A week ago we held our first meeting on a Sunday in a long time. I liked it for a number of reasons. I was able to come down to MKT, go for a flight, come back and attend the meeting where a new member joined the meeting and after we concluded Armin prepared the classic bacon, toast, sausage and eggs breakfast (and devilled kidneys) which was a pretty fine way to spend a Sunday morning.

It might be good for catering purposes for folks to place an order via email (or something like that) when meetings are held, so that if Armin is available and willing to cook up a storm, he has an idea of how many to cater for.

I haven’t been flying in a month or two due to other commitments and my rudder cable repair that Sam helped with (thanks Sam!). Being able to work on the repair in my new hangar was a luxury.

I went for a flight and although it was extremely hazy, I took my camera to capture the roadworks that are transforming Jenkins Road which runs parallel to MKT Aerodrome into a dual carriageway behemoth that is destined to be the alternate route for heavy vehicles travelling to the wharf.

Additionally Jenkins Road  provides a back way for vehicles to access Channel Island, Inpex, the current gas plant, East Arm Wharf and the railhead for the Ghan not to mention the back entry for Palmerston.

With the massive cattle yards at Noonamah serving as a staging point for loading cattle onto the ships heading for Indonesia and a planned abattoir across the road adjacent to the Livingstone airstrip the roadworks make sense..

Finn Road which joins both the Cox Peninsular Road and Jenkins Road has been sealed which now provides easy sealed access for residents of the Cox Peninsula area including the Berry Springs area.

Interestingly when I compare how the urban sprawl of Melbourne overtook market gardens in the south eastern areas like Springvale and Bentleigh, up in Darwin it is pastoral, aquaculture, mango farms, power stations, wharves, gas plants and detention centres that will be neighbours to the expansion and creation of the Weddell satellite city and it is exciting for MKT Aerodrome to be a part of that development.

One of the challenges to be faced in this area apart from the biting insects is the flooding. Speaking to a recent resident of Toowoomba who went through the horrific floods there, she told me that the city was essentially built on a swamp. The water catchment ideas that one of the eight Weddell design teams offered does make sense in the light of what happened in Toowoomba.

I mentioned the meeting and unofficially report that several things were decided. The club drifter will be sold. Reasons for this were that the original circumstances for purchasing the aircraft had changed through the establishment of the flight school and as the majority of students in the flight school were training on Jabiru aircraft, it made sense to work towards having one of those available on the flight line for new pilots to hire.

Despite the various forms of insurance available to the club and taken up by the club, there is a genuine concern by members that having a club aircraft is a litigation time bomb waiting to go off. Having private certified aircraft available for hire with a token amount paid to the club as was done in the past is a better way to go.

Kath suggested the initiation of a “Green Season” flying competition and also a wings night along with our traditional Christmas party. Two other auspicious dates are the 17th of December which commemorates the Wright brothers’ first flight and the 19th of February to commemorate the bombing of Darwin. Another important date is the 26th of August which is the MKT Aerodrome’s commissioning date.

The Christmas Party will be the next event and will be held at the end of November.

I picked up a sense from the meeting that it was time to get excited about that simple thing we do –we fly. 

 

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