News
ABS Update Feb 2025
Published Fri 07 Feb 2025
ABS February 2025 Update
Welcome to the first ABS update of 2025. Your committee is already in full swing organising activities for the year. Thank you to all those members who renewed promptly, saving your volunteer committee members time in chasing up renewals. We’ve had a very strong renewal and look forward to continuing to grow the ABS.
On 18 January, a few members gathered at Brown Brothers vineyard just south of Albury for lunch. Located between Melbourne and Sydney, and near Canberra, with its own 1000 metre strip only 100 metres from the restaurant, Brown Brothers vineyard is a great destination for private pilots. The committee would welcome suggestions from other members on other ideal locations for informal lunch catch ups around Australia
TechTalk: The first TechTalk will be on Tuesday evening, 11 February 2025. The topic will be formation flying, led by two of Australia’s foremost Beechcraft formation pilots, Murray Gerraty and Jock Folan. For those who are not already endorsed to fly formation, come and discuss what an formation endorsement involves and what you would get out of it. For those already endorsed, join the discussion and hear about the activities planned for 2025. The talk will be held on Google Meet at the following connection link at 7:30 PM Australian eastern summer time, which is 0830Z - ABS
Tuesday, 11 February · 7:30 – 8:30pm Time zone: Australia/Melbourne
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/
Or dial: (AU) +61 3 8594 6054 PIN: 331 735 477# (More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/dab-
Formation Flying: We have a formation flying training week in Cowra in the middle of March for those wanting to get endorsed. Numbers are limited as this training involves ensuring attendees meet the standards and obtain formal CASA formation flying endorsement. Members who are already endorsed are invited to join the group on Saturday 15 March to participate in a local formation flight. Registration is under Events on revo: https://www.
Flyaways: Plans for a weekend flyaway to the southern NSW coast are being made for a weekend in April. Exact dates are to be finalised. If you might be interested in attending, please email events@abs.org.au to help us with an idea of numbers.
Other events currently in the planning include a formation flying weekend in Bairnsdale in May, and a flyaway to the Northern Territory in July or August. We are also contemplating another Beechcraft maintenance seminar with Bob Ripley and, of course, have started planning for the 2026 BPPP set down to begin Thursday, 26 March 2026
Hydrogen Power: Some members may have come across the group in Queensland developing hydrogen power for aircraft and using a bonanza as a testbed. Here's a bit of background for those that haven't come across them and we may look at them presenting a TechTalk soon to provide more details for those interested.
We are undertaking our technology demonstrator and flight test program with two Bonanza A36 aircraft, known fondly as Bonnie and Clyde. Clyde is the ground testbed who successfully demonstrated our first hydrogen spin at Brisbane International Airport just before Christmas, and Bonnie is our flying testbed who we plan to take to the skies with hydrogen in Q3 this year. These aircraft will initially be flying under an experimental application in Australia, but we have been encouraged by some Bonanza owners to explore taking the technology through to certification (STC), in Australia and beyond. We are therefore looking to explore and test the market and see if there is interest, and wondered if you would be able to share and distribute the attached image with AOPA USA members through any email, newsletter, or discussion forum opportunities. People can find out more at our Bonanza page and our EOI form.
If you have any other ideas or suggestions, please contact one of the Committee or events@abs.org.au.
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