This story and
its photographs are the copyright of the Australian Department of Defence. Permission to
reproduce may be sought from the Editor, Army Newspaper Unit by contacting armynews@defencenews.gov.au
This story was filed
by Cpl Brian Hartigan and published in ARMY Magazine in June
1999
as a side bar to the
story -- AVALON Flying High
Australia's biggest aviation event
boasts some big statistics.
* 196,000 visitors through the gates, 472
exhibitors from 26 countries and 670 aircraft present, 427 of which were on display.
* The largest temporary structure ever seen in Australia.
Imported from Belgium the "tent" arrived in 17 shipping containers, took two
months to erect and contained more than 10,000sq m of carpet.
* 600 catering staff served more than 130,000 meals over six
days. Huge orders of prime beef had to be placed months in advance while market gardeners
grew whole fields of vegetables especially for the show.
* One of the worlds largest aircraft was on display. The C5A
Galaxy weighing in at 380,000kg has a cargo space longer than the Wright brother's first
flight. At the other end of the scale was the world's smallest jet, the BD5-J, weighing
just 390kg with a wingspan less than six meters.
* More than 850 staff from agencies including police, St John's
Ambulance, State Emergency Service, Country Fire Authority and VicRoads as well as 1000
volunteers helped to ensure the event ran smoothly.
* Airshow 99, a not-for-profit event, is estimated to have
injected more than $60 million into the Victorian economy.
* At 3km long, the Avalon runway is one of the longest in
Australia. It takes more than 12km of fencing to secure the site.