Australian Light Aircraft Championships 2026
Wednesday 8th April to Saturday 11th April 2026
Latrobe Valley Aero Club
75 Airfield Road Traralgon Victoria
Thank you to Rob Batten for providing this overview of the 2026 ALACs.
The Australian Light Aircraft Championships (ALACs) is an initiative of The Royal Federation of Aero Clubs of Australia (RFACA). This year the Latrobe Valley Aero Club, together with Latrobe City Council Events, conducted the 69th ALACs competition from the 8th to the 11th of April.
The LVAC has been host to the ALACs in years gone by and our pilots were competitive in all competitions. To get up to date information it was important for Club representatives to attend the 2025 RFACA event in Taree NSW. On their return the Club Committee decided the LVAC would host the ALACs in 2026.
In 2025 an ALACs Organising Sub-Committee was formed to undertake all the planning which included everything from advertising, financing, administration, available aircraft, instructors, air and ground leaders, volunteers and catering. You may have noticed weather was not included on the list. Rather than dig deeper into the above sub-group challenges we will slip into the action as witnessed by many in our recent very successful ALACs.
Tuesday the 7th of April saw many competitors take advantage of the fine but cool weather to orientate themselves and put in some serious competition practice. Our ground and airside teams prepared themselves with the major project being the laying out and building of the forced and spot landing box shown below. At the end of each lateral line were red cones apart from the 50-score box which had white cones accompanied by red boundary strips. More on this later once the competition starts. I must thank John Warren and Greg Blakeley for helping me set up the scoring box over many days.
The next day organisers looked to the sky and checked weather forecasts to plan aerobatics and streamer cutting seeking relatively high cloud. Ground judges stood in cold strong wind as the aerobatic pilots corrected for significant wind drift to stay in the display box. Once the aerobatics were concluded it was time for the streamer cutting event. The air judges braved the challenging aerial manoeuvres as pilots attempted to make their streamer cuts in the fastest possible time. There were some exceptional times recorded by a few pilots.
Acting again on the best weather information available, spot landing and forced landing continued over the next three days. The wind continued to blow at 20 knots gusting up to 33 knots keeping the ground temperature five degrees below the forecast 15C.
Line judges were briefed by Steve Murcott before entering the airfield, so they knew what to expect and remain safe. The eleven line volunteer judges headed by Chief Judge Alan Campbell spent hours watching aircraft trying to avoid hitting the fence and land with accuracy for maximum scores. Final approaches were entertaining with the fence being taken out a few times and the air judges aboard needing to take control for instant control corrections.
The forced landing competition began with a take-off on RWY 21 followed by a climb to 2,500ft before the engine was set to idle. The pattern of descent was far from normal as pilots did their best to correct for the strong wind. Despite all that, many pilots proved their skill in landing in the 50 box or not too far from it.
The spot landing competition involved a normal circuit with a take-off on RWY27 and the fence taken away each time. Like the forced landing, each pilot had the chance to make several flights to score an accurate landing.
A continuous flow of aircraft had Steve Murcott and his crew of Jamey Lawn, Steve’s son Cameron and later with Adrian Marthick all working hard to control the fence movement and repair the fences when aircraft managed to fly through it. Oops!
A Piper on approach witnessed by fence operators and line judges for a forced landing
While all this was going on, John Warren was busy juggling aircraft, pilots, air judges and receiving competition result sheets for adjudication by Ben Unstead. Weather forced changes to the official program every day. Greg Blakeley had the responsibility of inducting all those going airside as well as being the Unicom operator monitoring incoming flights. When he was off briefing, Darren Goergeson was handed the radio to monitor while continuing his marshalling duties. Phil Reeves was not required for aircraft starting so he provided on-field transport in company with Gene lpenburg in his vehicle.
The team of marshals were fully briefed by me as Chief Marshal to abide by the rules of the Airport Manager Carl Eves with the emphasis on airside movement and safety. This applied to approved vehicles for transporting judges and goods to the spot/forced landing area as required. Gerard Lappin found time to help with deliveries and help pack up.
Action off the field continued every day as pilots were organised, score sheets compiled and adjudicated, invoices printed and issued and photocopying by our office manager Deb Twite. Deb also worked to help plan for the event. Formal briefings continued for other volunteers and for pilots preparing for their next competition. Chef Mark Keegan and his small crew of helpers of Pam Matheson, Liz Georgeson, Val Batten and Marion Ibrahim worked to prepare food and cleaning up. Back on the field the air judges Alvin Lai, Dan Trotter, Rod Jouning and Massimo Murgida, moved continuously between aircraft. Air Boss, (and ground judge) Gerard Lappin, provided the necessary guidance and control of flights.
Given the poor weather conditions, it was noted that the level of competition remained high and the accuracy of many competing pilots was impressive. We were fortunate to have the support of the City of Latrobe to help make it happen. The Latrobe City Mayor Sharon Gibson and representatives officially welcome our guests and volunteers on Thursday before a barbeque which was a welcome occasion.
I have listed many names in this story to give a picture of the activities they were responsible for. To list everyone who took on other volunteer roles would be a challenge, however, every one of them worked in to make it all happen. Thank you.
The ALACs competition was both challenging and rewarding for competitors and volunteers alike, thirty-one people were listed for airside judging alone. The event was conducted with a high level of safety and efficiency that the LVAC can be proud of.
The 2026 ALACs Presentation Dinner held at Morwell Club with Steve Murcott as MC was a great night. It was pleasing to see the honours of winning and place getting shared between visitors and local pilots alike. On a final note Gerard Lappin picked up the Bernie Seroff award as winning instructor for the 2026 ALACs event.
Rob Batten
Gerard Lappin with the Bernie Seroff Award
A big thank you to everyone that travelled to Latrobe Valley to compete in this years Championships, and we are pleased to announce the winners…
𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴
1st – Gary Morton – Royal Victorian Aero Club
2nd – John Warren – Latrobe Valley Aero Club
3rd – Bruce Harrison – Manning River Aero Club
𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴
1st – Sam Garden – Latrobe Valley Aero Club
2nd – Julian Turecek – Latrobe Valley Aero Club
3rd – Peter Macdonald – Schofields Flying Club
𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴
1st – Michael Stenson – Royal Aero Club of WA
2nd – Owen Crombie – Royal Victorian Aero Club
3rd – Aaron Hammond – Manning River Aero Club
𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗹𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴
1st – Royal Victorian Aero Club – Heinz Dehn, Gary Morton, Paul Canavan
2nd – Royal Aero Club of WA – Mick Harcourt, Bruce Rathbone, Mark Kemp
𝗔𝗲𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀
1st – Sam Garden – Latrobe Valley Aero Club
2nd – Gail Iles – Royal Victorian Aero Club
3rd – Aaron Hammond – Manning River Aero Club
𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻
Royal Victorian Aero Club #4
– John Oien
– Brigitta Cox
– Owen Crombie
𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻
Michael Stenson – Royal Aero Club of WA
For all enquiries, please email admin@latrobevalleyaeroclub.com.au or call 03 5174 2591