The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO

[defaid]

d j and I spent a couple of hours studying the last stage of the southern route. After staring at maps for a while, we both looked up and said "Screw that." The original route had again skirted all the interesting terrain in favour of unrestricted landing in case of a failure. In fact, looking at maps, it drew a good approximation of a huge DME arc around Australia's highest peak.

 

 

Thinking back, we realised that the previous leg had also very adroitly avoided everything that deviated from the horizontal, sneaking between Mt Gambier and the Grampians before taking the flat ground between Warrnambool and Geelong.

 

We weren't going to let that go.

 

***     ***     ***

 

We both felt cheated by the absence of interesting terrain. Calculation for the final southern stage told us we'd probably have fuel for a deviation totalling around 260 nm. It added a couple of extra hours which was fine but the marginal fuel situation was unappealing.

 

Further discussion, and knowing that this would be the last stage for d j, led to a modified plan. We both wanted something more challenging than a heading and a time.

 

"Day off?"

 

I nodded. "Let's be tourists."

 

The plan was laid.

 

Day trippers.

 

We wandered off to find some lunch. I was disappointed not to have had a meat pie floater while I was in Adelaide. The owner of the nearest greasy spoon to the airport offered me a bung fritz but I wasn't sure what he meant so we left. We looked it up later.

 

Bung fritz.

#YouCanHaveMine

 

***     ***     ***

 

28th January.

 

The following morning, the new race number is done so we take a taxi into town to pick it up. The smartarse printer has added a decimal point. We don't complain -- it matches the ever-increasing sortie stickers under my window.

 

A rather more aggressive race number.

 

By half past ten we're back in the Arrow and ready to do a little sightseeing. The weather has improved: fluffy white cumulus to break up the flat blue and a couple of degrees cooler with the wind blowing in over the bay.

 

Battery on and the sweet sound of the gyro spinning up. The day involves 60 miles to Eildon Weir VOR (the 100 m waterfall doesn't appear in FS9) then double that to Corryong NDB, then south of east and sneak into the mountains looking for the big one. We've planned a return along the south side of the hills. Terrain, for a change, requires up to 6000'.

 

Lumpy air at the cloud base.

What it looks like and what it feels like.

 

Eildon Weir VOR looks across to the 300 foot Snobs Creek Falls in the real world. Judging from photos it's not in a single fall but it does look like a nice spot. FS9 has a rather dull stream but at least the mesh is right.

 

FS9 on a recce and what Google showed.

 

Lake Eildon with a grillion campgrounds and marinas.

 

Terrain rises ahead so we do too, to 5500' and smooth air once we've cleared the edge of the cloud.

 

"Well, you've had your squint up the Snobs. It's time to climb."

d j's view of the north side of the Alpine National Park.

 

Yesterday, while we were deciding where to go, d j found reference to The Man from Snowy River. The statue at Corryong caught her imagination and it's enough to persuade us to stop there for lunch. The poem concerns a young chap, the only one of his band brave enough to take big risks for big wins. He became the prototypical national hero emerging from the dying days of British colonialism - a straight-up and courageous no-bullshit bush cowboy.

 

Being British, we'd obviously never heard of him.

 

Corryong town and airport are in the valley to the right and the NDB sits on the forested hill directly ahead. Wind 271@05 so probably a right downwind for runway 24. d j makes the call.

 

Corryong NDB on the hill ahead.

 

Gosh that happened in such a rush.

Then I realised, 2× sim rate...

 

The man and his horse, courtesy of Wikipedia

 

After lunch we have a short hop around the north end of a little hill, over the border into NSW, through a gap to Khancoban hydro electric reservoir and through another to a small grass strip that lies on a longer and probably more interesting way up Australia's highest, Mount Kosciuszko, than the iron road & chairlift from the south. The mountain's name has had a difficult time in getting itself applied to the right lump. Wikipedia says "The confusion was straightened out in...". Not over here, it wasn't.

 

The before start checklist says "Flightplan: review."

 

d j says "We're departing in the wrong direction. That Cessna did a left pattern over the town. You can make a climbing right turn and head back onto track between the airfield and the NDB.

 

"Flying outbound the NDB on 108° should take us north of the hill that's in front of us now, and through a gap to Khancoban. Hang a right over the reservoir and another saddle will spit us out right on final.

 

"Don't mess up-- it's in a deep hole."

 

Khancoban with transmission line wayleaves and Khancoban Pondage, the hydro-electric reservoir.

 

Over the saddle. That's YGHI right on the nose.

 

Time to slow down -- and drop all the flaps. And recheck the sim rate. It's a steep approach to a small field. Mount Kosciuszko is just behind the skyline and looks just the same.

 

Steep approach to a small field.

 

Backtracking.

Quite a hole.

 

After a very brief stroll, we make a rather claustrophobic departure from Geehi camp.

 

All I could see was high ground.

 

We've had Wagga Wagga's cavok for much of the northern half of the trip but Canberra's cloud adds spice for just a couple of miles either side of Geehi. 

 

We re-enter the Alpine National Park, immediately southwest of the Kosciuszko National Park. Forested hills up to 1800 m and sub-alpine habitat above that. I swear I can smell the air from this side of the monitor. When you're crossing the hills, it's very obvious why the B&H took the line it did. There's absolutely nowhere to let down.

 

Homeward bound.

 

RW time is getting late so we go back up to 6000' for the southern side of the Alpine NP and fly Livingstone radial 33 inbound. We skip Mount Hotham airport, which is just north of the VOR and miles from the mountain of the same name, and race back over the flattening and sinking ground following R-246 outbound until Melbourne comes up. Direct to ML 114.10 for a while then back to Moorabbin's NDB, to park up in time for drinks before dinner and the start of the final stage.

 

Lining up on 17L.

[Macroburst]

Nice trip defaid! 

Great choice

[taoftedal]

On 2/5/2024 at 6:26 PM, jgf said:

Leaving that Piper in the dust ...

 

Given my experience with the marque that's not saying too much ... but don"t tell my sponsor!  (respectable ... sure ... speed demons ... nope).  

[jgf]

That was my response to him taking off over me, lol.

[jgf]

On 2/7/2024 at 11:27 AM, Rupert said:

any landing you survive

 

Ah, you've witnessed my flights.

[PhrogPhlyer]

3 hours ago, jgf said:

Truly a beautiful aircraft.

 

 

And I loved watching the MSDF US-2s when stationed in Iwakuni Japan.

There was even a VOR approach to the water.

[MAD1]

Thanks defaid for the excursion, it sure made a nice change from the rather dull reports (not the reports per se, with great pics, but rather the route) over flat terrain. Yes, I now understand why the B&H route is as it is, had wondered why it went to some nondescript strips, all makes sense now. And apart from having numerous strips to land on if an emergency occurred, there is the factor of weather, nobody in a small GA aircraft wants to get caught heading up a valley and VFR conditions disappear with cloud rolling in. And to climb into and above it, still not VFR, no thanks! Looking forward to more defaid jaunts, and other flyers' excursions, and of course an amphibian excursion (if anyone knows anybody with such an aircraft - hint, hint).

[Melo965]

1 hour ago, MAD1 said:

and of course an amphibian excursion (if anyone knows anybody with such an aircraft - hint, hint).

 

I'm sure Kit has his engineering team hard at work getting Austral Rose airworthy again as quickly as possible.

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 hour ago, MAD1 said:

of course an amphibian excursion

Warming up the whirly-phibian.

[PhrogPhlyer]

In addition to an amphibian excursion (run up the pacific chain from Philippines to Japan?), I'm working on details for an All Sims Heli-fest 2024 in April or May (?) (Planning the route of the Simplon-Orient-Express route from Paris to Istanbul). So get start gathering your finest fling wings. More info as to come soon.

[MAD1]

The Chachapoya Chronicle. Culture and travel news. Friday 9 February 2024.

 

Australian Alps, Snowy Mountains, Mount Kosciuszko, Snowy Mountain Scheme, Snowy 2.0 2.0, snow fun.
 

Triggered by defaid's interesting excursion, here's your 'background briefing'.

 

The Australian Alps has Australia's highest mountain 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level.

Following World War 2 and as part of post-war employment and nation-building, inspired by USA projects e.g. the Hoover Dam, the government commissioned a very ambitious project, the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Instead of water from the alpine area being 'wasted' by flowing to the sea down the Snowy River, to divert it inland into the Murray River and the Murrumbidgee River (a tributary of the Murray) and thereby provide water for agriculture, resulting in the development of 'irrigation areas' e.g. the Snowy water feeds irrigation areas: Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (Griffith), Riverland Irrigation Area (Renmark): horticulture including grapes for wine. We enjoy good wines from these areas, some of the water producing it coming from the Snowy.

 

As part of the post-war immigration programme, whereby Australia invited many immigrants from mainly Europe including the war-devastated countries, the beginning of our 'multi-cultural' development ('populate or perish' was one Cold War slogan), many immigrants came to work on the Snowy Scheme, bringing their engineering skills with them, including both engineers and labourers who knew how to build tunnels and dams. This started to change Australia into a culturally richer and better place, and started the demise of the British-focussed culture.

 

Lauded as 'Australia's big battery' (yes, it can be added into the 'big thing' list), in recent years a major enhancement to the Snowy Scheme is to use it for 'pumped hydro'. (A lot of political hype, but not much progress so far.) All part of the renewable energy infrastructure transformation related to meeting the climate change 'net zero by 2050' etc. But oh-o, 'Florence' got stuck! The big tunnel boring machine got stuck, and is still stuck after over a year. Seems they might have it moving again.

 

Since before World War Two, alpine hikers and cross-country skiers ventured into the alps. The pioneers were Europeans e.g. Swiss, German, Austrian, who knew about such landscapes from their native lands. Slowly the alpine ski resorts, e.g. Thredbo, developed into the thriving industry it is today. Welcome to Australia's 'high country'. Not now in summer, but if you come back in winter, you could experience this. [Reporter's note: having watched 'this' a few times, the realisation is that exciting stuff is for young people, under 30 years old, as most of the gaggle are old guys, probably our bodies couldn't handle it. Rather, a more sedate cross-country, or a gentle downhill run, with apre-ski fun in the ski chalet bar afterwards, and perhaps a nice sauna, is probably more appropriate. Just watch the young folk I think.]

[jgf]

Well, while waiting for everyone to catch up (lol, my progress is solely due to being wonderfully, gloriously retired, and not having to deal with RW very often ....not that I ever did, my wife claimed i went from puberty to senility skipping all in between.... and thus have time for FS), I decided to explore what is beyond Cairns;  perhaps continue around the continent and return to Jandikot. 

 

So I looked west;  Darwin is roughly 1000 miles so need an intermediate point.  Borroloola it is.  (Hadn't planned on posting this.)

Leaving Cairns and heading west over the mountains.

 

 

About halfway there, this is all you see, no towns, airports, roads

 

Till you get to the ocean

 

Mornington Island, the only convenient stop before Borroloola.  The "airport" is about 15 miles south.

 

 

Essentially an Aboriginal and wildlife preserve, with excellent fishing, there are weekly flights from Cairns via Rex Airlines;  but no refueling capacity.

 

 

 

On to YRBL, Borroloola, barely visible in the background

 

Don't expect much, about 800 people live here

 

Hope that's fuel

 

635 miles in 3.5 hours, 35 gallons fuel remaining

 

Debating continuing (Darwin - Derby - Onslow - Jandikot), another 2400 miles.

 

[MAD1]

Interesting jgf (boy, you're a glutten for punishment!). Whilst up that way, you might like to check out the 'morning glory' cloud phenomenon. video. Oh, I see that it's the wrong time of year now.

[jgf]

Wow, that would be an interesting scenery creation (if possible).

 

 

[taoftedal]

On 2/3/2024 at 7:28 PM, MAD1 said:

Canberra. The national capital. Boring, a public-servant's town ...

 

... but MAD ... don't they have Canberra's there?  

 

 

 

[Melo965]

1 hour ago, taoftedal said:

don't they have Canberra's there?

 

I am tempted to go free flight for the eastern portion and fly a Canberra! 

 

[taoftedal]

14 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Planning the route of the Simplon-Orient-Express route from Paris to Istanbul

 

Nice ...

 

 

[Rupert]

1 hour ago, taoftedal said:

 

Nice ...

 

 

I agree!  I've "flown" at least a couple of those routes in the past.  I found the modeling of Munich, Zurich, and Innsbruck to be done very well done using P3D with ORBX addons.  They remind me hugely of what I saw there Real World.  Innsbruck in winter mode is breathtaking and very challenging for fixed wing low level flying. 

[Rupert]

Lets all pause for a moment to give our thanks to the four brave US Marines who recently lost their lives in a CH-53 crash.

 

RIP MARINES!!

[ScottishMike]

The say “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” and Defaid's trip looked like a lot of fun. Yet this was pure coincidence .

I received a phone call on my Australian phone. It was my old pal from The University Of New South Wales, Andrew Morgan.

“Am I interested! You can bet your bottom dollar.”
“You've managed to wangle me a place...Fantastic”.

“I have to be back in Melbourne today?!”
“I have enough fuel in the Mooney. I'll leave straight away. Don't let them leave without me.”

“I'll be there in an hour tops.”

I was in the air within five minutes cruising at 180 Kts.

How on earth had they kept such a venture secret? I radioed ahead for a taxi to be waiting at Moorabbin.

Parked and locked the Mooney and sprinted to the taxi.
He knew where the jetty was. “What's the hurry? Nothing much there Mate.”

How wrong was he.

There she was. Not powered up yet. I was in time to get onboard.

 

A dinghy ferried me on board.

The crew were busy testing the systems.

“How did you guys manage to keep this secret? It's one hell of a size of a secret.”

 

All OK! Testing flaps:

 

“It's a joint venture between the university Aerospace dept, the Melbourne tourist board and a private company. Tourist flights.” Andrew explained.

“Powering up.” came the call from the test engineers

“All OK, everyone strapped in. We're ready to go.” One click flaps some up trim.

 

“Where are we going?” not that I really cared. What a fabulous old machine.

“It's a test flight, up and around Mt Kosciuszko then down to Merimbula. The tourist people are doing research to see what itinerary will attract most paying tourist.”

We turned to do a tourist pass over Melbourne and head 60 degrees for the hills.

 

Heading for the hills the first hills:

 

Approaching the New South Wales border. This Short Solent 4 is no slouch, it can cruise happily at 8000' at 250-270 Kts. The handling is good too, although it does require anticipation as everything happens slowly, especially after getting used to the Mooney:

 

Climbing to 8100' to be sure we just pass above Mt. Kosciuszko (or as my ancient map spells it Koscius):

 

Approaching the mountain:

 

Now dead ahead:

 

Shaving the top, hope the tourists will be thrilled.

 

Turning for the Tasman Sea coast:

 

And leaving the roof of Australia behind:

 

On to 100 degree heading for Merimbula:

 

can descend a bit now:

 

at 6000' and the vegetation is much greener this side of the Great Dividing range:

 

Tasman Sea ahead:

 

Looking for the best splash down. In best FS9 tradition I've done no research on the harbour. Wind is 280 ish so will head to sea turn and head in on 280ish heading and landing:

 

Conditions are not ideal, it's the first rain I've encountered in almost a month.:

 

Squall has passed. Over the airport and splash down in the bay then taxi back to the airport:

 

Splash down!

 

This is as close to land as I dare go. I don't want to beach her or worse tear her bottom out on rocks, she might get crabs.

[Melo965]

On 1/29/2024 at 3:07 AM, Bossspecops said:

headed out to Warrnambool . . .

 

the ramp was right at the far end of the strip, so it took a while to get there.

 

Glad to finally be caught up to Kit.  My FSX default Warrnambool shows no taxiways or facilities at all, just two runways and a lonely fuel pump.

 

 

For now, I am going to fly legs first and write reports later so I can get to Bankstown sooner.

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

2 hours ago, Rupert said:

Lets all pause for a moment to give our thanks to the four brave US Marines who recently lost their lives in a CH-53 crash.

 

RIP MARINES!!

Amen brother.

 

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

CU: “Hi, everybody! I’m Claus Ullrich, for Elias Pacheco and the rest of the Radio Chachapoya team, and it’s time for our Daily Update for February 9th, 2024. The race is heating up, so let’s go right to the Leaderboard:

 

 

“Melo965 had a superb run to Warrnambool, setting a +1 to bring him back to a perfect CV after 10 legs completed. He’s still hanging onto the lead.

 

“ViperPilot2 also did just what he needed to, his +1 into Renmark now giving him a perfect CV. He’s in second place, 2 legs behind the leader.

 

“ScottishMike and defaid both have CV’s of -2, with Mike in third after 12 legs and defaid in fourth after 11, nipping at his heels like She Who Must Be Played With.

 

“The Bosss – now with a friend to keep him company – the PhrogPhlyers, and JSMR round out the field in fifth, sixth, and seventh, respectively, their positions and times not having changed since the last Update.

 

“While Melo and VP2 battled it out for the lead, this past day has been one for Free Flying. dj is not going to be able to participate in the rest of the Rally, so instead of completing a couple more legs, she and defaid decided to take their Arrow on a tour of the Snowy Mountains, ending up once again in Melbourne.

 

“ScottishMike flew back to Melbourne for an invitation to test-fly a just-restored Short Solent. He and his university friends took it up around Mount Kosciuszko, then over to Merimbula.

 

“By the way, Chachapoya Chronicle has a wonderful article on the Snowy Mountains in their latest edition. It’s worth catching whether you’re planning a flight to the area or simply want to understand the PIREPs a little better.

 

“jgf, meanwhile, decided Cairns was not enough, so he’s heading back to Jandakot by way of Darwin, to complete a full lap of Australia. The idea sounded just crazy enough to get us to do the same. Yesterday, we went from Sydney to Mackay and today, after a fuel stop in Cairns to complete the Eastern route, we’re heading west at 16,500’ and 210 knots over ground.

 

“And with that, let me conclude our Daily Update. I’m Claus Ullrich, for Eli, who’s flying today, and the rest of the Radio Chachapoya crew on the ground, signing off. Don’t spend too much time in the left seat, everybody – you don’t want to get Bung Fritz. Bye, bye ‘til tomorrow.”

[defaid]

5 hours ago, ScottishMike said:

she might get crabs.

 

Surely it could never happen to a lady like that?

[taoftedal]

Melbourne is a big place and as I kind of over-did-it in Adelaide I took it easy in ‘Batmania’ (no ... nothing to do with DC Comics) ... booked a hotel within walking distance (expensive digs - thank you Piper) and just kind of hung around the airport (hope I didn’t make a nuisance of myself).  When folks discovered I was part of the GAAG the questions never stopped ...

 

“Who’s leading?  What are they flying?  How does the scoring work?  That chopper bloke who came through and asked directions to the museum ... he in the race too?  Thanks for the Piper hats!  Need another Long Black?”  Good thing I had my laptop ...

 

 

YMMB>YTOC>YNAR>YPKS>YBTH>YSBK will be the pathway to Sydney/Bankstown.  After a final farewell to Moorabbin the PA-30 lifts off 35L into the northern sky and we settle in at 5,500 feet.  Again, I hand the controls over to Otto and settle back to enjoy the views.

 

 

Heading out of Melbourne the view is much the same as coming into Melbourne ... only in reverse and soon the landscape reminds me of the Midwest again.  Just before Tocumwal we say farewell to Victoria and enter New South Wales ... home to Sydney/Bankstown.

 

 

 

A few more hills here and there but the Nullarbor it is not.  At Parks we turn back to the east and Bathhurst is soon behind ... crossing the Blue Mountains we pull back the throttles about 15 minutes out and start a slow decent into Bankstown.

 

 

 

With the checklist complete and a ‘cleared to land’ the Piper touches down on 29C.  A memorable trip and fair taste of this great 'Land of Oz' ... now ... still plenty of time before the banquet ... what to explore ‘down under’ next ... 

 

 

 

(On a personal note I did bake a batch of Anzac Biscuits (really) this past week and they were better than advertised ... the recipe I used is attached below ... enjoy)!

 

Anzac Biscuits.pdf