Boomerang

The return of the Australian designed two-seat trainer

Piper named its Tomahawk trainer after the indigenous Americans’ most well known weapon so, when awardwinning Australian Dean Wilson Aviation recently started producing a more modern successor, it followed suit, with the Boomerang.

Like the Tomahawk before it, this tough little aeroplane benefited from a comprehensive survey of instructors and training establishments, but with the major advantage of decades of Tomahawk experience behind it. So the Bill Whitney designed Boomerang has deliberately been made more robust, to withstand years of punishment and abuse at the hands of its students, particularly in Australia’s harsh and testing climate and environment. It is also claimed to be the cheapest training aircraft currently available worldwide. I flew the first production example, owned by former Tomahawk devotee, but now dedicated Boomerang enthusiast, Min Stokes, British ex-pat owner and CFI of Jandakot’s Minovation flying school.