By Raynald C Rivera
Private jet owners in Qatar, a regional commercial aviation giant, attach much importance to raising awareness about general aviation during the annual Al Khor Fly-In.
The sixth edition of the show, which concluded recently, attracted 20,000 visitors — four times the number last year. It also saw a 30 percent increase in the number of participating aircraft. The show turned out to be educational as well as entertaining for the visitors, who mostly comprised families.
For Qatar-based engineer Barry Sloane, aviation is a hobby that is both fun and relaxing. But more than that, general aviation brings great economic benefits, he says.
“In North America, for instance, general aviation is now a multi-billion dollar industry,” he told The Peninsula.
General aviation is very popular in North America, and there are over 6,000 airports available for use by general aviation pilots. In the United States, general aviation provides more than one percent of GDP and over a million jobs in manufacturing and professional services.
“Economic benefits for the Middle East could be incredible by raising the level of activity in general aviation, which could help other sectors as well,” added Sloane, who has been in Qatar for 17 years.
A four-time participant in the show, Sloane has seen how the event and public interest in it have grown.
“There’s a great level of interest among the people with a big number of families coming today to have their pictures taken beside the airplanes. This event also raises awareness that they can fly airplanes in Qatar.”
Sloane flies a Cessna N187, a twin-engine aircraft that can carry five people at a top speed of 360kph, and has a range of about a thousand nautical miles, which can take it to Amman, Jordan, non-stop.
“Qatar is a great place to fly airplanes because of great weather, and it also has an interested population,” he said, lauding the organisers for putting up the show and increasing awareness about general aviation in the country and the region.
Fuad Dashti, the lone participant from Kuwait in the show, was of the same view about the need to promote general aviation.
“There are lots of pilots in Kuwait for general aviation, but we don’t have general aviation. I am the only one in Kuwait who owns and flies my own plane. We have jets, but commercial ones,” said Dashti.
He has been taking part in the event for the last four years and, according to him, “Every year it is becoming better and better, and more people are getting to know what general aviation is about, which is really important.”
Dashti developed his interest in aviation as a child dreaming to be a pilot, which did not match his father’s dream for him. But he did not give up.
“My father wanted me to be an engineer rather than a pilot, but while I was studying to be an engineer in the US, I studied to be an aviator,” he said, adding he had been flying for 35 years now.
His plane, a Beechcraft Baron G58, was one of the crowd-pullers at the show, being one of the largest aircraft on display.
Not only private planes but companies also took part in the expanded show this year. One of these firms was Wallan Aviation, which, in addition to selling private planes and helicopters, runs an aviation school.
Based in Saudi Arabia, the company is the exclusive agent of Cessna Aircraft and Bell Helicopter in the Middle East.
Two of its popular Cessna models, Cessna 400 Corvalis, and Skycatcher, were on display at the show.
“We were here last year, and it is improving. It is a nice gathering for aviators in the Gulf and the Middle East,” said Captain Omar Sadeq Damra, a flight instructor at Wallan Aviation.
Cessna 400 Corvalis is priced at $500,000 while the Skycatcher sells for about $100,000.
“Some of the Cessna airplanes showcased in this expo were sold by us,” he said, adding they had a big customer base in Qatar, as clients preferred Cessna, with their jet planes considered the fastest.
Another attraction at the Al Khor Fly-In was affordably priced air tours aboard microlight aircraft. They charged QR200 for a ride.
The two-day event saw long queues of people wishing to take a ride, and all of them expressed satisfaction with the ten-minute trip.
“It was fun. The cockpit was open, so I could feel the wind, which made it thrilling,” said American Academy student Yash Joshi, who was one of the first to take a ride.
With a pilot father, Joshi has been on other types of aircraft before in India, his home country, but it was his first time in a microlight.
“My dream is to be a commercial pilot because flying gives a feeling of being free and makes one appreciate nature and, at the same time, appreciate human achievement in getting in the air,” he added.
Filipina thrill-seeker Regina Horario lauded the organisers for including the air tours in the programme.
“It is a good thing they have organised this kind of activity in Qatar,” said Horario, who was also a first-timer on a microlight plane.
“It was a different experience for me because I could see everything and feel the air, so it was really nice,” she said.
Held under the patronage of Qatar Civil Aviation Authority, the event also featured radio-controlled model aeroplanes and competitions for visitors.
The Peninsula
