Despite some lacklustre weather, the fourth annual national FunFlight charity day proved a resounding success when it was staged on Sunday November 14. Justin Grey reports.
Established in 2007, FunFlight is a not-for-profit volunteer organisation that offers children and teenagers touched by adversity or a life changing illness a day of aviation-related entertainment together with their families. FunFlight works closely with charities such as Variety, HeartKids Australia, Camp Quality, the Salvation Army and the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
The event was conceived by Melbourne businessman Michèl Verheem, originally as a much smaller, primarily Victoria-based endeavour, however with the help of founding members Martin Robson and Richard Ogilvie from the Peninsula Aero Club and Angel Flight founder Bill Bristow FunFlight has rapidly expanded to a national level.
In the largest Funflight to date, 14 aero clubs around the country hosted FunFlight events this year, and while some less than desirable weather put a damper on proceedings in Melbourne, overall approximately 1400 passengers were flown on 300 flights by 100 pilots.
Australian Flying attended the event at Bankstown Airport’s Schofields Flying Club, which in 2010 was hosting its third FunFlight. 15 Schofields’ pilots flew a total of 34 flights and 90 passengers from Bankstown Airport to Warragamba Dam and back via the TWRN inbound reporting point.
With the help of Austramac Earth and the local Lions Club, Schofields put on a hangar BBQ for 250, which was topped off with a Police Air Wing chopper flying in Santa to distribute presents to the guests of honour.
Undoubtedly for many of the pilots on hand, the day’s high point came with the opportunity to get up close and personal with a Douglas DC-3 (VH-CWS), which made one taxi run with 24 passengers and was open for inspection. Registered to Broome-based JNP Enterprises, CWS is currently unfit to fly and undergoing repairs at Bankstown.
Getting involved As has been the case since day one, Funflight is made a reality by volunteers – that is, aero clubs, pilots and ground staff who offer their time and services free of charge to make this virtuous event happen.
However, as Ogilvie, one of three FunFlight Directors, attests, you can’t put a price on the amazing feeling that participating in the event, and thereby introducing disadvantaged children to the joys of aviation that pilots know all too well, brings to volunteers.
“Although there are some commercial pilots who get involved as well, our pilots tend to be more so private pilots,” Ogilvie says. “They fly for a hobby, and for them it’s a chance to go flying for a bit more of a reason than just jumping in a plane on a Sunday afternoon and doing a bit of a scenic flight. And they get a lot out of it.”
With FunFlight growing exponentially in its short existence, the event is inevitably in danger of potentially growing beyond the means of its organising committee. As such, Ogilvie says the door is always open for people who are genuinely interested and want to join FunFlight to get involved.
“We’re a really small committee and we don’t try and tell the clubs what they should do,” he explains. “We help them through some of the logistics and give them some ideas on what other people have done, but it’s down to them to run their own event. Smaller clubs might not feel they’ve got the capability to do much more than take the kids for a fly and put on a BBQ lunch, which is completely fine.”
And while the FunFlight organisation has been lucky enough in the past to benefit from some sizeable initial donations from the estate of Paul Burgess that saw it become a registered charity, Ogilvie adds that sponsorship is also increasingly becoming a struggle.
“That’s something that we need to push,” he admits. “We’re gradually whittling our way through our funds, so we’re looking for the next opportunity for people who’d be interested in helping us out."
The following aero clubs and organisations took part in FunFlight 2010:
- Rockhampton Aero Club - RAAF 36 Sqn Amberley - Schofields Flying Club - Lilydale Airport - Peninsula Aero Club (Tyabb) - Barwon Heads Aero Club - Latrobe Valley Aero Club - Bendigo Flying Club - Echuca Aero Club - Horsham Aero Club - Aldinga Flying Club & Goolwa Aero Club - Tasmanian Aero Club (Launceston) - The Flying Padre (Darwin) - Royal Aero Club of WA
To get involved and add your aero club to the list of participants for FunFlight 2011 contact Richard Olgivie now by emailing richard.ogilvie@funflight.org.
(Richard Ogilvie)
