Folks,
All very sad, and more than anything, a reflection of the parlous state of light aviation in Australia today.
Even more so, if we reflect on the "good old days" when NATFLY at Narromine over an Easter would attract over a 1000 aircraft, more than a third of them "conventional" GA aircraft, despite NATFLY being the annual gathering of RAOz (nee AUF).
Indeed, on one occasion, on the Saturday afternoon, I personally counted just under 600 aircraft on the ground at one time, almost 200 being GA aircraft. With swarms of aircraft in the air.
There is plenty of blame to share around, that such a gathering now seems impossible in Australia. This current debacle is just the current manifestation.
Short sighted local councils, various "alphabet soup" organisations lacking effective imagination and ambition, financially debilitated industry players due to to the decline of the sector, and, of course, our friends CASA spreading "Joy thru' Enforcement", scaring flying visitors away (just like recent Avalons) with rampant ramp checks.
Tootle pip!!