YOUNG Harley Ewing, 4, had only one thought after arriving at the Albury Airport open day on Saturday.
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“Harley’s like, ‘I really want to see the yellow plane’, so we came over to the plane,” his mother Emma said.
The owner of the colourful Pitts Special, Tim Glabbatz, understands Harley’s enthusiasm.
“I’ve always had a passion for this,” Mr Glabbatz said.
“I fly for a living and this is just an extension of that. It’s not so much a job, it’s life.”
Raised on the Border and now a commercial pilot, he was among the private owners displaying aircraft to hundreds of visitors of all ages who attended the open day. The Pitts Special, weighing about 370 kilograms and boasting 180 horsepower, is purpose-built for aerobatic loops and rolls.
“You can’t really cruise in it, it’s particularly uncomfortable to fly,” Mr Glabbatz said with a smile.
“It’s a 1945 design that’s still in production today. Super strong; if you get it right, why change it?”
He described the light aircraft as “back to basics flying”.
“My regular flying’s very regimented, it’s checklists, and procedures, it’s a very controlled environment,” he said.
“(Here) you don’t have the same automation up front, just a couple of basic instruments, a stick and a rudder and you just fly the aeroplane, you fly by feel.”
Open day visitors got the chance to experience this, just a little, through the flight simulators provided by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Australia.
Executive director Benjamin Morgan said the association wanted to promote aviation and related careers.
“We’re using digital assets and resources now to target the youth and start speaking in a language they understand,” he said.
“Encouraging them to take those next steps, which are to venture into a real cockpit.”
The simulators replicated Cessna 172 aeroplanes, with participants starting on the runway, free flying and then landing back on earth.
“The skills and techniques that they’re learning even here today all translate to flying in a real aeroplane so it’s all pretty exciting stuff,” Mr Morgan said.
Thurgoona’s Blake Wayenberg, 15, said it was fun and not too difficult.
“Better than just a normal computer,” he said.
Albury and District Aero Club president Martin Daniell said Saturday’s open day had been one of the club’s biggest shows.