Another nail in the coffin for GA and recreational Aviation

[Ultralights]

Noted this news just released re The Great Eastern Fly-In at Evans Head, northern NSW...
"The Northern Rivers Echo Newspaper
Issue 35, Volume 12, Thursday, 31 August 2006

Council cops flak for Fly In cancellation

Happier times: Great Eastern Fly In co-ordinator Gai Taylor after enjoying a flight in Ed Field’s World War II era Mustang at last year’s event. The Great Eastern Fly In has been cancelled.

Organisers of the Evans Head Great Eastern Fly In say they have been forced to cancel this year’s event because Richmond Valley Council is making it too hard by imposing fees and charges and forcing pilots to camp on “a wasteland”.

Co-ordinator Gai Taylor said the New Year’s event attracted 150 planes last year and an estimated 4000 people. She said she was “deeply disappointed” it had been called off.

“We’re all volunteers and we don’t make any money. We’re not playing grand-standing games,” she said. “It’s just too bloody hard to keep bashing our heads against a brick wall.”
She said Council’s rationale behind charging $100 per plane in landing fees and $310 for vintage planeswas that the fees and charges were in the Council’s plan of management.

However, that was also the case last year, and no fees were imposed.
“No-one will come,” she said. “No one will pay $100 for the day, let alone $310 for the warbirds. It already costs those people a bomb to bring those planes. Some of them go through 300 litres of fuel an hour. Nobody who does joy flights in a warbird makes money. They just cover their costs.”
To add to her frustration Council expected the Great Eastern Fly In to collect all the money on their behalf in addition to paying $400 per day to hire the aerodrome.

She said no other Fly In event in Australia was charged by their local councils in this way, and in fact they usually provided free services like garbage removal.

The poor condition of the camping area was an equal reason for pulling the plug on the event, she said.

In previous years pilots had either camped under the wings of their planes for security reasons or very close by under small bushy trees. This year she said Council expected them to camp on a cleared patch of land near the industrial estate, 100m away from the planes and with no shade. They would also have to pay $30 per night.

“Pilots would take one look at it and get into their planes and go,” she said. “There’s no way I would camp there. There’s bits of pipes and broken brick and if there’s any wind there will be sand blowing about.”

Richmond Valley Council general manager Brian Wilkinson said he was “very disappointed” the Great Eastern Fly In had made its decision without discussing it with Council.

He said Council wanted to take a co-operative approach and work with the event.

After being told of the fees and charges, Council had invited organisers to put in a submission on the matter. This was to be included in a report to Council at its September meeting. He said one possible way forward was for Council to cover the fees and charges in the hope that in time the event could pay for them itself.

Gai said with no consistent Council policy or support for the Fly In there was just too much uncertainty so close to the event."

Aviation, be it recreational, general aviation or sport IS UNDER SERIOUS THREAT.. of being pushed over the edge into the dark ages. . !

My letter is on its way to the Council in question...

[Sunfish]

Yep, assume the council wants to sell Evans head for property development to one of its friends, and Point Cook is going to close next year too and go the same way. Airport land is simply too good for property development and aviation is not a vote winner anywhere.

[Ultralights]

I always thought Evans Head Airfield was Heritage Listed??

[rmcdonal]

I always thought Evans Head Airfield was Heritage Listed??

I always thought Evans Head was a bombing range
I say sell it but dont tell the airforce guys

[Pinky the pilot]

I say sell it

Yes, but make sure that only those council members who vote for the sale are permitted to purchase the then subdivided land!

[outofwhack]

My letter is written and on its way tomorrow.

I've flown in twice in the past and thoroughly enjoyed it.The council must think only the rich fly planes. They dont know how poor the planes keep us.

Let the council know fees will kill it off ! (Ofcourse that could well be the plan)

[OpsNormal]

The council must think only the rich fly planes

Gee, to think it wasn't all that long ago that Ultralights was on here skyting about just how well-off and that "times were never better" as far as how much money he was making due to the Federal Govt's policies.

Your whinging now falls on deaf ears Ultralights. Remember, user pays is good, isn't it?

OpsN

[Ultralights]

Sure, recreationa aircraft cost no where near as much as GA to fly and maintain, but my gripe is with the continued closure of councill controlled airport to developers.
Im pretty sure most here have never been to the Evans head fly-in over the new year break, its not only a great weekend of flying, but a reasonably big tourist drawcard for the area, and yes, at least half the aircraft the regularly fly in are GA or Warbirds.

Most of the issue is with council intentions for the airport, they want it colsed despite it historical value, yet Narromine coucill has supported its airfield and the easter narromine flyin, the norther side of narromin is an airpark, with new modern houses and hangars, and the sother side has a nice new Aviation Museum, and come the flyin, every hotel within 50Km is booked out, restaurants are all booked up, and every year the number of aircraft visiting grows substantially, including an ever increasing GA interest.

Evans head flyin has been building rapidly, and has the potential to become a great aviation attraction in the area, a well as give a much needed econimical boost to the local area, but no,
they want to drain the surrounding wetlands dump all the mud and waste water onto the airfield, and develop all the land for a retirement village.

why have some councils have the foresite to develop their airfields into airparks, generating rates revenue, and profit from selling the land to the new home owners, as well as keep the airfield maintained and promoted for the good of the local economy, when others, see nothing but a quick sale to their chosen (related, kickback providing?)developers.

[OpsNormal]

Ultralights it comes down to the simple common denominator: $$.

An airport (that continues to concentrate upon just aircraft movements) will never deliver the revenue that housing/shopping centres/commercial development will to a councils bottom line, it is that simple.

All of those nice green parks, swings, parking lots etc cost money to set-up and keep clean. The only way that councils really have to increase revenue significantly and in the long term is to increase the population, or those paying rates or for services. If they don't get the required income from one revenue stream, the price goes up. Simple.

The fact is: you live on the east coast. East coast property is now becoming beyond the reach of many. I personally have been out of Sydney for 5 years. Now if I even wanted to (not that I do), I don't believe I could afford to go back there. One of the primary driving forces behind the push upwards has been investors over capitalising, which has put pressure on the market.

User pays, it's usually those who cannot easily afford that have to. I didn't say it was nice, but it is a fact of life.

[Up-into-the-air]

Evans Head/ Goulburn Airport/ Greedy Councils

GOULBURN AIRPORT:

It is about time the Government came to the understanding that this is infrastructure that just cannot be replaced.

How about a proposal for a complex across the M3/ M7 intersection in Sydney's west - this is the same type of interference as that proposed at Evan's Head.

The closure/ destruction of Hoxton Park and the North/ South runway at Bankstown are just the same.

This is a raw grab for money with an abbregation of responsibility by those who are supposed to properly represent us in the community.

If it suits a "Government" to grab for money, they will do so, no matter what the human or other negative costs.

A good recent example is the recent "grab for cash" by Goulburn Council and the proposed sale of Goulburn Airport. There is no proper public consultation, just a rush to ignore the deed on the airport, which effectively precludes a sale.

Further this airport was placed in Council's hands by a private bequest for proper protection and use of the community, not sale. The same is the case for Evans Head and all airports covered by a Federal Government deed under the ALOP.

We must be vigilant and pro-active in supporting the piolt communities and airport retention.

[VH-XXX]

You have brought the concept of reviving an old thread to a whole new level!

[Ex FSO GRIFFO]

Probably MORE pertinent today than it has ever been...

But an excellent 'Lazarus' job regardless.........

Diminishing airstrips / airports = diminishing aviators as landing grounds become MORE scarce, and we are then 'held to ransom' by the few local 'owners / lease holders'.

A suitable epitaph for G/A might be something like.....

"Never in the course of aviation history has so much been 'gouged' by so few from so many......"

Sorry Mr. 'Ch'......

Cheers

[Up-into-the-air]

Number of Airports

Airport Tenure

US-AOPA now has a group that fights issues such as this, but we seem to let the locals fight this out, without any central support network.

The US system certainly could be used in AUS to assist those who desperately need help.

There are Council's now who are so short of funds that they will move land to "Operational" rather than it's current classification in order that it can be sold as "excess to requirements" . The situation is more grim with "cost over-runs", the effect of the CDO debacle, with lots of Councils losing lots of money.

Goulburn Council for example, currently at $6 million - potentially $16 million lost on bad investments - CDO's. Some Councils are now looking at balancing the balance sheet in any fashion -

"SELL THE AIRPORT"

That has happened at Goulburn with the airport proposed sale [currently stalled] and with the South Goulburn Caravan Park, which comprised a treed point of entry into the town [plus some protected trees] -

All sold now for to the developer and the big sheds.

There was a park some time ago that was just "too big" - just put the excess as "operational land" and flog it off.

[Ex FSO GRIFFO]

At a country WA airstrip where I was instructing etc many moons ago, the 'locals' leased out the paddock and put a crop in (Wheat) between the runways, and had some pigs in a tree'd area on site as well.

This paid for all of the then expenses of strip maintenance etc, as well as the then flying business bringing something into the town.

Would this be 'lateral thinking' today..??

[Frank Arouet]

You would have to do an environmental impact study first, then consult with animal liberationists, the national parks to see if there were endangered species, (which there would be), a sacred sites evaluation, (yes bones would be found), objections from neighbors, get a development application passed by local government, get Union support in case anyone was being left without a job, donate some cash to the incumbent political party, check with immigration to see if refugees may be housed here, be sensitive to religious impacts, have the pork declared helal (whatever that is), be accredited by the national farmers association, have your water allocation by-back deferred and ask Penny Wong if it would be OK and state may god be praised on the statutory declaration in Arabic.

Griffo, mate! Get real (alistic).

[Hugh Jarse]

Why is that, Frank?

They were share cropping on Parafield when I was working there in '92-94.

My record was 8 cockatoos in a single birdstrike event. Only about $20k damage to the aircraft I was in at the time....

[Old Fella]

Evans Head Airport Future

For those who really want Evans Head Airport to remain I can feel for you all. Old Bar Heritage Airstrip, which has been in place since the late 1920's first came under threat in 1932. Over the years it was threatened by various organisations, including Greater Taree City Council. It was in fact arbitrarily closed at the end of 1994. Six years of struggle followed and with the support of such aviation luminaries as the late Nancy Bird-Walton and Dick Smith, an uncompromising band of Old Bar Airstrip supporters and the NSW Heritage Office the Old Bar Airstrip was reopened in 2000. A small group of volunteers, almost entirely at their own cost, maintain this historic airstrip. I personally fly into Old Bar as often as possible. It is an awsome responsibility to keep this facility operating. If the Evan Head enthusiasts are willing to accept that sort of committment and can solicit the support of the aviation community Evans Head can be saved. PM me if you want to know moreabout Old Bar Airstrip.

[Ex FSO GRIFFO]

Hi Frank,

Glad to say.....we didn't have the 'helal' problem - whatever it might turn out to be - in those halcyon days......(IS that like bad breath..??)

A steak on the barbie was a steak & a pork chop was luvly with a beer.

In fact, in those days, the piggies were fed partly with 'slops' from the pub....
luvly flavour.....

ALL 'other' boxes were ticked..!!!

[sprocket check]

Maybe another lateral idea is for the aviation industry to buy out all the airports... councils don't need them, towns don't need them (seemingly), public don't need them (obviously).

It is only people who fly aircraft that need them.

Just think about that one for a while.

sc

[rocket66]

This is utter bull**** on behalf of the council. I attended this fantastic airshow put on by Gai for many years. It is an insult to her and her helpers that a cash strapped council with developers hand down thier pants can get away with it.

If the boneheads did thier sums, the amount of people visiting the township and spending there money in local business would far out weigh the $100 and $310 landing and $30 camping fees!

We should all get behind this and force these mongrels to withdraw such charges in preparation for next years event. I have no idea if this can be challenged legally so if there are any lawyer/pilots out there please post your opinions with a view to perhaps taking things to a court to get a common sense outcome. But please remember it may be on a volunteer basis as these people are all volunteers themselves.

Rocket.