AUSFLY 2013 has been rated a huge success despite bad weather in the south preventing a higher fly-in attendance.
The national fly-in was held at Narromine, NSW, from 12-14 September, and run largely by the Sport Aircraft Association of Australia (SAAA), Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and Australian Warbirds Association (AWAL).
SAAA Vice President and AUSFLY organiser David Brown said the attendance was as good as could be expected.
"Looks like we had in excess of 400 aircraft parked on the Saturday afternoon," he said. "The Volunteer Rescue Association [who ran the carpark] counted 950 cars over the event so we estimate 3000 plus people drove in to see the Airshow.
"Sadly the weather along the southern coastlines kept many people at home that wanted to attend, so the numbers were likely down 20% on a better weather weekend."
Conditions at Narromine remained excellent over the duration of the show, which served well both the air displays and the outside exhibitors.
"While there will be some [exhibitors] that may have not met their expectations," Brown said, "of all the feedback received so far has been 100% positive, and they want to come back with more aircraft and bigger stands next year. We are talking to the Narromine Council about additional tie down cables on the apron so the lighter machines can be tied down in bigger numbers."
Certainly, one of the highlights of the exhibition was the number of new aircraft types on the tarmac: Foxbat, Aerosport, Pipistrel, Cirrus, GippsAero, Jabiru, Bristell, Brumby, Cirrus, Sling, Roko Via, Skyranger, Zenith and a colourful collection of autogyros all adorned the exhibition lines, a vast increase over last year's inaugural event.
Exhibition space in the hangars was fully booked, with two halls needed to cope with the demand. New technology companies like OzRunways, Bose, AvPlan and Garmin proved the most popular, an indicator of where aviation is going in the future.
In the air, the display was one of the highest quality you could get outside of Avalon.
"The flying display was awesome," Brown enthuses. "From the usual high end performers such as Paul Bennet, Matt Hall and the RAAF Roulettes right through to a brilliant display by the Yaks and newcomer Jeremy Miller from Skythrills who I think did one of the more outstanding displays.
"The Snow Goose International RV team was only formed in the weeks leading up to AUSFLY and we hope that the ever popular Vans RV fleet will gain growing numbers in the formation team.
"Once again, getting the right people involved means success is assured."