Monday 20 July – the first Aeroprakt A32 in Australia, VH-VBQ, made its maiden flight at Moorabbin Airport. After flying some circuits I then flew it to its new home at Tyabb Airport.

I’ll be writing a full ‘first impressions’ report soon but meanwhile, I can tell you the aircraft exceeded all my expectations – I even had to take two friends for flights just to confirm I wasn’t dreaming.

All the development work on the aerodynamics has paid off handsomely, with a quiet and smooth cruise, while retaining all the short take-off  and landing characteristics which are the hallmarks of Yuriy Yakovlyev’s designs.

Today’s flying totalled less than 90 minutes…watch this space for more.

As usual, thanks to Mike Rudd for the photo – click on it for the full size version