Orange helicopters will be conducting joyflights at Cowra Airport on 24 March , as will GA school Clamback and Hennessy.

This is the same day as the AAAA fly-in, but not organised by the AAAA.

There will be lots going on at the airport on that day, and there will be an admission charge  to the airport of $2 per person. There will be some lucky gate prizes of Helicopter flights. Gate proceeds are to go toward the refurbishment of the Cowra & District Aero Club kitchen – a project which has also been supported by Bunnings.

Rotary will be providing refreshments.

The planned outing to Forbes, Parkes & Orange has had to be cancelled due to the bad weather. The forcast is for continuing rain until Tuesday!

We will have another attempt to do this on our next flying day 29th April.

The AAAA fly-in will keep us busy during March.

The Antique Aircraft Association of Australia will hold their annual fly-in at Cowra Airport on the weeken of 23-25th March. Over 100 vintage aircraft are expected to attend, and they will start arriving on Friday, with  the main day being Saturday. The aircraft  will be on display at the airport on Saturday, and the public are invited to attend for the cost of $2 per person. Rotary will be providing barbecue and refreshments. There will also be displays of vintage cars and  old stationary engines. There will not be an air-show, but there will be plenty of opportunity to see the Antique Aircraft arriving, departing, and just going for a fly! The aircraft will depart for home on Sunday.

In excess of 250 people – pilots and crews – are expected to attend, so Cowra will be chock-a-block with intrepid aviators for the weekend.

All Cowra Aero Club members will be required on deck to help out with marshalling and parking of aircraft, and welcoming the visitors and members of the public.

We will be having a cross country flying day of 4th March – the plan is to fly to Forbes for morning tea, Parkes for lunch, Orange for afternoon tea and back to Cowra for a beer at the end of the day.  Lets try to make sure all our aircraft participate! Please contact Jenny to book the club Jabiru or Brumby 7007. Jenny will have a spare seat in her Brumby. There will be space available in Cessna 210 VH-RAT, contact Doug or Ray Heilman. We are hoping to collect a few aircraft from Forbes on the way!

Those needing cross country endorsements – make a flight plan!!

See you on 4th March

Congratulations to Bruce Shearer, who did three excellent solo circuits on 20th December 2011. Bruce and his wife Yvette moved to Grenfell from Sydney for a “tree change” and started training in the Jabiru last March. After a long break of three months when they went caravanning around Australia, Yvette decided not to continue with her training, but Bruce has continued. It has been quite a long road, and quite a lot of breaks, but finally Bruce has taken that huge step in pilot training – the first solo! The grin on his face afterwards was a sight to behold.

Naturally there’s a way to go yet, as he will have to complete five hours of solo flying and some more dual flying before gaining his pilot certificate – but a first solo is always something special.

Cowra Aero Club held it’s annual “Santa Fly In” on Wed. 14 Dec at 6:00pm at Cowra Airport.

James Shaw soloed in the Jabiru on Friday evening. He is 20 now, and his last solo flight was when he was just 15. Then he was at school, now he is an apprentice at PG Aviation. Now James will be working on achieving his pilot certificate, passenger and cross country endorsements.

Congratulations James

The club flying day on the last weekend of July was a visit to Orange Aero Club for a barbecue. Unfortunately it coincided with the Cowra Wine show which put some people off from attending. The weather was a bit grey, but quite OK for flying. Three aircraft from Cowra went over – David Shaw in the gere sport RSD, Jenny Ganderton and Ernie Menday in Brumby JGP and Mick Gwillem and Matt Nash in Brumby 4462. The Orange club made us very welcome – and and there were lots of aeroplanes and hangars to look at. Quite a few lessons happening too. We all had a good natter and a sausage sandwich, and flew home again. All good fun.

Congratulations to Club President Roger Lynch, who completed his cross country endorsement in the Jabiru on 16th July. Now he can really go places!!

At the last club meeting it was decided to purchase the first production Brumby 610 (high wing version) which should be finished in three months time. The deposit was paid today. The purchase will be financed partly from club funds and partly from loans to the club from members. The lenders will be paid interest on their money at a rate above that of bank savings accounts, but less than what the club would have to pay if it borrowed money from the bank. The aeroplane will provide security for the loans. Brumby Aviation, our local manufacturer, is very keen to see their aircraft used as the club’s trainer, and hopes that the members will show it off to other aeroclubs! We hope to be able to hire the aircraft out at a more economical rate than the cross-hired aircraft that we are using now, but this will be dependent on it doing significantly more than 100 hours per year. The committee is confident that the new aircraft will attract lots more flying.

The prototype Brumby 610 was flown by committee members the day before the meeting. It handles beautifully, has superb visibility and a very roomy cabin. Climb and cruise performance were very impressive. We have been assured that the production aeroplane will be even better. The prototype has a Jabiru 6-cylinder motor, while the production model will have a Rotax 912. This will not be quite as powerful as the Jabiru, but should be cheaper to run and require less frequent servicing.

We have been promised enough money by members to go ahead with the purchase, but it is better for the club to have many small loans rather than a few big ones in case a member needs to withdraw his or her capital. So it is still open for members to contribute if they would like to.

At the same meeting there was some discussion as to refurbishing the clubhouse kitchen, but this was deferred to a later meeting.