Wings Over Shellharbour returned to Shellharbour Airport on the May 16 and 17 weekend for its first airshow under new operators, after Paul Bennet took over the event in December. The show came back to life less than eight months after the previous operator, AMDA Foundation, pulled out and left the event in limbo.
Bennet said he did not want to see it disappear and called it a great show for the region, saying someone had to take it over. He added that his own airshow business meant he knew there were probably not many other people who would step in, so “we better do it”.
The reopening of wings over shellharbour brought a program built around jets, stunt planes and old Spitfires, but the emotional centre of the weekend belonged to one local pilot. Riley McDonald, who learned to fly at Shellharbour Airport at 12 years old, returned home as part of the Sky Aces Formation Aerobatic Team and said it was a dream come true to fly at his hometown show.
McDonald said his interest in aviation began close to home, with his parents living at the end of the airport and planes always in view. He said he has been flying aerobatics since he was 16, which meant he was coming on 10 years in the discipline by the time he took to the sky this weekend. His display included a solo run that reached 220 knots, more than 400kmh, after a four-ship formation routine of loops and rolls flown in tight proximity.
“We fly in a four-ship formation, doing loops and rolls and all that sort of thing in proximity,” McDonald said. “Then I'll get to branch off into a bit of a solo display.”
For Bennet, putting on the show also meant being ready to fly it himself. He said he would be in the air frequently during the event and had to stay current in all the planes to perform the manoeuvres properly and to perfection, with a close eye on systems and safety checks. That hands-on approach underscored how much the relaunch depended on the people willing to carry it forward, not just the aircraft on the field.
The airshow’s return matters because Shellharbour had spent months with no clear answer about whether the event would survive after AMDA Foundation withdrew. This weekend’s show answered that question in public, with the new organiser treating it not as a one-off rescue but as a regionally important fixture worth keeping alive.
