Sunday, December 9, 2012

Rockhampton Aero Club Open Day - Saturday 8 December



The Rockhampton Aero Club held their open day at Rockhampton Airport on Saturday 8 December.  From all accounts, the day was attended by a good number of people either just interested in having a look at the Aero Club displays or interested in learning to fly.  Rockhampton Plane Spotters Travis W and 'IAD' have sent through some of their photos of the day.

The two main aircraft that were on display were Richard McDonald’s Hawker Siddeley Aviation T.75A - Hawker Hunter - VH-XHH, as well as Toowoomba’s Vintage Adventure Flights AT-6A Texan VH-LNT.  Unfortunately, their North American T-28A VH-VBT could not make it as it had mechanical problems.











Trial Introductory Flights (TIFs) were conducted for people interest in learning to fly and these were conducted in local Piper PA-28-235 VH-DRW.




There was also a strong interest in the Royal Federation of Aero Clubs of Australia (RFACA) flying scholarship during the day. Those still interested in a scholarship should contact the Rockhampton Aero Club on (07) 4922 4596 or 0427 224 596 to organise a TIF to go in the running for the scholarship.  Their website can be found at www.rockhamptonaeroclub.org.au

Local media  - The Morning Bulletin and Channel Seven Local News - were present to report on the day. The reporters from both media outlets were both given a TIF, with Channel Seven Local News taking some footage while in flight. The news reporter for Channel Seven got a short flight in the AT-6A Texan during which the pilot did a low flypast from the South straight over the top of the Aero Club at 500ft AGL.  This allowed the gathered crowd on the ground at the Aero Club a good chance to photograph the plane in flight.















Channel Seven will show the footage on Monday’s local news, while The Morning Bulletin will have a article in the Monday edition of the newspaper, so watch out for these!




Lastly, the members of the Aero Club put on a nice sausage sizzle for everyone to enjoy.  A big "Thank You" to those members that cooked the sausages, and to all the other members that did other jobs during the day to make the day run smoothly.




Photos and text by Travis Whiting and ‘IAD’  ©

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