NatFly on the move?

[Gibbo]

Getting ADSL to the Narromine airfield might be an effort Captain!

You can get better speeds by using Next'G'. I Can get consistant 7mbit sec at Narromine outside the aero club with a USB modem.

 

ADSL would be dead if not for the price differance.

 

G

 

 

[brilin_air]

We paid nearly $2 p/ltr at Dubbo in November 2008 so we thought that the fuel price was ok, Fuel is the cheap part when compared to the fellowship and great facilities that are on offer at somewhere like Narromine. If the event does have to move how about trying to get it to some of the airfields that are likely to close due to lack of use and are being looked at as more profitable to subdivide by the local councils that don't see the benefits of having such facilities and the tourism dollar that we as aviationists can support their local economy with. You only have to see the work that the local lions and rotary and whoever else had a club at Narromine was selling food or something, that will flow on to the local people even after such a big event like ours. It's a great job done by all the community to give us all some fun and somewhere to go. :thumb_up:

 

Brian

 

 

[Guest brentc]

The cost of fuel kills me no matter what the price is. I burnt 100 litres to Narromine over 4 hours, so the difference in price can be $45 - 55 on a refill. It puts a dint in your wallet. Fair enough if the price is higher in the middle of NSW versus CDB Melbourne, but if it goes up for a particular event or weekend that would be very disappointing, even 20 cents.

 

On the topic of moving Narromine, if it's going to move and potentially get bigger, I would suggest moving it to a larger town / city. Narromine is quite a small town and often on the Thu and Fri nights you might struggle to even find a place to eat in town, let alone stay in a hotel unless you booked a year ahead.

 

A larger town, say Wagga for example could better accommodate people and I know a bloke who has a motel there with discount pilot rates :-) Wonder if he will bite!

 

 

[Captain]

I agree with Gibbo and the smaller strips and fuel operators do need our support so that they are still there next time.

 

However, if it can be proven that the price goes up $0.20 - $0.25 just because we are coming to town, then that is gouging and doesn't deserve support.

 

Brent is also right that larger towns have more facilities to offer, but In Wagga's case even though Pilots and Forum members can get subsidised accommodation in a top-notch joint from a great guy, the ASIC requirement will almost always go a long way to kill an RAA Event.

 

But Echuca, or an equivalent elsewhere, perhaps offers the best of all worlds, if they will allow camping by the aircraft, have a big clubhouse, and are tourism based with plenty of good economical accommodation and eateries.

 

 

[Skyhog]

Echuca has a great airfield and aero club but it only has one runway and the field isn't that large from memory.If you want rag and tube types to attend you need to offer more than one runway.It is also outside of walking distance from town.

 

Edit.It does have a second runway.Didn't remember that one.Sorry.

 

 

[Guest basscheffers]

Getting ADSL to the Narromine airfield might be an effort Captain!

It is pretty close to town and plenty of ports available in the exchange, so I wouldn't be surprised if you can get it no worries unless they are using pair-gain devices. It also wouldn't be out of reach of directional wifi from town.

I wouldn't recommend NextG for webcams, that will no doubt cost you tens of thousands of dollars! :(

 

 

[Guest pelorus32]

I don't mind Narromine, however as RAAus grows accommodation and services are being stretched.

 

Someone in the thread mentioned the Narromine seminars. I've been wondering for some time whether RAAus shouldn't be doing regional safety seminars once a year.

 

This would give pilots an additional chance to get to an RAAus event, it would allow us to meet and talk to the Tech Manager, CEO and Ops Manager as well as the local Board Member who should all attend. It would put a more public face on a growing organisation.

 

Not everybody can get to Narromine and with our rapidly increasing membership we need other mechanisms to "get the message out". This would be like taking the Narromine forums (or a sub set of them) on the road, once a year.

 

Victoria for instance you would maybe do 3: east/central for metro and Gippsland, west central for Geelong, Ballarat and western Vic and north central for the rest.

 

This would be an additional chance also to bring the organisation and its members closer together. It might take 3 working weeks a year to conduct but at huge value.

 

I reckon I could rake up some sponsorship for at least some of it.

 

Regards

 

Mike