Geelong’s aviation industry is flying high with more opportunities than ever before – pilot training, sales and maintenance. John Van Klaveren took wing to checked out what’s happening inside the region’s hangars.
GEELONG is on the cusp of becoming an “aviation city” – and adventurous local women helping lead the charge.
While Avalon Airport has grabbed the lion’s share of recent aviation coverage, general aviation – or light planes – is going ahead leaps and bounds in the region.
That’s despite the closure of Geelong’s best-known regional airfield, at Grovedale, after the land was sold to Armstrong Creek developers.
Ceres’s airstrip, run by Lindy Lee, has long been a beacon for local aviators, and now Lethbridge Airport is also assuming prominence after recently secured $1 million in State Government funding for runway and other upgrades.
Lethbridge flight training business Skythrills is running one of Australia’s first vocational training courses for secondary students.
Joy flights and aerobatics displays are also part of the Skythrills business.
Co-owner and aviator Jodie Davis began flying in her early 20s mainly to scratch an itch and without expecting it would become a career.
Jodie discovered her passion for flight despite the high initial cost of learning to fly.
Now she’s keen to pass on her passion.
The investment in Lethbridge Airport facilities and infrastructure will make a significant difference, enabling Skythrills to offer more course places to schools within the Barwon region.
Students from five Geelong-based schools – Northern Bay, Western Heights Secondary, Newcomb Secondary, North Geelong Secondary colleges and Geelong Grammar – are enrolled in Jodie’s Sky High course.
Jodie says Kardinia International College has signed on to take part in the program next year and she expects other schools to join after the upgrade announcement.
The course is aimed at getting students interested and prepared for futures in aviation, helping budding student pilots earn national accreditation before finishing high school.
