What a year 2020 has been!

Hello Members,

What an amazing (for want of a better word) year 2020 has been. I hope all of our members are coping with all that Covid-19 has imposed on us. It certainly put a halt on most of our social flying activities. Just a bit of an update on what is happening around your club.

FLYING SCHOOL
The club has been fortunate, with procedures put in place, to continue flying training throughout this period. In fact, we are booked solidly two to three weeks in advance at the moment. Please keep this in mind if you have any training or currency requirements coming up. Don’t leave it until the last minute to book in!

RA AUS
We have almost completed RA AUS requirements for our flying school and maintenance departments. Unfortunately, our new Sling aircraft has suffered delay due to factory shutdowns bought on by Covid-19. This is out of everyone’s control and something we just have to work with. We have investigated options of hiring aircraft to cover the period that we wait for our Sling to arrive. To date we haven’t been able to find anything that is a suitable deal for the club. Latest update is that we should expect delivery of the new Sling in November.

MOGAS
We are in the process of adding a Mogas tank and bowser to our fuel facility. Once again Covid-19 has delayed supply of some of the components – we should be start the installation in the next few weeks. Hopefully this will encourage more RA AUS aircraft to visit the airport.

BUILDING RENOVATIONS
It has been 20 years since we have done any work to our training rooms and offices. It is very exciting to be able to announce that we have engaged building contractors to give the facilities a bit of a tidy up. Some of the work to be undertaken include, removal of asbestos, rebuild of SIM room, some joinery works, painting and floorcoverings. There will also be some addition to the concrete areas in front of the hangar.
 
CLUB SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
Due to Government restrictions we had to suspend all of our social activities including Club Comps, Friday night bar and fly aways. With these restrictions now lifting the Bar has been reopened for Friday evening drinks (and flying stories). The club participated in its first fly away for some time on the 13th June. 13 aircraft and 31 people flew into Inglewood where we visited the Tobacco Museum and had lunch at the local pub. Weather was fantastic and everyone enjoyed the chance to spread our wings a little further than the circuit and training areas that most of us had been confined to the previous months. With the success of this event we have organised another for Gayndah on the 25th July. 

Hopefully it won’t be too much longer before the fly in  breakfasts are back up and running. Many members enjoy the early morning breakfast flights to Gympie, Watts Bridge and Dunwich – just to name a few. Watts Bridge has their first post lock down breakfast scheduled for the 12th July. Club Comps will resume Sunday 30th August. It is scheduled to be the practice run for Peter Lloyd Short Field award. Please put this in your diaries and drop in for a BBQ lunch followed by some fun flying. I know our instructors have missed the excitement of us taking them for joy rides on club comp days! We have had some members come up with ideas on what the club could do in regards to fun flying events and club comps. 

CLUB SURVEY
We recently posted a survey online for members to help us put together some activities on what interests you. This involved questions regarding what you would like to do for fun with the club with others to share your passion for aviation. Some suggestions have been:
• Short day trips (such as the recent Inglewood lunch)
• Overnight fly aways
• Evening fly away (fly to Caloundra or Sunny Coast late afternoon for dinner and fly home after dark)
• Cross country nav comps
• Networking with other aeroclubs, RA AUs clubs and other flying clubs in the area. Joining in their activities and having them join us for ours.
Keep an eye out for whats happening on our Facebook Page and email. 
 
AGM
The end of the financial year is now upon us. The club will be going through the annual process of audits etc in preparation for the Club Annual General Meeting. The date is yet to be set – but will be late September or early October. If you would like to be more involved with the running of your club and believe you have something to offer please consider nominating for a committee position on the board. 

It is an exciting time for the club – a lot has been done in recent years to get the club running efficiently and profitably and now we are in the position to look to the future, such as our RA AUS, Mogas and upgrade of facilities. Thank you to all of our staff and members who have helped out around the club over the last few months. We look forward too much better times in the coming months with many more opportunities for us to get together and enjoy our aviation addiction.
 
Regards
Rob Hannemann
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