Australia's Flying Horse
My question was laced with naivety, and the snorting chuckle with which it was greeted was probably justified. It was 1985 and a very young me was stumbling into aviation via the left seat of a Cessna 150. Remembering the total sum of aviation experience I had then compared to 34 years down range, I can now forgive my 22-year-old self for asking: “Why don’t we build two-seat trainers in Australia?”
The answer covered the power of the US industry, the lack of incentives in Australia, the cost of manufacturing anything over here compared to the rest of the world and a complete briefing on the sad and frustrating story of the Victa Airtourer. At the end of the discourse I was still not satisfied, and clung for many years to the belief that Australia could make aeroplanes as good as the rest of the world.
Three decades later, the Brumby 610 Evolution proves that I am not completely mad. Born and bred in Cowra, this all-metal high-wing fills a gap long vacated by Cessna, Piper, Grumman and, yes, Victa. It’s a two-seat trainer designed specifically to enable flying schools to update their fleet without having to resort to composite Light Sport Aircraft (LSA). Basic and simple, the Evolution is actually more comfortable than some of its predecessors and has compatible performance; it tours as well as it trains.
And above everything else, the 610 embodies all the characteristics that make pilots so comfortable in general aviation aeroplanes. It is very much a GA pilot’s LSA.
Come to Papa
My first close encounter with a 610 was at the very first Ausfly at Narromine in 2012. Circumstances have kept us apart–or at arm’s length–since then. It was Peninsula Aero Club president Jack Vevers who finally worked the opportunity for me to get my eager
