MURRAYFIELD MATTERS

Written by Harry O’Brien

October and November were quite busy for Murrayfield.

We kicked off October with the Murrayfield Open Day featuring FlyOnE’s electric Pipistrel. It was quite the site seeing this new futuristic electric aircraft alongside RACWA’s DH-82A Tiger Moth. It was amazing to see how far aviation development has come in only 80 years. The day was busy with trial, scenic and vintage flights as well as some formation fly-overs and aerobatic routines.

Moving into the first week of November, we had a Murrayfield competition day covering practiced forced landings and spot landings. This was mostly to give members and opportunity to practice these sequences before WALAC, which was held the following weekend.

Murrayfield hosted the West Australian Light Aircraft Championships (WALAC) on the 12th of November and it saw a great turnout this year. Rod Garnaut took out the overall win again this year, however it was nice to see some new faces giving the regular competitors a run for their money. Will Taylor took out the top spot in the practiced forced landing and Jonathan Pinardi took home the honours in the spot landing.

Moving onto the 19th of November we had the Greg Hill Memorial Trophy. The competition was close, only 5 points between first and second, however the instructor team proved to be the best. Well done to Daniel Gardner, Roneesha James and Mathew Sollart for their efforts.

We finished off the month with the WA Chapter of Australian Aerobatics Club’s state championship. Some very skilled aerobatic pilots in high-powered aerobatic aircraft made for an interesting day.

I will leave you with a reminder about Murrayfield Vintage flying days. We will have the Tiger Moth at Murrayfield at the end of each month, if we get enough bookings. So, if you’d like to experience the wind in your hair from a vintage 1940’s de Havilland Tiger Moth get in quick, bookings are essential!