April 14, 2014
The skies around Wondai will be buzzing over the Easter long weekend when the Australian Sports Rotorcraft Association (ASRA) holds its national gyrocopter competition at Wondai Airport.
And enthusiasts will be coming from all over Australia and New Zealand to take part.
The SEQ Gyro Club – which was formerly based at Toogoolawah but moved to Wondai Airport three years ago – will be hosting the four-day event from April 18-21.
Spokesman Darrell Jones told southburnett.com.au today the club is hoping for a record roll-up.
“At the moment we have between 76 and 80 people confirmed for the event, now all we need is fine weather,” he said.
A large contingent of enthusiasts will be flying to the airport from NSW and all over south-east Queensland, while another flier will be towing his gyrocopter from Western Australia to take part.
The club is also hoping to see fliers from North Queensland attending, although Cyclone Ita may affect this.
About 10 fliers from the South Burnett will be flying the flag for the local region.
Darrell, who’s been flying gyrocopters for 25 years, said the bulk of the competition would occur on Easter Saturday and Sunday, capped off by an awards dinner at the Wondai RSL on Sunday night.
Fliers will be competing on a range of technical and precision flying events including takeoffs, landings and a cross country navigational challenge.
Spectators are invited to drop by the airport to see the gyrocopters in action and learn more about the sport.
Darrell said most people can get a gyrocopter flying licence in as little as 20 hours.
The first 15 hours are spent learning how to take off, land and fly under close supervision. This is followed by a further five hours flying solo in the airport precinct.
Gyrocopters – essentially, small one or two-person ultralight helicopters – cost about from $9000 which also makes the sport more affordable than many people might expect.
The ASRA Nationals will begin at 7:15am on Friday (April 18) with a breakfast and conclude about lunchtime on Monday, April 21.
The full four-day program for the event can be downloaded in PDF format by clicking here (460kb PDF)
