Loxton Aero Club Biennial Fly In – 18th April, 2015
PRESENTATIONS
Venue – Hangar 1
Time
1130 –
1200
Speaker / Topic
Presenter Profile
Facilitator –
Debbie Thiele
Debbie learnt to fly with Bruce Hartwig at Waikerie in
the 70's and as a teacher in Country High Schools was
keen to be near an airport with planes for hire.
Subsequently, apart from her parent's Piper Cherokee
PA28, and The Waikerie Gliding Club's Pawnee tail
dragger, she flew a range of high wing aircraft from
Cessna 172's and 206's, to 7ECA's.
Debbie was a member of The Australian Women's
Pilots Association, but Family, Farming and Agriculture
soon took over. A highlight of which was being the first
"ABC Radio Australian Rural Woman of the Year" in
1994.
Recently retired, Debbie is now a Councillor for the
Loxton Waikerie District Council and takes an active
interest in the Loxton Aero Club.
Kevin Scrimshaw & Terry
Horsam
Kevin Scrimshaw (Sport Aviation Safety Assurance
Offficer,CASA) & Terry Horsam (South Australian CASA
Aviation Safety Advisor)
Ramp Checks
1230 –
1300
Catherine Fitzsimons
Flying solo around
Australia: a female's guide!
How to put your life on hold
and hit the skies in an old
172. The adventures and
lessons along the way that
turn this into a life
transforming experience.
Followed by –
1300 1315
Barbara Parish
Australian Women Pilots’
Association
Catherine Fitzsimons started flying in 2004 while living
and working in the Philippines. She gained a PPL and
an instrument rating flying C-152s and a C-172XP and
toured many islands of the archipelago before being
transferred to Indonesia with her work as Managing
Director of a pharmaceutical company. Most of her
flying in Indonesia was in a Jabiru and included
memorable flights across the Sunda Strait to view
Krakatoa letting off ash and smoke as well as trips to
Bali and other islands. When her Indonesian licence
couldn’t be transferred into a JAA PPL in France, she
redid her PPL (in French!), flying out of Toussus-leNoble airport near Versailles, and subsequently
Lelystad in The Netherlands. Returning to Australia in
2011, Catherine converted her PPL and collected a
NVFR rating before heading off on a solo journey
around Australia in a C-172 called Maverick (VH-MVK).
In 2012 she completed a CPL and FIR at Curtis
Aviation in Camden before heading to Melbourne for
another corporate role and a board position at the
Royal Victorian Aero Club. For more than a year now,
Catherine has managed to remain successfully
estranged from corporate life and has been working
happily as a flight instructor and air safari tour leader at
Curtis Aviation in Camden.
President SA-NT Branch Australian Women Pilots’
Assoc.
Hon National Secretary Australian Women Pilots’
Assoc.)
1330 –
1400
Howard Hendrick
Flying Experiences
Through World War 2
Howard was a WW2 bomber pilot who flew 31
bombing missions over Germany, France, Belgium and
Holland. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying
Cross.
Howard is 91 years old and has flown 2 solo flights
since his 91 birthday on 2nd October, 2014.
Howard is a much respected and loved member of the
Loxton Aero Club and the Loxton Community. Apart
from flying, Howard tends the gardens at the St.
Alberts Catholic school and mentors students in
reading and writing.
1415 –
1445
Shelley Ross
Throwing her previous life a complete curve ball,
Shelley started flying at 38. With her first nav out to the
Birdsville Races as fodder for a rather adventurous
story, she began writing for Australian Flying Magazine
in 1999, was editor by 2000, and remained in the
editor’s chair for the next nine years.
Along the way, and with the enormous support of her
husband Rossy, Shelley has juggled their three kids
with her journalism and the endless challenge of
regular flying. She battled her way through various
ratings and then her commercial licence, float plane
endorsement, instrument rating – frankly, she says,
anything that got her out of tuckshop duty.
Since 2009 she has worked as a freelance aviation
journalist and editor of her own website, Flying the
Outback. A passionate advocate of outback air
touring, she has organised and flown countless safaris
across Australia, aiming to link urban and rural lives,
and to promote the incredible properties and
experiences on offer well away from our coastal fringe.
Air Safaris – planning your
own safari!
1500 –
1530
Kevin Scrimshaw and
Terry Horsam
Weather/Whether to Fly
(Pilot decision making)
CASA