Royal Federation of Aero Clubs of Australia (RFACA) President Lachlan Hyde has returned from EAA AirVenture Oshkosh after delivering three forums on youth engagement, flying club renewal and the future of grassroots aviation, representing Australian grassroots aviation on one of the world's biggest aviation stages.
Hyde, who also serves as President of the Royal Aero Club of New South Wales, returned to AirVenture just twelve months after attending for the first time, this year as an invited forum presenter. His three presentations, Engaging Aviation's Next Generation, Rebuilding a Flying Club Today, and The Future of Grassroots Aviation, drew on his experience rebuilding the Royal Aero Club of NSW, developing youth flying programs at Camden Airport, and leading Australia's national peak body for grassroots aviation.
"Standing behind a microphone at Oshkosh was certainly not something I expected when I first visited last year," Hyde said. "I remember leaving Wisconsin in 2025 thinking I'd love to come back one day. I didn't expect one day to mean twelve months later, or that I'd be returning to share some of our Australian experiences with aviators from around the world."
His first forum examined how aviation organisations can turn childhood enthusiasm for flight into practical pathways and long-term belonging. "Aviation begins with wonder, but wonder needs a pathway," Hyde said. "Flying clubs, local airports, instructors and volunteers are often the people who turn somebody admiring an aeroplane from outside the fence into somebody who can genuinely see themselves belonging in aviation."
The second forum used the revival of the Royal Aero Club of NSW as a case study, an organisation re-established in 2023 after more than three decades dormant, which has since returned to flight training, built a multi-aircraft fleet through owner partnerships, run major youth flying camps and been named Australia's Aero Club of the Year. "Aircraft matter, but so do the clubhouse, the barbecue, the instructor who stays for a conversation and the volunteer who makes somebody new feel welcome," Hyde said. "We come for the aeroplanes, but we stay for the people."
The final forum broadened the discussion to pressures facing grassroots aviation, including airport access, ageing aircraft, maintenance and operating costs, regulatory complexity and volunteer capacity. Hyde described flying clubs, schools, local airports, instructors, maintainers and aircraft owners as the "root system" beneath aviation's more visible parts. "The airlines, defence, freight and major airports might be the canopy, but underneath them is this enormous grassroots root system," he said. "If the roots become unhealthy, the tree doesn't necessarily fall over tomorrow. That is precisely why the issue is easy to overlook."
Hyde said one of the strongest lessons from AirVenture was that despite significant differences between Australian and American aviation, grassroots organisations on both sides of the Pacific face many of the same pressures. "I was speaking with EAA chapters, flying clubs and aviators from the United States, Europe, Africa and Australia, and so many of the challenges were familiar: attracting younger members, maintaining airports, keeping flying accessible and ensuring knowledge passes from one generation to the next," he said.
He returned to Australia more convinced that grassroots aviation should be viewed as essential infrastructure for the industry's future rather than a nostalgic remnant of its past. "The aircraft and technology will change enormously over the coming decades, but somebody will still need a first flight, an instructor, an airport and a community that says there is a place for them here. Aviation's future still has to start somewhere."
Hyde said he's already hoping to return to Wisconsin next year. "I'd certainly love to be back at Oshkosh in 2027."