For many live events, a rainy day is enough for everyone to pack it up and head home.
Attendees of the Canberra Airport Open Day 2024 (the Open Day) weren’t afraid of a little torrential downpour though. Despite the poor conditions, thousands of Canberran’s turned up to enjoy a display of aircraft, ground vehicles, and more.
Free tickets to the event could be acquired through Eventbrite, which lets users manage events and purchase tickets.
The Open Day had two sessions, one from 9:00-12:00 P.M., and another from 12:00-3:00 P.M., both for Saturday, 6 April.
I’d never heard anything about previous airport open days, so I was curious to take a look for myself. With the weather forecast in mind, I booked my ticket for the 12:00 P.M. session.
To my dismay, the weather had hardly improved from earlier in the day. Not only was it quite cold and cloudy, the rain was dreadful.
Nonetheless, I, and the rest of Canberra weren’t about to let a bit of rough weather get in the way of our day.
I was met with a collection of aircraft that grew larger and larger as I walked through the airstrip.
Starting with a small Cessna model, the lineup ended with the enormous C-130J Hercules, which is shockingly just a medium-sized military transport aircraft.
Behind the impressive aircraft collection was a plethora of other vehicles. Unlike previous open days, Canberra Airport and ACT Emergency Services Agency teamed up to deliver something unique for 2024.
Featured vehicles ranged from ambulances, police cars, to fire trucks. For almost every vehicle, there were people jumping in the front seat while surprising everyone by blasting the siren.
I quickly found myself in the front seat of an Aviation Fire Rescue vehicle with one of the firefighters, Dan.
He said that Aviation Fire Rescue is set up close to the airport and are ready to act at a moments notice in case of a fire emergency at the airport.
After that, I investigated the rows of stalls that were opposite the vehicle display. From ACT Policing, to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), there was a ton of people with different backgrounds to talk with.
Admittedly, the weather had started to take its toll. As airline planes took off from the ground only to vanish into the impossibly thick fog, I thought the Open Day had run its course.
But finally, after four hours of rotten rainfall, the Open Day saw sunshine.
After getting some lunch at a food stall, the event started to ramp up. Starting with the very truck I sat in just 45 minutes ago, hundreds of Canberran’s watched an impressive water display.
Soon after that, aerobatics pilots took to the air and showed off their skills in front of a giant crowd, in possibly the smallest aircraft I had ever seen.
To finish up the air displays, the RAAF Roulettes took to the skies and put on a show for final stretch of the Open Day.
As the Roulettes soared off into the distance, the event came to a well-earned close.
I joined the horde of satisfied Canberrans in making their way to one of the free transport zones outside, still gleeful from the last three hours.
For me, this was very unique experience. I recommend anyone with even a slight interest should keep their ears open for the next Canberra Airport Open Day, as I’ll definitely be there in 2026.