Here’s a story that should make your heart warm – it’s been reported this week that New Zealand looks like it might be getting its own Angel Flight service due to the efforts of pilot and retired businessman Lance Weller. Kiwi Weller had been an Angel Flight pilot here in Australia, but after recently moving back across the ditch after 43 years in Australia and being disappointed to find the charity wasn’t operating in his home country, he decided to act. The enterprise will, naturally, be called Angel Flight New Zealand, and Weller says several pilots from the local Whangarei Flying Club (close to Auckland) have already put their hands up to volunteer as Angel Flight pilots. As founder and chairman of Angel Flight NZ, Weller has volunteered his Cirrus SR20 to the case. Read this heart-warming story in full by clicking here.
Organisers of the biennial Wide Bay Australia International Airshow, arguably the biggest airshow in the country after Avalon, have announced that the next instalment of the event has been earmarked for staging from August 23-25, 2013. As always, the event will be held at Bundaberg Airport in Queensland. To read our report on last year’s Wide Bay Australia International Airshow, see page 8 of our November/December 2011 print issue, and click here to view our awesome online photo gallery from the event.
The Maitland Mercury has an interesting story on its website about the recently completed restoration of a 71-year-old mustard yellow Tiger Moth. After spending most of its life in Queensland – it was owned by the Royal Queensland Aero Club for some time before being damaged and left in North Queensland – the aircraft now calls the Royal Newcastle Aero Club home. Visit The Maitland Mercury website to read this story in full.
Piper Aircraft is gearing up for a big turnout at the forthcoming Singapore Airshow, which is taking place from February 14-19 at the Changi Exhibition Centre adjacent to the Changi Airport. Piper is currently enjoying something of a renaissance in the region – it has scored nearly 50 fleet training sales in the Pacific Rim since the last Singapore Airshow two years ago, and the manufacturer says that one in six new aircraft it builds these days is being purchased by Pacific Rim countries. Locally, Piper’s recent achievements include delivering eight Piper Warrior IIIs and two Piper Seminoles to Wagga-based Australian Airline Pilot Academy; delivering three Seminoles to the Aviation Training Academy Australia; and selling two Seminoles to Moorabbin’s Oxford Aviation Academy.
Earlier this week our Army’s 34-strong Black Hawk helicopter fleet was cleared to return to full flying operations following airworthiness advice from the Technical Airworthiness Authority that lead to the lifting of a suspension put in place on January 19 following the identification of a number of fractured bolts during a routine maintenance check. And the move couldn’t have come at a better time, as two Army Black Hawk have since been deployed to Lismore from Oakey to assist local authorities with flood relief operations in the inundated region.
It’s not really GA, but if you have any interest in the local aerospace manufacturing industry you’d be interested to hear that, in a collaborative arrangement with the South Australian Government and Rosebank Engineering, leading defence contractor BAE Systems has announced it will build Australia’s biggest advanced aerospace components manufacturing and treatment operation, at Edinburgh Parks, South Australia. The new facilities will make some of the world’s most advanced aerospace components (including for the multi-national F35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program) in two facilities run by BAE Systems and Rosebank Engineering. The facilities could also be used to support commercial aircraft components manufacturing.
New Zealand is getting its own Angel Flight charity organisation thanks to Lance Weller.
