SAFA Skysailor Magazine

20 SKY SAILOR September | October 2020 by Carole MacNally We have had increased interest in the maintenance courses in Queensland over the last few months. The first at Heck Field, organised by Ric and a new venue for us, after which two courses were cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions and border closures. When Queensland re-opened we were asked to run a course at Hedlow Airfield, near Rockhampton, about five-hours drive north of us. Steve Bartlett runs his Rockhampton Sport Aviation Flying School at Hedlow for both fixed wing and trike students. He was keen to do a refresher (both he and Ric had attended our Caboolture course in February 2018), and volunteered to act as host at this new venue for us. We sent him a list of what we required for the venue, and he supplied us with a list of 15 names. We worked down the list to book in eight attendees for a full course. These were a mix between GA, RAAus (fixed wing and trike) and two SAFA members, one of which was also GA, making for a varied course once again. The Hedlow course was run over the weekend of 1 and 2 August. Steve supplied his school Airborne XT-912 for the practicals, and Nicole, one of his students, allowed us the use of her XT-582 for the two-stroke practicals. Steve had arranged with Judi, the property owner, for us to use thethree-bedroom house, attached to the hangar and this made for a very easy transition between classroom and practicals over the two days. The kitchen was well equipped, with two kettles, a large fridge and a dining table, and plenty of space for us all to maintain sanitising and social distancing during the breaks. Two of our attendees stayed there, but there is also Donga accommodation available for hire if you fly-in, or wish to stay and fly around this area. Skydive Capricorn Coast operate from here too. As a thank you to Judi, Steve arranged for a cake on Sunday afternoon and we took a quick photo with her in New venues for the SA/Rotax Maintenance Course in Queensland Kev returns from his BFR Trikes ready for practicals Hedlow airfield entrance All photos: Carole MacNally