The last few months have been a bit disruptive to say the least.  On 2 May the airfield was reopened and the club had to manage compliance with the subsequent State Chief Health Officer COVID-19 restrictions.  Initially we were restricted to only 2 members with flying slots booked via an on-line booking system. 

On 16 May we were able to relax the member numbers to 10 and discontinued the booking system.  From Monday 1 June the limit was increased to 20 members and with the further relaxing of restrictions on 3 July we are anticipating no further member number restrictions will be necessary.  However, use of some club facilities will still be restricted until cleaning regimes are no longer required.

We have compiled a few videos of some of the club activities since the airfield reopened.
Kev maidened his Zohd Dart 250g:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhQyorArIfQ 
and a Skipper clone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2hKS9dgZK4
Shane had some success with a hand me down Super 60:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqhe6dZmjbo
Luke and Sean made a rare appearance:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjJ7Up7eH18
John resurrected a Fournier RF 4D: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U2cVj2O1FQ
And there were a couple more maidens:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cqbk8Vyuds

The PMA airfield reopened on 2 May 2020
After several weeks locked down in response to Chief Health Officer COVID-19 restrictions, the airfield reopened on Saturday 2 May.  It's not business as normal yet, access is available to financial members who follow the strict access protocols and book a flying session prior to accessing the field.  
Here is the club president removing the airfield closed sign and the first members to take advantage of the relaxed restrictions.  Rob even celebrated by playing reveille on his arrival.

After several months of unseasonal rain, the big wet has finally ended and normal operations have resumed at PMA. 

It's official!  It went up on YouTube..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDtP7MzPJcg  but during the airfield closures we had to endure, some members were already planning alternative uses for the airfield...   

​Work on the spectator and entertainment shelter continued, despite the weather.  Here is Jim proudly announcing the relocation of the barbeques..

And just in time too; we had a busy couple of weeks at the back end of August hosting two significant events.

The first was hosting the Southern Cross Air Force (the War Birds) on Saturday  17 August.  It is always a pleasure to have these folks at the airfield and this year was no exception.  This link should give you a brief insight into how the day went... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcYKKWOi6E0

The second was a fun fly on 25 August to remember Roy Salmon who passed away in July.  Roy's family attended a morning tea, we had a fly past, took the time to recognise the tremendous contribution he made to the club and officially opened the new shade shelter in his name.

​Other than that, it was business as usual. Here is a glimpse at some of the action....

Several club members represented the MAAA at the Queensland Air Museum Open Cockpit Weekend - that was a hoot... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6qEA5laifs

There weren't as many maidens as expected, but this is one that went very well... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGr6ncM4bh4  There is however a bit of general background "chatter" about a few imminent maidens.

With Spring almost here, it was good to see the Tuesday crew well and truly on task... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3bsTkUvYzw
​
And in early September we have our AGM to look forward to.

May and June have been characterised by even more wet weather.   At a time of year when we should have been having clear, blue and 22C days, we have had to close the airfield on a number of occasion because the runways, taxiways, parking areas and grounds are waterlogged or even flooded.  Despite this, we have managed to continue improving the facilities at the airfield an did get the spectator metal roofed shelter installed. 

The following video links will give you some indication of how the weather has impacted proceedings at the club.  There were days when the airfield was available for flying and a number of members took advantage of it while it lasted:
 
   PMA airfield condition and having a bit of fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSFeVFt6Sdo
   Shuriken 180 at PMA Playing at chase quad:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MXppuaG6Aw

We've also had members enjoying some outfield landings where gum boots were clearly "dress of the day":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OffHhklYAL0   

We are hoping that the optimistic title of this video "The end of the big wet of 2019 at PMA" turns out to be an accurate prediction:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G70PouviHqg
 
Meanwhile, Sean's FW190 A8 maiden didn't exactly go as planned:  https://youtu.be/xtMlMPKvoWw

By contrast, Alan had a much better day out with his Tiger Moth maiden:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc1DG1_J0_o ​

We also witnessed a first attempt at glider towing from Alan and George; we're expecting more of this when the weather clears. 
​
With members having all this time at the build table rather than the airfield, there should be a flood of maidens in the next month or two.

April has been a rather slow month for flying, we've had nearly three weeks of daily rain events.  The field has miraculously continued to support flying, but only to the most dedicated; gum boots have been the fashion statement in footwear and washing the mud splatters from models commonplace.  

Here's an example of the risks some pilots were prepared to take to get their fix: https://youtu.be/DK6XhfeUYAk

And here's a peek at what the field looked like going into Easter.   The northern car park was closed to all but air cushion vehicles and pilots were advised of the implications of straying from the centreline on landing.

Despite the weather, we still managed to get a few things done toward the new shelter and even a bit of flying.  This video shows a few of the activities on a Saturday early in the month, before the rain set in.  It illustrates the diversity in our activities, including some of our member's rather unique choice of landing site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHB9aYQBpOQ

Stu led Kev (in his Bixler rather than a chase quad) on a bit of a wild goose chase toward the end of this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqRZo2otVfY

And despite the poor weather the grounds maintenance work still had to be undertaken and again, some members continue to make poor landing choices:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXly0BOfLQ8

I think we are all looking forward to a dryer month of May.

Here are a few of the things that have happened at the field since the last newsletter.

Implementation of the facilities master plan continues with the filling of large areas of the Northern car park, it's now in regular use; thanks Brian.  The footings for the metal roofed shelter have been poured and it should rise from the ground in the near future.

Click on each of the subjects to launch a video on YouTube.
Pete's Apprentice (Wal) Graduates from his training
Another of the club's Petes got a bit more acquainted  to his new Cub
Stu maidened his Shoestring with Dave's help
Sean continues the journey from electric foamie warbirds to something a little more challenging
Chard was having fun with his in-flight video recording
He has also resolved some technology challenges that have been frustrating him for a while
And spending some time chasing other modelers around the field, in this case John's Bird Dog 
John reminded us of how the aerial video was recorded a few years ago (before the emergence of the modern video RPAS).  This is the finished product of a project he was involved with in "the olden days" 
and you can take a behind the scenes look here

I've been a bit tardy with the newsletters lately however, if you want to catch up with a few of the things that we've been up to since August, here is a list of videos you might like to watch.  They display the diverse range of interests our members have.

Australia Day fun fly 
Two maidens on a two-up-Tuesday
Brian's Tiger Moth
Chasing Rene's Hurricane
Peter maidens his Hurricane
Graeme's Maxa Pro
Greg's Tornado new colours
An tale of two maidens
Greg's Tornado trembles
Allan's control line autogyro
John's Bird Dog

August was time for the AGM and we now have filled all positions on the management committee.  Welcome new and returning members to the committee.  Details are on the About Us tab.

We also had an excellent day hosting the Southern Cross Air Force with their war birds.  The weather was ideal and everyone had a great day, even the pilots involved in the mid-air seemed in good spirits.  There is a video on YouTube if you are interested in what happened on the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCI6F9VAFq4

We are also planning a working bee to reposition the stand for the portaloos which will make a difference to the conveniences available at the airfield.

The big news for January was the fun fly day held at the airfield on Australia Day.  We had a good roll-up of pilots flying a diverse assortment of models including micro-quads, race quads and fixed wing models from micro electric foamies through to 1/3 scale aircraft.

If you are interested in what we got up to; have a look at Richard's video:

https://youtu.be/uwPlcSZ27A4 

A big shout out to everyone who helped make the day such a success.