As I usually do I went in on Thursday looking less at the billboard draw cards and more at something different from previous years. I found it in a little Bristol WWI fighter crated in from Peter Jackson's personal collection in NZ for Qantas's 100 centenary celebration. And even though it was a static display on the day it was a true work of restoration art. Thoroughly enjoyed that little gem up close and personal.

Other highlights I enjoyed on Thursday were
1) The new Cirrus LPJ.
2) Getting to sit inside the cockpit again of my all time favourite corporate jet the Dassault 7X.
3) Cracking some funny jokes with the support personnel of the G650 and YF22, even poking fun at the YF22 pilots who whizzed by in their golf cart.
4) Wearing the YF22 helmut and going for a Wonder Women ride at the Lockheed Martin corporate stand.
6) Having a dejavu moment inside an classic B212 fitted with steam gauges.
7) Learning a bit more about single pilot HEMS ops with an AW139.
8) Bumping into my favourite PA-28 VH-JIO again 20 years later.
9) Watching the freeform fun of the 2xZlins (I think) and 1xPitts aerobatic display which made me really jealous.

I reckon I had a great day. Many thanks to the organisers.

I went to Avalon today, flying in via Avalon East as many others did too, some of which were Ppruners, however it must have been a different airshow to where Sunfish went.

There were Cirrus there, the Cessna TTX with it's 235 knot cruise, Foxbat, the new Brumby, the new Sling 2 and 4 from South Africa, Citabria?, Tecnams and lots more plus the large trade halls with lots of vendors not just military, plenty of people to talk to, some good SAAA displays and aircraft, RA-Aus tent, stacks of different aircraft from the Geelong Sports Aviators, a couple of RV10's and an RV12 and a Titan Mustang amongst many others.

The Geelong war reenactment group was excellent, with bucket loads of restored military Jeeps and hardware, a huge tent with the entire contents of the Nar Nar Goon military museum re-located for the first time ever just for this show.

All this on the ground and in the air a dozen WWI replica aircraft, bombing runs, the Black Knights and lots more.

PLENTY to look at.

$65.80 fairly well spent...

As for ramp checks, I was greeted with a brochure on plain english TAF decoding and a cardboard funnel compliments of CASA but no ramp check. The guys next to me in a commercial 182 got instantly ramped with flight plan being passed around the group of 6 CASA employees. I can see how it would be intimidating as although their intentions may have been good, being approached by 6 CASA flouro vests would be somewhat stressful.

Had a fantastic day today at Avalon, it was best show I've seen and I've seen them all. Well done to my mates running it, first class job as usual. Even the family didn't complain too much!! Bonus:O

I particularly liked the 1 hour RAAF showcase.

The WW1 re-enactment was good too.

Left at 2000 after the F18 Classic display and beat all the traffic.......:ok:

Great Airshow Today,
Best Fireworks I have ever seen,
Missed Connie, does anyone know why she is not there this show?
Gold Pass was great.
Food was just.
Transport was fantastic to & from the city
Looking forward to tomorrow
R W

4 positive posts in a row! Great stuff for this site, glad most of you are having a great time.

And another +ve
 

A fabulous show - the pair of Extras in formation was world class and perfection; the WWI display out of this world and the fast jets were as good as ever. The snap rolls to start Paul B's display were incredible and the immortals playing with fire were another standout. And I agree - the fireworks were the best display I have ever seen too; Sydney NYE included.

Where's the photos?????

Some could not get away this year… :{

I actually went to the airshow to try and learn stuff, not just to Be entertained.

She's having a bit of work done on the engines last I heard.

Avalon 2015
 

Nothing said about the A400M? Was it just static or did it show off?

Get your Tie Downs out folks….

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.n...a6813c4ba428f4

It wouldn't be Avalon airshow if it didn't have a significant meteorological event at some stage during the week.

Many of the trade exhibitors started roping off their stands at around 12pm Friday which was unfortunate. If you were serious you'd have to dress like 007 to get attention.

One of my favourites shows but missing it this year:{

130kmh damaging winds in the area. I'm not looking forward to hearing the damage reports.

Jetstar SYD-AVV circled Melbourne and went back to Sydney.

Don't know where the 130 kph info came from.

Avalon wind obs peaked with a SW gust of 67 kph at 8.02 pm, still pretty strong! Took a bit of a hammering from 8 to 8.30 pm.

130kmh winds were reported on Port Phillip Bay from the BOM.

With the rain forecasted overnight, how soon would a runway U/S NOTAM be released for YAVE if it were to close?

It's quite warm here today, so unless it's got an inch in it I suspect it will dry fairly quickly.

Who knows is the $64,000 question. I doubt anyone will be redirected to Avalon main, however it has happened before.

Might be your personality sunny. We've been exhibiting all week, had absolutely fabulous time, on every level. The vibe has been very positive and friendly, show well organised, so many aircraft and toys to look at my head is still spinning. Plenty to look at and plenty to buy (god knows I spent some). And we've sold plenty.

Access to some displays dependent on crew availability etc, so timing was of the essence occasionally, but this is so far one of the best aviation experiences in my books.

Some stands have closed on the public days as they don't have anything to say to the public. They are either defence contractors that can't or they are public servants that don't want to, I suppose.

Seeing the Neptune fly! Wow! The Supers, the aeros displays were outstanding all week, just gotta find that tridecker for a closer look...

RAAF pins and badges are a hit!

On trade days we were being constantly treated to fantastic displays and congrats to all involved in putting the show together, from every perspective. A definite winner.

just my 2 sc

Were Garmin even actually selling direct to the public in the trade hall? I know for a fact that you could not buy an engine from the Lycoming stand in the trade hall. I seem to recall you may have made a somewhat similar comment 2 years ago after the last Avalon.

Squawk, I bought my Bose headset at Avalon about Six years ago. My point is that as an educational and perhaps buying experience for a GA person, Avalon is a waste of time.

…As entertainment for military onanists, cloud bunnies, aerosexuals and small children its excellent.

Best I can do for photos. I don't think I fit any of sunfish's categories, but I loved it.

Some dramas at Avalon East, more to follow !

An aircraft (Cherokee) has lost it's wheel on takeoff and is (allegedly) refusing to leave the airspace as they want to land at Avalon East. Aircraft are currently circling and can't land as an emergency plan is enacted. Apparently he has 4 hours remaining.

What, can't theybland a few miles up the road at Point Cook, the outcome will be the same no matter where they land.

My guess is they want the full fire and rescue facilities that are active today at Avalon, rather than the more austere arrangements at Pt Cook, or YMMB.

Haven't heard what happened but it has landed. Hopefully the runway isn't closed for long as everyone will be stuck there otherwise and the charter operators won't be able to get in ...

Just announced on Magic 1278 radio that the Cherokee had to circle to dump fuel! Love it! :)


Sunfish - Did you contact Garmin before the show? Possibly not only been able to order you piece of kit but also got a free lunch in the chalet and a front seat for the display. As a serious buyer you may also have got an invite to the show, including a gate pass, from Garmin.

Round of applause for all the people involved in running the Avalon air show. Great display by all aircraft! Especially enjoyed the air display by the F-16 black nights. Managed to get into Avalon main. Photos to follow..

T&G :ok:

Congrats to all involved with organizing and running Australia's premier aviation event. ATC was a bit hows your father, not as good as when run by 'the team' who could make things flow, but within the formal constraints it went as well as could be expected.

I had a great time and I could have bought discounted almost anything if i was bothered to make the effort as show specials abounded.

Fair do that the main expo hall was largely abandoned midday friday at teh end of the trade event, but there were stands manned until at least midday sunday when i departed. Its a tough week for exhibitors as 7 consecutive days will wear you down. Not sure when some here did 7 straight and were still smiling at the bitter end. SF maybe not even smiling on first day?

Another awesome event!

HD

In addition to above I would like to thank all those who said hi and made the effort to catch up.. It's a marvellous event to see friends from times past as many make the effort to take the opportunity to attend this event in particular for this purpose.

To: Steve, mick, the AGO team, trev, rod, Rex and Melissa, trappo, gene, douggie, doug, billy, bob, hitch, Wendy and Stewart, juanita, Adrian, Oliver, Joseph, don, julian, Graeme, John, Greg, bill,Dave, Colin, Jacques, zac and all the guys at FTSA, matt and Sharon, Paul, Greg, Adam, Richard, Fernando, the cirrus team ( you guys rock see you at OSH), all the MAF pilots and support people, the numerous AAFC staff (ex AIRTC/ATC), and the many many others who stopped by to say hi, thanks so much it was awesome! See you another 2 years if not sooner.

TO Shanti,Dan, Jaco, Jon, marguerite, Graeme, Ross who made life fun for another week, despite the relentless grind thanks again, we'll do it all again in 2017

HD

Hi Sunni, I half agree!

I'm a serious buyer for a GTN, new TXP and a G600. Played with the gear, entered my previous day's flight plan. Tried the Garmin iPad app. But got the same attitude from the Garmin rep. I'm a LOT less likely to buy Garmin after visiting the stand. Got a lot more sense out of the AvPlan stand where there were a lot of senior people accessible, including Bevan.

I was going to go to the CASA stand - especially since they have made a cock-up of my Pt 61 licence - until I saw the personnel list for the stand. All junior communications staff. Saw Mark Skidmore wandering around the front of Hall 1 (no where near the CASA stand) all alone looking friendless.

Avalon is primarily a military airshow. It has peaks & troughs depending on the Dept of Defense buying cycle. If you look at all the meeting rooms, conference rooms and Chalets, they were all full on the trade days and not many of the people were watching airshow acts. They were doing business.

However. it is disappointing that it no longer engages with the civil aviation community. There used to be display booths by various sport aviation clubs and historic and sport aviation displays - all of which seem to be gone now.

A common thread talking to some senior people associated with the airshow is that each year, CASA makes it harder for the organisers.

And what is the fascination with blowing stuff up along the runway?? Surely there is one F-111 somewhere that can still do a dump & burn??

I was there only for the trade days, but my single greatest annoyance is that nothing seemed to happen in the published order or within 2 hours of the published time.

Guess I can answer my own question. Checked the notams twice, once before leaving home, and again prior to engine start at 0830 (no closure). Enroute I got the YAVE ATIS only to hear is was closed. Managed to squeeze into Avalon main with no dramas, although there were a number of A/C behind me caught out by the non exist NOTAM and subsequently couldn't get a clearance into Avalon main :(

Sundays flying programme was a little over the place, the WW1 stuff didn't fly due the the winds, which for a lot of people would have been a disappointment.

As always so much to see and do not enough time.

Lack of NOTAMS also caught me. Planned at 6:15am. Picked up mate, arrived airfield and - due to SNAFU with booking - delayed. Heard that a company had been denied YAVE due closed and had been allowed YMAV. Dumped mate in car and arrived 12:15pm.

That's two Gold Passes whose first 2hrs completely wasted (oh, but I got to use the "free car-park" component!!). Lesson learnt, won't buy in advance in future.

Regards,

BD