05-30-2025, 05:59 PM
The Last Minute Hitch: 30 May 2025
30 May 2025
– Steve Hitchen
Charles Bombardier buying into Vickers Aircraft is a huge box of chocolates for CEO Paul Vickers. And its not just about an injection of cash, it's also about the vote of confidence in the future of the design and the company. Bombardier is a corporate member of both Canadian aviation giant Bombardier (founded by Charles' grandfather), but also of Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP – owner of Rotax). The man has aviation pedigree and expertise, and he doesn't invest cash unless he believes there's going to be more coming back his way. He also believes in technology and innovation, plenty of which has been shoe-horned into the Vickers Wave. But if technology, innovation and expertise were the only ingredients needed to make a design successful, general aviation would be flush with new aircraft types. The reality is that of all the clean-sheet designs touted in this world, the majority never get to market. And even getting to market doesn't make a design successful (ask Cessna about the C162, or Beechcraft about the Starship); only fulfilled customer orders do that. Paul Vickers know that, and he's been diligently tweaking the Wave design for 15 years to give the aircraft every chance in the market. Investment from Charles Bombardier may be the spur he needs to start handing keys to customers.
"..That creates an environment where aircraft owners are encouraged to skip non-mandatory maintenance.."
General aviation's long saga of diminishing engineer numbers is proving a thorn in the side of aircraft owners, and realistically there doesn't appear to be any indication the wound is going to heal soon. That's because there are too many people arguing over the remedy. CASA and AMROBA want a short-stop solution in the form of importing foreign engineers, then tackling the regulation and training regimes that are the source of the problem. The ALAEA says the quick-fix is unsafe, and want to go straight to the heart of the issue. Meanwhile, general aviation is in a parlous state, with even the smallest maintenance issues meaning significant downtime until the aircraft owner can find an engineer with spare time. Aeroplanes are being pushed to the rear of maintenance hangars, often with no projected time of emerging into the light again. That creates an environment where aircraft owners are encouraged to skip non-mandatory maintenance for fear of being trapped in an engineering labyrinth. If it's not needed for VFR flight, placard it U/S and keep flying; if it's not in the MEL, pretend you don't have it. And don't even think about getting avionics upgrades if your steam gauges and Mode Charlie still work! Let's sum this up: whilst vested interest are bickering, Australia's already-ageing GA fleet is missing out on the attention that has allowed it to get this old safely in the first place. Sorting out the regulation and training is critical, but even if we started now, the impacts wouldn't be felt for a few years. The only answer is get hands on spanners, and if that means bringing in engineering talent from overseas, I'm all for it.
One of the most agonising thing an air show organiser will ever do is completely cancel the show. Unless you've been on the inside, it's hard to have an accurate appreciation of the workload involved in getting to the start line. So, I can empathise with Kevin Elliott who today pulled the pin on Pacific Airshow Gold Coast for 2025. Despite his confidence only a few weeks ago that damage to the beach inflicted by Cyclone Alfred wouldn't stop the show, high tides and further weather destruction has made the show an unviable proposition. They probably could have cobbled something together, but PAGC trades on the experience it creates, and a make-shift show would have damaged the brand. Elliott decided he'd rather put up nothing than provide a sub-standard show. And when you do cancel an air show, you throw out all the work already done; discard hundred of hours of effort. You've had to liaise with CASA, Airservices, airport owners, local councils, emergency services, commercial exhibitors, contractors, display pilots ... even toilet hire companies. Then it all comes to nothing because of a show-stopper. So even though many of us will be inconvenienced by having to cancel accommodation, flights, hire cars and many other things, keep in mind that PAGC didn't make the call to cancel lightly.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
30 May 2025
– Steve Hitchen
Charles Bombardier buying into Vickers Aircraft is a huge box of chocolates for CEO Paul Vickers. And its not just about an injection of cash, it's also about the vote of confidence in the future of the design and the company. Bombardier is a corporate member of both Canadian aviation giant Bombardier (founded by Charles' grandfather), but also of Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP – owner of Rotax). The man has aviation pedigree and expertise, and he doesn't invest cash unless he believes there's going to be more coming back his way. He also believes in technology and innovation, plenty of which has been shoe-horned into the Vickers Wave. But if technology, innovation and expertise were the only ingredients needed to make a design successful, general aviation would be flush with new aircraft types. The reality is that of all the clean-sheet designs touted in this world, the majority never get to market. And even getting to market doesn't make a design successful (ask Cessna about the C162, or Beechcraft about the Starship); only fulfilled customer orders do that. Paul Vickers know that, and he's been diligently tweaking the Wave design for 15 years to give the aircraft every chance in the market. Investment from Charles Bombardier may be the spur he needs to start handing keys to customers.
"..That creates an environment where aircraft owners are encouraged to skip non-mandatory maintenance.."
General aviation's long saga of diminishing engineer numbers is proving a thorn in the side of aircraft owners, and realistically there doesn't appear to be any indication the wound is going to heal soon. That's because there are too many people arguing over the remedy. CASA and AMROBA want a short-stop solution in the form of importing foreign engineers, then tackling the regulation and training regimes that are the source of the problem. The ALAEA says the quick-fix is unsafe, and want to go straight to the heart of the issue. Meanwhile, general aviation is in a parlous state, with even the smallest maintenance issues meaning significant downtime until the aircraft owner can find an engineer with spare time. Aeroplanes are being pushed to the rear of maintenance hangars, often with no projected time of emerging into the light again. That creates an environment where aircraft owners are encouraged to skip non-mandatory maintenance for fear of being trapped in an engineering labyrinth. If it's not needed for VFR flight, placard it U/S and keep flying; if it's not in the MEL, pretend you don't have it. And don't even think about getting avionics upgrades if your steam gauges and Mode Charlie still work! Let's sum this up: whilst vested interest are bickering, Australia's already-ageing GA fleet is missing out on the attention that has allowed it to get this old safely in the first place. Sorting out the regulation and training is critical, but even if we started now, the impacts wouldn't be felt for a few years. The only answer is get hands on spanners, and if that means bringing in engineering talent from overseas, I'm all for it.
One of the most agonising thing an air show organiser will ever do is completely cancel the show. Unless you've been on the inside, it's hard to have an accurate appreciation of the workload involved in getting to the start line. So, I can empathise with Kevin Elliott who today pulled the pin on Pacific Airshow Gold Coast for 2025. Despite his confidence only a few weeks ago that damage to the beach inflicted by Cyclone Alfred wouldn't stop the show, high tides and further weather destruction has made the show an unviable proposition. They probably could have cobbled something together, but PAGC trades on the experience it creates, and a make-shift show would have damaged the brand. Elliott decided he'd rather put up nothing than provide a sub-standard show. And when you do cancel an air show, you throw out all the work already done; discard hundred of hours of effort. You've had to liaise with CASA, Airservices, airport owners, local councils, emergency services, commercial exhibitors, contractors, display pilots ... even toilet hire companies. Then it all comes to nothing because of a show-stopper. So even though many of us will be inconvenienced by having to cancel accommodation, flights, hire cars and many other things, keep in mind that PAGC didn't make the call to cancel lightly.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch