No February Meeting

As the February monthly meeting falls during Horsham Week there will be no meeting held in February. The next scheduled club meeting will be held at the clubrooms on Saturday 8^th March at 8.00pm. All business and apologies should be directed to the Secretary.

Jabiru 55-0933 'FOR SALE'

At the January club meeting the decision was made to place the club's 'little' Jabiru 55-0933 on the market for sale at $40,000 (inc GST).


The idea behind the sale is that if we can get our price, we will put in an order for a new J120 which is very basic Jabiru, similar to '0933' in its layout and equipment. But at $58,000 including GST or about $53,000 to the Club (after our GST refund) we would have a brand new, nil time aircraft, at a value that will be very hard to beat.

There simply is nothing else on the market at this price along the lines of a small conventional light sport aircraft. The J120 has brought the price of all the second hand Jabs and a lot of other aircraft down already so we are trying to move before the prices come down any further. So if you are interested or know someone who might be interested give Phil Colquhuon a ring on 03 5389 1541.

Christmas Dinner 22nd December

The club will hold its Christmas Dinner on Saturday 22 December at the clubrooms from 7.00pm. Lorelle will prepare our traditional Christmas meal. Number would be appreciated for catering purposes by Saturday 15 December. You can add your name to the list on the white board in the clubroom or contact Michael Sudholz on 0417 585 747 with your name and the number attending. As in recent year there will be no flying visit by Santa, so presents will not be required. This is a last chance for the year to share some good will with your friends and fellow club members.

December Monthly Meeting Date Change

The December club meeting was due to be held on Saturday 8 December. This is the day that Lorelle had arranged to host the Ulysses Motorcycle Club for Christmas dinner at the clubrooms. We will now be holding the December meeting at 8.00pm on Friday 7 December at the clubrooms.

Monthly meetings are open to all club members and their guests. Any apologies should be directed to the Secretary (Steve Schneider) on 0427 315 845. Items of business to be raised should also be lodged with the Secretary.

Fly Away...To Horsham

The fly away to Horsham Aerodrome by our visitors from the Latrobe Valley and Gippsland was great success. Eight planes arrived on Saturday 10 November, bring 16 guests to enjoy our hospitality. The aircraft were a mixture of 5 Jabiru's and 3 Van's RV's. Most of our guests stayed in town at motels and a couple in the bunk house. We managed to get photo's of all the visiting aircraft after they had tied down. All aircraft were able to fit on the new partly sealed light aircraft tie down area.

Many visitor spent the afternoon around the clubrooms, chatting and sharing stories. Others nipped in to town or rested up for the BBQ in the evening. A few brave souls even gave gliding a try. We did a few launch flights in the Twin Astir and a couple self launched in the Janus. The evenings meal was attended by about 34 people, so there was a good balance between our visitor and local members and their friends. The evening was going so well that an emergency dash had to be made into town for more cold beer. The evening finished up around 10.30pm with a few stayers hanging in a bit longer.

Sunday started with Mike Hogan cooking breakfast at around 8.00am. Bacon and eggs cooked on the BBQ. Most of our guests headed off for home around 9.30am. Daryl and Gayle Hooke were the last to leave later in the morning. Many of our visitors on the way to Horsham and on the way home again enjoyed the scenic route around the the top end of Port Phillip Bay to avoid controlled airspace.

Those club members around for Sunday lunch dined regally on BBQ leftovers. (Sausages and burgers heated in the microwave) The whole weekend went very well. A chance to catch up with old friends and to make some new ones. A number of our members and thinking of a return visit to Latrobe Valley some time in 2008.

Fly away Weekend to...Horsham

The club is hosting a 'Fly Away weekend' by a group of pilots and their partners from Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley this coming weekend, the 10th and 11th of November. It looks like we will have around 7 aircraft and 14 crew flying in to sample our hospitality.

There is a BBQ on Saturday night at the clubrooms. If you are coming and have not put your name down on the list in the clubrooms, please contact Michael Hogan on 0409 028 895 as soon as possible. Mike is also organizing a breakfast of some sort on Sunday morning.

Max Off To Hand Over

Max Hedt has been invited to the hand over of the club's old T31 glider to the Australian Gliding Museum this coming Saturday the 11th of November at Bacchus Marsh Aerodrome. The old T31 was a resident in our hanger earlier in the year after it was repainted by Joe Luciani. She is now ready for her new life. Her is a picture of Max and some of the Museum's volunteers at when the T31 was rigged at Horsham for the first time in many years. Max will provide a full report in a future 'Fly Paper'.

Selwyn Ellis Solo's in the 230

One of the club's newest member, Selwyn Ellis made his first solo flight in the club's J230 Jabiru on Friday 26th October. Selwyn is a former member of the old Wimmera Soaring Club and was an Instructor and Tug Pilot for a number of years. Naturally Selwyn picked up his flying from were he had left it a number of years ago. PW only required a small number of dual instructional flights before letting 'Sel' off on his own again.

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Laying on the bog not the blog

Bill Fry and his son Gavin are laying on the bog. Really they are working on Bill’s Lightning project in the clubs workshop.

So there has been much mixing of body filler, waiting for it to go hard and then sanding it all off again.

It all makes sense to people who build there own planes. But the work is progressing well. Stay tuned to more news.

Phil's Jabiru Project Takes To The Air

At 11.00am this morning Phil Colquhuon passed a significant milestone with his Jabiru J200 project. After much hard work and many long months, Phil's little baby has at last taken to the air for the first time.


After some final checks and a high speed taxi run Cliff Banks gently lifted off for the first flight. Everything went very well, the plane handled perfectly and only required some minor fine tuning before its second and third flights.


Michael Sudholz and Peter Weissenfeld report that Phil was 'Very happy' with the test flights and had a smile on his face from ear to ear when Cliff applied the power and gently eased off the runway for the first test flight. Congratulations Phil. Phil is pictured below with Cliff Banks after the successful test flight.


Unfortunately a small stone was picked up by the prop and hit one of the mail wheel fairings. So now Phil has his first repair to fix. Oh well such is flying. Phil is pictured below inspecting the damage.