The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO

[jgf]

1 hour ago, Bossspecops said:

How about other light colours? Would yellow or cream do as well?

 

Which colours did Beech like best?

 

There were about a half dozen factory paint schemes, all solid color aircraft with the side flash (actually a stylized bird), and sometimes leading edges, in a contrasting color.

Among them were yellow with green trim, cream with vermilion trim, red with white or black trim, and green with white or dark red trim.  For "an additional price" the customer could have any color(s) they wanted.

[ViperPilot2]

1 hour ago, jgf said:

 

There were about a half dozen factory paint schemes, all solid color aircraft with the side flash (actually a stylized bird), and sometimes leading edges, in a contrasting color.

Among them were yellow with green trim, cream with vermilion trim, red with white or black trim, and green with white or dark red trim.  For "an additional price" the customer could have any color(s) they wanted.

 

BITD they were known as 'Speed Lines'. One could say that the Paint jobs of that time were sort of Art Deco, judging by the various Color combinations they used. Howards, Stinsons and Fairchilds were similar in that regard. 

[Bossspecops]

I just got to Parafield too. 

[jgf]

25 minutes ago, ViperPilot2 said:

BITD they were known as 'Speed Lines'

 

Note the bird's beak at the right and the two upraised wings trailing back to form the lines.  Definitely Art Deco inspired.

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

EP: “Hello and welcome to the Daily Update for the 22nd of January, 2024. I’m Elias Pacheco for Radio Chachapoya, here in the cockpit again with Dr. Claudine Ullrich, who is flying. Let’s run down our Leaderboard for the start of our second week of racing:

 

 

“ViperPilot2 is still showing in the lead with a CV of 0 as of Caiguna.

 

“ScottishMike has spent a couple of days in Norseman having enlightening conversations with Native Australians. You can fly any time, mate. Moments like that come along once. When they do, listen. He is in second with a CV of 1.

 

“We have now learned what defaid has been doing in Forrest: He has been scouting and practicing. He has just completed a run to Parafield, which places him furthest along the course now. He is still in third place, with a CV of 2.

 

“Bossspecops has also reached Adelaide, and is tied with defaid with a CV of 2 after 7 legs completed. Austral Rose must be a happy camper; she got her feet wet in Port Augusta.

 

“The PhrogPhlyers are still showing in Caiguna, rounding out the field in fifth with a -3 CV. Their Bell 206 needed the help of the RNZAF to get it going. Captain Doovalacky may need the help of the RFDS to get him going, after a couple of days eating at the Road Kill. This morning’s breakfast special was wombat pancakes, but their blue plate special is off the menu now because a fumble-fingered busboy dropped and broke the blue plate yesterday. Perhaps it seems as if I’m disparaging the establishment, but last year Sal Monella’s Restaurant Guide took away one of their stars. They even managed to get Chipped Beef on Toast, that old military staple, wrong by adding staples. But, what can one expect from an eatery whose farmers’ market is the world’s longest stretch of straight road?

 

“And we are also in Adelaide. Claudine, why don’t you tell us about today’s run?”

 

CU: “Let’s start with yesterday’s, Eli. Before yesterday, I had only flown the M992 – you mentioned the name once on the air and the team loves it – once, and she scared the crap out of me. Yesterday, you taught me how to fly her.”

 

EP: “She does like more airspeed than you’re used to.”

 

CU: “And to be flown onto the runway instead of just flaring her and letting her settle.”

 

EP: “More like a warbird than a Warrior.”

 

CU: “For sure. She gets sloppy slow, but above 140 she stiffens up really nicely, and with 160 on the ASI, in the mid-teens to the low 20’s altitude, she rides even nicer than a King Air.”

 

EP: “You and your team should be proud.”

 

CU: “Thanks. Now… Today, I wanted to see how the racers were doing their timed routes. You told me how Thomas PenDragon told you that he did it for the Route 66.”

 

EP: “Take us through it.”

 

CU: “The most important thing you told me was that the race is run one leg at a time, and each leg is won or lost on the ground in planning, not in the air. The key is having a flight plan you can fly accurately.

 

“We used two websites this morning: www.skyvector.com and www.e6bx.com/e6b . I went to SkyVector first and entered YFRT – Forrest’s ICAO – in the search field at the top left of the page. Forrest has a weather station, so I checked the METAR. A fine, cloudless day. Just to the right of that is the Flight Plan option, so I clicked on that and entered YFRT in the Departure window and YCDU as my destination. In the large window below this, I could have started to enter en-route waypoints, but there were none to be found on the map. The distance given was 297.2 miles. I opted to fly this at 5,500’ – maybe a little low, but it shortened the climb and descent phases of the flight. I plugged the Flight Level – in this case, 055, into the Planner’s Alt window.

 

“Now, I’ve got a line on the map and a distance, but I need a critical piece of information: my true airspeed. And this begs the most critical question of the whole process: what is my Goldilocks airspeed? It’s not Max. Cruise; it’s not Econ. Cruise; it’s a speed I can fly at that will let me speed up a little if the headwinds are stronger than expected and slow down if I’ve got a better tailwind than forecast.

 

“Time for the E6B. I’m not taking my written now, so I don’t need to regurgitate the formula for calculating True Airspeed. I can just scroll down the E6B page until I find the True Air Speed Calculator and plug in the numbers. Here, we know the Pressure Altitude – 5,500’. The Saratoga likes 160 IAS – she’ll cruise at 170 with one hand tied behind her back, and can be flown comfortably down to 150 or below, so 160’s my Goldilocks. I plug this into the Ind. Air Speed slot. And you helped me with the last bit: the Outside Air Temperature.”

 

EP: “Since I’ve been flying here, there seems to be a thermal inversion everywhere I’ve flown. The temperature on the ground has been 13°C every single time I’ve started up, no matter where I’ve been, but at 5,500’ it’s been around 20°C. So I suggested you use 20°C, which you did…”

 

CU: “...which gave me a True Airspeed of 179. I rounded this up to 180 knots, which I plugged into the Spd slot of SkyVector’s planner. SkyVector calculates the current winds into the plan; I didn’t have to. So, we were looking at a 1 hour, 39 minute flight. I pressed the Navlog button at the lower right-hand side of the Flight Plan window to generate a .pdf with the forecast winds and everything.

 

“The rest was just flying the plan. The Takeoff-Climb phase was given an ETE of 4 minutes, so I got us up to 5,500’ in about 4 and a half. For the bulk of the flight, I used the panel-mounted Garmin 500 to verify my groundspeed.”

 

EP: “Tom told me that he used his DME, but because there are no usable VOR’s listed between Forrest and Ceduna, you had to rely on the GPS.”

 

CU: “Forrest and Ceduna both have NDB’s, but they’re not very helpful when judging groundspeed. I guess someone trying to fly by hand could keep a handheld GPS on the right seat and check it every half-hour or so and fly NDB to NDB. Like Tom told you, I tried to keep the groundspeed a couple of knots faster than the plan’s groundspeed, since I might have to hunt for the airport.

 

“I waited a little too long to start my descent, and the Saratoga refuses to be pushed down. I had to do a 360 to burn off the last 1,500’, but I was wheels-down at…

 

EP: “1:39 exact. Had you been timing, you would have scored a 0. Beginner’s luck. Then what happened?”

 

CU: “I didn’t restart the Flight Timer after I reset it, and we only noticed when we were halfway to Port Augusta already. So we free-flew the rest of the way to Parafield.”

 

EP: “And what do you think?”

 

CU: “Doing the timing is definitely a challenge. It’s not easy, but hitting that zero sure felt good. Still, to me, just flying around and writing about it’s more, ‘me,’ than doing the timing. If I want a challenge, I’ll focus on mastering the M992. Which I’ll do.”

 

EP: “You brought another one?”

 

CU: “Noooo… I think I’ll be flying with you for the rest of the Gaggle.”

 

EP: “Oh. Well, in that case, why don’t you do the sign-off?”

 

CU: “This concludes our Daily Update. I’m Claudine Ullrich, for Piper’s Performance Planes and Radio Chachapoya, signing off. Say good night, Gracie.”

 

EP: “Good night, Gracie.”

[Melo965]

Last night I got directions from the tower and made the long taxi over to the big parking area by two large nondescript buildings.  I discovered to my delight that I had taxiied over to the military side of the joint use airport.

 

RAAF Base Curtin is a joint use military air base and civil airport located on the north coast of Western Australia.  

 

Curtin is one of 3 RAAF bare bases that form an arc across the north of Australia, the others being Scherger on Cape York and Learmonth on the North West Cape peninsular of Western Australia. Although, during peacetime, Curtin is maintained by a small caretaker staff permanently stationed there, the base is activated for Defence Force exercises and operations by units deploying to the base from other parts of Australia.

 

The caretaker staff at the base were very happy to see me and hosted a delicious, spur of the moment dinner in my honor.  They were very interested to see this Canadian Chipmunk that might soon be replacing their squat sturdy Winjeels.

 

During our meal the staff were eager to share their recent accomplishments.  Oliver proudly rattled off this list while he was serving me dessert:

 

"Curtin has been activated a number of times for large-scale exercises, including Kangaroo ’89 and ‘92 as well as Pitch Black ’91, a major air defence exercise. The base, which normally had a caretaker staff of 4, was able to expand to a fully functioning air base and headquarters with about 800 military personnel and fighter, strike and transport aircraft. Similarly, in 2016 No. 382 Combat Response Squadron outdid itself when within 48 hours it turned RAAF Base Curtin into a fully functioning airfield ready to support flying operations for Exercise Northern Shield 2016."

 

After a very enjoyable stay overnight, I am ready to continue my journey south in the morning.

 

Parked at Curtin ready to start the engine.

 

That Kenmore Air aircraft is a long way from home.  They usually are based in the Seattle area in the USA.

 

Leaving Curtin behind.  Now that big spread out layout makes more sense.

 

Flying through more driving rain on this leg.

 

Also dodging clouds along the way.

 

Runway at Telfer (YTEF) in sight.

 

Landed safely after 2 hours and 7 minutes flight time.

 

Taxiied over to parking.  Just me and the fuel pump.

 

Unlike Kit, I have no where close by to go to.  Since it is still raining, just sat here with the canopy closed and enjoyed the sack meal that the Curtin Mates generously provided this morning before takeoff.

Next leg in the morning is a relatively short hop to Newman (YNWN), followed by a longer flight to Meekatharra (YMEK).

 

[MAD1]

The Chachapoya Chronicle. Weather, travel and culture news. By your Aussie Correspondent.

 

Cyclone Watch. Tropical low 05U (it hasn't been declared as a cyclone officially yet by the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), when they do, it'll be given a person's name. See the likely track. Flyers might have to slow their progression towards and into QLD for a day or more until it passes into western QLD, then they should be able to skirt it up the east coast. So take the weight off, have a few days holiday somewhere, e.g. Sydney, Gold Coast (Coolangatta Airport is 5 minutes walk from the beach, but likely to be overcast and rainy.), so better to stay way south.

 

Australia Day. Friday 26 January. Australia's national holiday (all shops are open, only two days in the year, Good Friday and Christmas day all shops are shut, by law.) The date 26 Jan, is the date the First Fleet anchored in Sydney Cove in 1788 with the first group of settlers (convicts), Captain Cook having sailed into nearby Botany Bay in 1770. (Interestingly, the concept to send prisoners to the other side of the planet to Australia, in today's terms like setting up a settlement on the Moon, or probably more accurately Mars, was partly because of the loss to Britain of the American colonies, where they could send them previously. They had to find another place.)

 

A lovely, formal ceremony takes place in Canberra, broadcast live on the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) television (which is the government-funded national broadcaster). It's also streamed. (Last year's, 2023. Your correspondent will post the 2024 ceremony once it's on YouTube.)

 

So if you can watch it, live or recorded, you'll enjoy it. The Prime Minister gives citizenship documents to a handful of 'new Australians'. Similar ceremonies are held throughout the country in many cities and small towns.

 

The Canberra event includes military stuff, including a showing by RAAF fixed-wing and rotary aircraft.

 

So wherever you are, pause and join the locals in celebration. (For our First Australians, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, it's also known as 'Invasion Day' or 'Sorry Day'. That's another but related story. Your correspondent has an article about our first peoples in the pipeline. It's an ancient culture, the 'longest continuously living culture on the planet', up to 60,000 years. Yes, that's right, not 6,000 but 60,000.)

 

A traditional celebratory environment is family and friends gather in homes, parks, the beach and 'throw another shrimp on the barbie' (no! not that one! we won't go there please, politically incorrect!)

[Bossspecops]

I've noticed rather an odd effect over the last few legs of the Rally.

 

When I reach the top of my climb, so far it's always been to 5000 ft as there haven't been any mountains en route yet, I calculate the time to my destination and adjust my throttle settings accordingly, taking account of the current weather where possible. But the nearer I get to my destination the further behind schedule I get, only by a few minutes, but enough to throw out my timing. I've tried to compensate by speeding up during the descent, but there's never enough time or distance to sort it out properly, and it feels dangerous diving the Sealand at 200 kts! 

 

This didn't happen during my first two legs as I was gathering performance data then, but it's been notable lately.

 

Of course my response to this will be to over-estimate my flight time to get my V nearer to 0, but I'm not quite sure that's the way to do it properly. 

[PhrogPhlyer]

19 hours ago, jgf said:

most aircraft today are white for easier maintenance

White has another benefit as being the easiest for other aircraft to see it when airborne.

 

Another tidbit I found interesting is that once the airlines stopped in-flight smoking, the mechanics complained that they didn't get the "tar" streaks around loosening skin rivets. Making full inspections more difficult.

[TomPenDragon]

1 hour ago, Bossspecops said:

Of course my response to this will be to over-estimate my flight time to get my V nearer to 0, but I'm not quite sure that's the way to do it properly. 

Actually, I'd suggest that it is.  I've thought of several possible explanations, like unexpected winds, a miscalibrated ASI, Microsoft calculating miles differently this far south, etc., but the answers all boil down to one thing: you need to plan for the aircraft you have, not the one "the book" describes.  If the plan needs a little more time to reflect what your plane can actually do, throw in a little more time (this also applies to project management).

[PhrogPhlyer]

43 minutes ago, TomPenDragon said:

you need to plan for the aircraft you have, not the one "the book" describes

Many real world aviators make this same miscalculation. 

[Melo965]

4 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

But the nearer I get to my destination the further behind schedule I get, only by a few minutes, but enough to throw out my timing.

 

Maybe the last few legs have had more of a quartering headwind.  Pushing from an angle on the floats and causing more drag.  It is too bad that the floats can't be retracted like in the PBY Catalina.

 

[defaid]

3 hours ago, TomPenDragon said:

Actually, I'd suggest that it is.  I've thought of several possible explanations, like unexpected winds, a miscalibrated ASI, Microsoft calculating miles differently this far south, etc., but the answers all boil down to one thing: you need to plan for the aircraft you have, not the one "the book" describes.  If the plan needs a little more time to reflect what your plane can actually do, throw in a little more time (this also applies to project management).

 

Fully agree, hence hanging around Forrest. If you know how your particular a/c handles compared with the standard then you can factor in a correction to your plan. Loitering when you arrive early is ungentlemanly but, for me at least, getting your plan right before setting out is what these challenges are about.

[defaid]

12 hours ago, MAD1 said:

Australia Day. Friday 26 January.

 

I've lost track of who is using which sim but if you're at Parafield (or Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne or Perth) in FS9 between 8 and 9 pm local on the 26th, try this.

 

Sim time I guess though possibly system time.

 

 

[Bossspecops]

4 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

 

White has another benefit as being the easiest for other aircraft to see it when airborne.

 

 

Rather oddly, current RAF training aircraft are painted BLACK for exactly that reason. 

[jgf]

4 hours ago, TomPenDragon said:

you need to plan for the aircraft you have, not the one "the book" describes

 

That was my problem in the last rally - the expectations of my 75 yr old Bonanza were a bit optimistic for the entire route. 

[Lonesome Cowboy Burt]

19 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

 

Rather oddly, current RAF training aircraft are painted BLACK for exactly that reason. 

Yea I can say from experience that looking down against a typical UK Patchwork of farmers fields then White is great to pick out but scanning around in the sky, its not . Thats where Black stands out more and I think that's why the RAF Fighter trainers use it to try avoid mid airs during ACM training

 

 

Oh yea and white is great colour for alleviating solar heating which is why its a favourite for Composite construction aircraft, almost ubiquitous  on composite gliders for that reason

 

[jgf]

18 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

 

Rather oddly, current RAF training aircraft are painted BLACK for exactly that reason. 

 

Probably depends on where the aircraft normally fly.  I'm surprised all trainers aren't bright orange, that is the color most easily discerned by eye;  but that seems reserved for special purpose aircraft.

 

But for maintenance military is a different matter, all air forces can afford a platoon of mechanics to swarm over an aircraft after every landing.  A luxury not available to most private, or even commercial, owners.

[Melo965]

1 hour ago, jgf said:

I'm surprised all trainers aren't bright orange, that is the color most easily discerned by eye

 

You mean like this:

[Melo965]

Have some company this morning.  Starting engine at Telfer(YTEF).

 

Weather looks rough on this leg.

But it turned out to be no factor, less rain than previous legs after all.

 

Climbing out and on course.

 

Rain and light turbulence on this leg.

 

Flying over Opthalmia Dam.  Getting close to the airport.

The Dam is a spectacular oasis, formed when a branch of the Fortescue River was dammed in 1981.
The dam is a great picnic spot and very popular for kayaking and canoeing.
Please note that swimming is NOT allowed at Ophthalmia Dam.

 

Runway in sight ahead.

 

Cockpit view of the runway ahead.

 

FULL flaps, landing light ON, and Canopy OPEN.

 

Landed Safely.

 

Just me and the fuel pump again.

 

This Chippie is easy to fly, but I have to be careful after touch down.  My rudder pedal brakes are sensitive, and I don't want to tip over and bend the prop.  Had a moment where the tail started to rise and I just released the toe brakes and let it gently settle back down again.

 

Next stop Meekatharra (YMEK).

 

[MAD1]

Defaid's post:  FS2004 Scenery--Australia Day Fireworks

MAD1: neat feature Defaid. RW there will be big fireworks in all capital cities.

RW weather watch. Cyclone 'Kirillly' best guess at track, sat pic http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/satellite/. As a low pressure system in the Southern Hemisphere rotates clockwise (anti-clockwise in the Northern), we can see in the sat pic the large amount of cloud that is packing much water that will be dumped over SE QLD in coming days, including in the North Coast (aka Northern Rivers) of NSW. For this part of QLD/NSW, this is the concern, not cyclone winds but flooding. For Gagglers using RW weather, not good flying weather. So, first we get the heavy rain, then once it tracks inland to western QLD, then slowly arcs around to the south-east, and exits the coast into the South Pacific Ocean (Tasman Sea) the rain continues. A system that 'just keeps on giving'!

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

EP: “Hello and welcome to the Daily Update for the 23rd of January, 2024. I’m Elias Pacheco for Radio Chachapoya, with Claudine Ullrich, who is again flying. This is taking me back to, well, around when I started flying. I had just bought an MGB, and I made the mistake of letting my girlfriend at the time drive it. I never saw the driver’s seat again. Then she took off, and I never saw my MGB again.”

 

CU: “I’d never do that to you, Eli. Hello, listeners! I’m Claudine Ullrich, once again in the left seat of Sara – the M992. This morning, I read the Chachapoya Chronicle’s report on the tropical depression off of the northeast coast of the continent and wanted to fly over there and investigate it.”

 

EP: “I suggested we follow the 1976 racecourse so that you could see the rest of it. I haven’t flown the Eastern route at all, so this will be a way for the both of us to get to know it. And how’s the flying so far?”

 

CU: “We’re kicking along at 11,500’ and 168 knots, with a manifold pressure of 25”, 2241 RPM’s on the tach, and burning 16 gallons an hour. For our first couple of hours, we had a tailwind that was pushing our groundspeed over 250. That was fun. Passing Warrnambool, the air has become rather unsettled.”

 

EP: “I’ll say. We’ve both got both shoulder belts pulled tight.”

 

CU: “That had nothing to do with the flick roll you talked me into and talked me through coming out of Adelaide.”

 

EP: “Flick roll? What flick roll? That surely couldn’t have been us. We’re responsible aviators, after all. It must’ve been another Mexican-registered Saratoga in brown ‘70’s striping, that just happened to be in Australia at the same time as us.”

 

CU: “With a very similar registration number, too. Let’s go to the Leaderboard...”

 

EP: “...Before we get ourselves into trouble:”

 

 

CU: “ViperPilot retains his accumulated Variance lead with 0, showing at Caiguna.”

 

EP: “We left defaid and Bossspecops in Adelaide this morning, both with CV’s of 2, in second and third respectively.”

 

CU: “Dirk Doovalacky is in phourth for the PhrogPhlyers, with a variance of -3 after 3 legs.”

 

EP: “ScottishMike has advanced to Forrest. His +1 to Caiguna and +7 to Forrest has dropped him into fifth position with a CV of 9.”

 

CU: “And Melo965 has made it to Newman, YNWN.”

 

EP: “And we have made it to Brisbane, with a beautiful, unassisted landing from our good Doctor.”

 

CU: “I’m starting to get a feel for the Saratoga, although with such a long runway, anyone would have been able to.”

 

EP: “Don’t sell yourself short. You handled the wake turbulence from that 737 that Air Traffic Control brought in right on top of us with no problem at all, and still greased her right onto the piano keys. I doubt I could’ve done better. I’m relieved to hear you say you’d never take this plane from me.”

 

CU: “When I said I’d never do that to you, I meant I’d never be your girlfriend. You’re not getting this plane back."

 

EP: “And on that not, we are Claudine Ullrich, and the now-planeless Elias Pacheco, for Radio Chachapoya, bringing this Daily Update to a close with a warning: Do not leave your ignition keys anywhere near this woman.”

 

CU: “Bye bye.”

[Bossspecops]

Hmmm, I rather over did the 'creative estimating' on the leg I flew today, from Adelaide to Renmark, and I was EIGHT minutes early! 

 

Oddly I had a head wind almost all the way too, but only a light one. Full flight report in the morning.

[Bossspecops]

Flying over to Renmark from Parafield looked to be a short hop compared to the earlier legs, and so it proved, being only some 110 miles. My estimate of the flight time was 50 mins, after y'day's chat about whether over-estimating was viable or not, and that seemed quite possible looking at the winds, which were almost dead on the nose the whole route. 

 

Parafield is a BIG place compared to some of the other strips I'd flown through during the week, but then so is Adelaide, it's the fifth most populated city in the country. I was parked up amongst a whole bunch of smaller GA stuff overnight, and spent some time in the morning giving guided tours of the Sealand to loads of interested fliers and ground crew.

 

 

The standard approach was 'Gday mate, that's a neat aircraft you've got there, I've never seen one like it, can I take a look?'  Needless to say I was only too pleased to show them around almost without fail they said it was a pity that more Sealands hadn't been built.

 

 

I was on the way to the threshold by around 1015 and was soon climbing away to the east over by far the largest hill I'd seen since leaving Perth, which was apparently called Mount Crawford. It was so high, and the Sealand's climb rate so slow that I was a bit worried about clearing the summit. And maybe so were the people who owned the houses up there too!  I cleared it by maybe 150 ft, but not much more......

 

 

The best thing to see on this leg was the large increase in the vegetation, there were trees everywhere, but this is the most irrigated part of the country, thanks to the Murray River, which flows right through these parts, as I was to see later on in the flight.

 

 

This was my first encounter with the Murray, it's stretching away to my right heading toward its mouth down to the south. It's a hefty piece of water, being some 1500 miles long from its source way over to the east forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria. I live right next to the longest river in the UK, the Severn, and I'm prone to go on a bit about how big it is, but the Murray makes the Severn look like a tiny stream as the Severn is only 220 miles long! It is a mile wide near my house though, and it has the 2nd highest tide rise and fall in the WORLD! 

 

 

At the time I didn't know anything about the Murray, and just thought there were a lot of rivers in these parts, but I didn't realise it was the SAME river, which just looped over to the north and then headed back south behind my flight path. That's it again right in front of me, and that big lake looked SO tempting........... 

 

 

My descent started directly over that lake and I should have been OK for a direct run in to the runway at Renmark, and so it proved as I was directly in line on finals, which was rather pleasing.

 

 

Just for once I made a reasonable job of the landing, almost on the centre line and not far of the numbers either. But the Sealand is much more of a handful at low air speeds than the Lysander was, but then it lacks the slats and massive flaps of the WWII era aircraft.

 

 

Renmark Aerodrome, like many Australian fields, has its ramp area right at one end of the 6000 ft runway, so it took a while for me to get there. I should have aimed further up the runway for my touchdown, it would have saved time.  There's a nice looking club house here, and I could park right alongside, very handy.

 

 

As it was, even with a head wind, I WAY overestimated my time on this occasion, and I was 8 minutes early, not too good really, but it will have improved my aggregate time I guess. I've got to get better at this somehow.

[ScottishMike]

I was up early and breakfasted. I walked to the airfield. I had made the decision; if the Prof and Willie were not at the field by 10:00 I was leaving without them.

Fuelled and all checks completed I re read my notes. Caiguna next stop then Forrest. If my passengers arrived and had no objections I intended over-flying YCAG and heading straight for YFRT. I also wanted to know what they were up to. I had agreed to let them come as they seemed very keen and offered to defray expenses. Nothing had been said about any search or whatever it was they were up to.

71 degree heading for 226 nm. to Caiguna. At my cruising speed 140kts 1hr 37mins plus 4 mins to get to 3000' cruise Total time 1 hr 41 mins. Then YCAG to YFRT heading 94 degrees for190 nm.

1Hr 21 mins +4mins= 1 hr. 25 mins. 80% fuel would be plenty for both legs.

9:30 and no sign of my “guests”.

Surprisingly Noresman had a weather station. I studied the report:

Unusually less wind at 4,800 ft. than 2,400 ft. However I had agreed to cruise at 3000 ft., the passengers had originally asked to be close to the ground to “admire” the landscape.

9:48 and a car dropped of two figures by the apron. Willie and Platypus trudged over with their bags.

“You guys mind if we overfly Caiguna on our way to Forrest?”

“What if we see something we want to explore before Caiguna?” Willie replied.

I addressed the Prof.: “What are you looking for? If you tell me I can help you find it.”

It was annoying and possibly dangerous to have them up to something I knew nothing about.

Willie stood his ground, he reminded me of the roots of a mangrove at low tide, twisted, strong and impenetrable. Not what you would expect of an assistant to a professor.

“Tell you what.” the Wombat interjected: “You fly this buzz box, if we see something of interest before Caiguna, we land there and we do what we have to. If not we can fly on without landing.”

“OK” I agreed .

I stowed all the luggage, did a final outside check, removed the chocks and stowed them.

“The Professor and I will travel in the back.” Willie Wombat announced.

“As you wish. By the way, searching for something from the air is quite a science. There are several recognised search patterns. The chance of finding something flying in a straight line is almost nil.”

“Just shut up and fly.” was Willies reply.

I powered up and taxied to the longest best stretch of scrub. Noreseman, strange place, meteorological station but no runways.

Power up:

 

Take-off and a somewhat messy turn to 71 degrees for Caiguna:

 

The landscape interesting at first, somewhat boring after the first twenty minutes, scrub:

 

and more scrub, now with haze:

 

Following the highway flanked by scrub and haze on the horizon:

 

Not a peep out of my passangers so no landing at YCAG required. I felt a little guilty after all the effort DEFAID had put in to make the deserted place more welcoming. Sorry!

Dipping down to overfly Caiguna 11:30 1 minute late:

 

And changing heading to 57 for YFRT Forrest:

 

A rather uneventful flight (just the way I like them.) Forrest ahead:

 

Taxied to the hangers. Touch down 13:02 7 minutes late. Is that Viper2's helicopter hiding in the hanger?