Airshow Ian

This is a problem often on the mind of Ian Honnery. A life-long lover of flight, his own enthusiasm burns as brightly as ever. But as the purveyor of Australia’s largest and most important airshow, the challenge of kindling the spark in others is a problem at the heart of his business.

“I think that T-shirt was really indicative of the situation we face as an industry,” he says. “Aviation has become so much a part of our everyday lives, particularly with the advent of low-cost flying. For the youth in particular it doesn’t have the same leading edge, futuristic glamour that it may have had for those of us now in the denouement of our lives. We want to keep the spark alive.”

“The challenge of kindling the spark in others is at the heart of his business. .”

Honnery’s path to aviation showman is an unlikely one, although there’s probably no likely way to end up in such a vocation. A lawyer by profession, he caught the flight bug early, serving as a RAAF Special Reservist for 25 years and playing an active role in the aero club movement. The latter led to his involvement in country airshows held by the Schofields Flying Club in western Sydney starting in 1976, which in turn led to the successful and much larger Bicentennial airshow in 1988. In 1992, the airshow moved to its present home at Avalon Airport and Honnery left his private legal practice of 28 years to take over as full-time airshow CEO.

In its present form, the biennial Australian International Airshow and Aerospace & Defence Exposition encompasses – as the name suggests – two distinct events. The first is an industry trade show, running this year for three days starting Tuesday February 26. The public airshow opens on Friday March 1 and runs through the weekend.

Though it has been a difficult year for the aviation industry in general and the Victorian industry in particular, Honnery says he expects an industry turnout on par with past years. “There’s been a toughening up over the past few years with the GFC,” he says. “There are budget constraints and the international corporates are rationalising the way they spend their budgets, but they are pretty much all participating.”

Flight demonstrations on Tuesday and Wednesday will run for 45 minutes after lunch and then again for two hours between 4-6pm, unlike in past years where flying took place from 2pm on. That change is meant to lower noise levels and make it easier for people to do business. Other changes to this year’s expositions are also intended to improve the business climate. These include the construction of new exhibitor business units housed in a dedicated area facing the exposition pavilion while retaining views of the flight line. These units will allow industry to engage with customers in a setting “every bit as high a standard as other world class aerospace exhibitions,” Honnery says. Also new this year is an inflatable roof that will improve climate control inside the pavilions and cut down on ambient noise.

As for the public side of the event, Honnery says concerns that tight global defence budgets might lead to less participation by military aircraft appear unfounded. “The U.S. participation in particular is very strong and currently looking larger than last time,” he says, though aircraft line-ups aren’t likely to be finalised until well into January. An appearance by the F-22 Raptor, which was on static display but did not fly at the 2011 airshow, is a distinct possibility, though visitors interested in seeing Australia’s next-generation attack jet will have to settle for a mockup of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Aerial spectacle will be provided by a number of new and familiar acts. American air show pilot Skip Stewart will make his first appearance in Australia flying a custom-built Pitts special with an ‘American hot-rod’ paint scheme and a 400hp engine capable of producing G forces in excess of +11 and -6. In addition to his solo show, Stewart will take part in a dual show with pilot Melissa Pemberton known as ‘TinStix of Dynamite’, described as a “mix of precision aerobatics and hair-raising stunts and explosions…surrounded by smoke and balls of fire.” Other acts include the Breitling Wing Walkers, British aerobatic ace Mark Jefferies in his Awesome Extra 330LX, and former Red Bull Air Race pilot and RAAF Wing Commander Matt Hall, who also appeared at the 2011 show.

The theme of this year’s show – “The Power of Flight” – has in truth no specific meaning. “The reality is that in this particular year there was no special anniversary or occasion we could commemorate,” Honnery says. “What we really wanted to convey to all our patrons is the power and significance of aviation and aerospace – economically, technologically and militarily. Through the theatre and the public spectacle of it, we want to combine the colour of aviation with the business of aerospace, and we thought ‘The Power of Flight’ captured that.”

For his own part, reaching the denouement of life though he may be, Honnery reveals no plans to make 2013 his last airshow – though he might give a different answer come March.

“I always think about it immediately after each airshow, particularly as I’m rubbing the balm to my aching joints,” he says. “But I’m still as excited as I ever was by this. I’m one of those lucky guys who really has a job that’s exciting.”