VMAA Festival of Flight – NFG 2024
Learn more about the VMAA and the great Sport of Flying RC planes.
About the VMAA Festival of Flight
The VMAA is the State Association for the sport of flying radio controlled model aircraft representing and supporting member clubs across Victoria. The VMAA Festival of Flight is an Event Sponsored by the VMAA where all affilaites are invited to see and enjoy all aspects of teh sport.
VMAA Festival of Flight – NFG 2024
VMAA Festival of Flight- Northern Flying Group 6th and 7th April 2024
The Northern Flying Group held the first of the VMAA Festival of Flight events at its field in Darraweit Guim over the weekend of the 6 & 7th April with 35 pilots registering. With the forecast of showers some might have been put off but the weather held and those that attended the weekend were pleasantly surprised at the good flying conditions with little to no wind.
On registering l received my goodie bag consisting of a VMAA Cap, stubby holder and badges as well as a lucky dip prize which was sponsored by Craigeburn Bunnings. It is great to see Bunnings enthusiastically support local community groups like ours and get involved not only with prizes but also store time with displays to promote areomodelling. The representative who the Northern Member had spoken to actually visited with their family on the Sunday of the festival to have a look at what we do. There were various trophies awarded for different catorgories of models (jets, scale, control line etc.)The Northern Flying Group has previously held the Twins and More event and incorporated the theme into the weekend with some prizes on offer for them as well. It was great to see support in the form of prizes from Booma RC and Desert Aircraft for these events promoting aeromodelling at the grass roots.
There were a dozen campers staying over the weekend and the camp fire at night was well attended with lots of laughs and stories told. Saturday night roast dinner was excellent with roast beef and chicken cooked by the infamous duo of Darren Mecklem and Ricardo Bertuna attending to the coals. The president of the Northern, Mark Sills directed traffic in the kitchen getting the roast potatoes, pumpkin and vegies sorted not to mention the pavlova and choc ripple cake for desert (yumo). A big part of these weekends is the food and the Northern crew did a fantastic job with lots of options available at the canteen.
Now to the aircraft and flying. Variety is the first word that comes to mind and being a festival of flight that’s what we got. From wonderful to weird, cool to strange, small to large, slow to fast it was all there in one place giving family, friends and visitors a unique picture of the aeromodelling world. With large jets that wowed the kids and adults alike to Greame Andersons flying saucer twin engine thingy. From detailed scale models to foamies and trainers we saw them all at this event including some control line models and helis. Jonathon Greeves put on a great display with an areotow of his 7.5m glider and also aerobatics with his smaller and more nimble EDF powered glider. Aerobatic aircraft did routines throughout the day mixed in with some jet action provided by Richard Wiggan and Riley Sills. The highlight for me was flying my ¼ scale Stampe SV4 biplane with 3 other biplanes and 2 other aircraft doing circuits together on a windless day, magnificent. It was nice to see so many people having fun. Even the face of Australian aeromodelling Andrew Sill got into the fun chasing after lollies in a lolly drop. I asked another pilot how many flights he had for the day and as he starts counting gets to twelve then stops for a minute, corrects it and adds another 4 making 16 flight for the day, now thats taking advantage of the conditions. There were smiles all round and even on the Sunday when a shower went through there was lots of banter and camaraderie around the club rooms whilst the showers past. Then back to flying for the rest of the day with the award ceremony around 3pm.
I look forward to the VMAA running these around the state as they are fun and relaxed for those that attend. A good initiative to get areomodellers flying together again and visiting other clubs to share their experiences, knowledge and models. From one club to another we need opportunities to join together and grow the hobby showcasing how good it is.
Mark Sills
President – Northern Flying Group
