The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO

[Melo965]

Parked at Tocumwal now.

 

Making good progress.

 

[Melo965]

4 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

I have just the one you'd need for that too Melo. 

 

Kit, my brain is worn out from flying all day and doing the requisite maths for the flights.

The light bulb finally just lit up.

 

I have Bill Holker's Canberra PR9 and your repaint now.  Is that what you were referring to? 

   

[ViperPilot2]

8 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

I'd bet we all have a story like this one There is something almost unreal about "touching" history.

 

At the old Stapleton Airport I saw an F-14 and NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) with OV-101 take off from Runway 08. Not at the same time, of course. The Tomcat was in 1985, and the SCA a few years earlier. I got to touch OV-101 in 2013 at the Intrepid Air and Space Museum.

 

[jgf]

transporting the Enterprise -

[jgf]

The insanity continues, as I depart Darwin ...in a crosswind, of course

 

Soon I am again over the ocean, for another hundred miles

 

And back over land, the nearest "airport" is the Forest River Mission Airport, YFRV, forty miles south at the poor little community of Oombulgurri (a sad history - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oombulgurri_Community,_Western_Australia) ;  suitable only for light aircraft, and if it has any fuel you'll probably have to pump it from barrels.

 

 

Halfway now, and this is the view in any direction

 

150 miles to go, at least a little change in the scenery

 

Twenty miles out, signs of civilization

 

And there is Derby, YDBY;  pop 3300, Derby was  the terminus of the first scheduled aviation service in Australia, West Australian Airways Ltd. Their service began with their first flight on 5 December 1921, which crashed, near Geraldton. At one time the Perth to Derby service was the world's longest passenger airline route.

 

 

I'm getting too much experience with crosswinds

 

 

But the fuel stand was easily found here

 

597 miles in 2hr 55min.  A rest here then off to Onslow, allegedly 630 miles away (but Port Hedland is roughly halfway along the route).

 

[Bossspecops]

15 hours ago, Melo965 said:

 

Kit, my brain is worn out from flying all day and doing the requisite maths for the flights.

The light bulb finally just lit up.

 

I have Bill Holker's Canberra PR9 and your repaint now.  Is that what you were referring to? 

   

 

That's the one Melo, and I've got a tweaked .cfg file that really will get her to 60000 ft. But that maybe the same one that you have already of course if you have it with the Albion SpecOps repaint as 'Marham Rose'? I did the repaint and the .cfg mod at the same time.

 

Got my joystick back today, and it's working a treat. 

 

I'll be back airborne later today. 

[Bossspecops]

18 hours ago, jgf said:

 

Oddly, they were designed as nuclear bombers, though I can find no reference to any of them ever dropping any type of bomb.

 

I have THE book on the Seamaster by Piet & Raithel and they mention mine drop trials, but not bombing tests. Lots of pics in there with bombs loaded on the removable bomb bay doors though. 

[taoftedal]

8 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

Got my joystick back today, and it's working ... I'll be back airborne later today.

 

That's great news!  You've been missed ... 

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

EP: “Hello and welcome to our Daily Update for the 11th of February, 2024. I’m Elias Pacheco, for Claus Ullrich in the left seat and the Radio Chachapoya team. There’s been movement on the Leaderboard:

 

 

“Melo965 set a -3 to Mangalore, which put ViperPilot2 into the lead and dropped him down into fourth. He then made the run to Tocumwal and scored a +3, which restored his perfect CV and his lead of the race. Brilliant stuff, Melo!

 

“ViperPilot2 set a -1 to Naracoorte, which tarnishes his perfect CV but still leaves him in second place.

 

“ScottishMike’s -2 CV at Mangalore has him in third, while defaid is even with him on CV and is only 1 leg behind, in fourth. defaid is planning an aggressive run to the end of the 1976 Australian Air Rally, though. Let’s see how he fares alone in the cockpit, without dj as navigator. Let’s hope he does better than the Kansas City Chiefs would do without Travis Kelce – should he leave, the Chiefs’ newfound popularity would Swiftly vanish as well.

 

“Bossspecops remains in Warrnambool, in fifth with a -5. He’s hopeful, however, that his ailing aircraft will be fixed in time for him to finish the 1976 at least.

 

“The PhrogPhlyers are currently in sixth place in the 1976 with a +7, and in first place in the Eastern with a -20, having completed both courses. What’ll you do for an encore, PhrogPhlyers?

 

“And JSMR currently rounds out the 1976 field with a +7 in Renmark.

 

“In the Free Flying arena, jgf has been brushing up on his crosswind techniques in his Staggerwing. You know, I’ve flown the Staggerwing, and we’re right behind him in the Saratoga, so we’ve been dealing with the same crosswinds. I admire his skill at keeping the aircraft on the runway, and do not envy the challenge of demonstrating that skill in that particular plane. He’s made it to Derby. We overnighted in Darwin after a zero-zero instrument landing in a monsoon yesterday that was made even more difficult by the fact that the ILS for 29 was about a hundred feet to the left of the runway. Those VOZ developers certainly have an odd sense of humour.

 

“As we end our fourth week of racing in this great southern land, what do we have to look forward to? The race is still anybody’s to win. The PhrogPhlyers’ 7 could stand, but is beatable. Melo and his mighty ‘Munk have proven capable of setting perfect times, having done so for five legs already – and when they do vary from their plan, they’ve shown an uncanny ability to erase the variance on the very next leg. ViperPilot2 is only a minute behind him, though, and is at the halfway point, leg-wise. He has complained of fatigue flying the longer legs, so the second half of the course, with its quick hops, might suit him well. I’d expect some very competitive running from him from here on to the finish of the ‘76.

 

“But a minute behind VP2 are ScottishMike and defaid, both with -2. There’s no way to sugarcoat this: Mike’s individual timings have consistently been wider of the mark than the other racers. Despite this, he is in third, two minutes shy of perfect, which is a testament to his ability to mount a recovery flight. I’m looking forward to surprises from him up until the very end. I’m not looking forward to the coronary those surprises are going to cause me as I call his final runs.

 

“defaid, as I mentioned, will be without his navigator for the quick sectors between Melbourne and Sydney. As we’ve seen since the Bendix, he’s a really good pilot in his own right, and the Arrow’s a great aircraft for this part of the course. Given his plan to finish, he has his work cut out for him – let me remind our listeners that, the way the rules are written, the first team to reach Bankstown with a CV of 0 wins. Two lousy minutes, mate!

 

“The Sealand’s mechanical troubles and its time on the ground in Warrnambool have caused us to overlook it and only briefly mention it during the Updates. The last report that Timing and Scoring has from him was on the 27th of January. It’s easy to forget that he’s only 5 minutes off of the lead and 3 minutes out of fourth. His poorest run was a -8; the rest show that he’s perfectly capable of setting whatever time he wants. If anyone has any doubt about that, let me just remind you of his exploits piloting the Lysander during the Route 66.

 

“JSMR has more of the course left to run than anyone else, and a great aircraft in the Centurion to run it in. I suspect that he’s just getting her dialed in, too, planning-and-performance-wise. That +7’s going to be coming down, methinks. How far is anyone’s guess, and six other teams’ fear.

 

“Four weeks in. It seems like yesterday that Tom PenDragon floated the idea of me coming down and providing radio coverage of the Great Australian Air Gaggle. Seems like a lifetime ago, at the same time. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed covering this race for you so far, and I believe the race is just getting started. We have 18 days to go. This is going to be fun!

 

“And with that, I’ll bring today’s Update to a close. I’m Elias Pacheco, for Claus Ullrich and the Radio Chachapoya team, signing off with a reminder: If the excitement of this air race overwhelms you today, there’s another little sporting event being played today. While it might not receive the hype or have the audience of the Great Australian Air Gaggle, it still might be worth watching, if you can catch it – there are a handful of broadcasters covering it, I hear. Support it, and this, ‘Football,’ thing might eventually grow to be something, notwithstanding the fact that Roger Goodell and the United States Supreme Court, circa 2018, should’ve watched, ‘The Last Boy Scout,’ again before deciding to allow organized gambling to invade the sport. So, have a great flying day if you’re going up today, and enjoy the game whether you fly or not, in the company of your favorite people, your favorite snacks, and your favorite, ‘adult diversion’ – some people prefer this in its liquid form; I’m going to be kicking back with a super bowl. Have fun, folks!

 

“Breaking news, and good news it is! Just as I was shutting down the broadcast equipment, I got a note from Bosss that the Sealand’s control issues have been sorted and Austral Rose will be back on the course Shortly.”

[TomPenDragon]

19 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

I'd bet we all have a story like this one There is something almost unreal about "touching" history.

Mine was on my last-ever real-world flight in the left seat. It was also my first time in a Cessna Skyhawk. A sales rep from my branch was married to a CFI, and they invited my wife and me to go up one weekend. We flew from Dallas Addison to Fort Worth. My favorite aircraft of all time is the B-58 Hustler. There happened to be one, in mothballs, on the ramp at KFTW. I taxied us right up to it. That was a really special day.

[PhrogPhlyer]

2 hours ago, TomPenDragon said:

“Breaking news, and good news it is! Just as I was shutting down the broadcast equipment, I got a note from Bosss that the Sealand’s control issues have been sorted and Austral Rose will be back on the course Shortly.”

Great news!

[defaid]

I should clarify that I meant the fourth stage would be d j's last. I'll be without her from Sydney onward.

 

The maps for the fourth stage show the terrain rising to between 3000 - 5000 feet so we're a little higher than we were for the rest of the challenge.

 

Makes a change from being drunk.

 

Where we went.

 

Smallfry is an easy plane to fly but, looking at some of the other contestants' times, I wish again that we'd brought the Mosquito. I'll be doing the east coast run solo hence the change of method described below. I expect it to take around nine hours and who knows yet how many fuel stops.

 

We adopted a slightly different approach to the timing this time. Hitherto I'd set the throttle and left it fixed so that each leg of each stage was planned at a slightly faster IAS. This time I made constant throttle adjustments in order to maintain the same IAS throughout the flight.

 

It worked well, adding a minor task to the cruise but much simplifying the planning & timing. Our overall result for the entire fourth stage was 24 seconds late.

 

No prizes for guessing who has a warehouse at the end of Bankstown's 11R.

 

* * *      * * *

 

We leave Melbourne at 0002z, two minutes past our intended departure time.

 

Off the ground at Moorabbin at 0004Z

 

We're back to a world of two halves, all blue and gold, though as we progress generally eastward, the gold becomes increasingly green.

 

The horizon a knifecut.

 

Mangalore and Tocumwal go by without much disturbing us and, at 5000 feet, we probably didn't disturb them either.

 

 

 

YMNG, YTOC and YNAR

 

Somewhere between Narrandera and Parkes, as we cross a pond NE of West Wyalong, the south east horizon creases and we know we're coming to the last stretch of the stage.

 

Over Parkes, eyeing the creased horizon.

 

Passing overhead Forbes town, there's a Skylane on the radio. I watch the airport slide under my wing but never manage to spot the Cessna.

 

There's a marked change of direction at Parkes: a right turn through 60° that puts higher ground right in front of us. d j tells me it's Orange but I'm sure that colour's called green.

 

The ground a little closer.

Orange town, Orange airport, left and right respectively.

 

As the ground starts to rise, we fly into RAAF Richmond's weather which, aside from the wind, starts as more of the same: clear smooth air. Different terrain, different vegetation, different wind: there's a distinct sideways shuffle to our motion now with 10 kt of wind coming over the right wingtip and it's not long before we spot a dark line of hills ahead, complete with attendant cloud.

 

Clouds and a dark line on the horizon.

 

Bathurst passes less than half a mile below us but the ground is still rising. The timing is definitely easier when maintaining a steady airspeed.

 

Seconds from Bathurst.

 

The magazine New Scientist has a readers' questions section to which other readers can reply. I recall one letter asking why the bottoms of clouds are flat while the tops are bumpy. It was the only one I was ever able to answer.

 

Blackheath & Katoomba's plateau ahead. At the smooth cloudbase, the air was all bouncy little thermals.

 

d j points out similarities between the local and Welsh topography: a lot of the high ground tops out at the same altitude, with valleys cut into it. In English, it's "hilly" but the French call this ground "vallonnée": valleyed - approaching it from the opposite direction as it were. Try vallonnée on Google Translate though, and you'll find they give a context-based translation, offering 'hilly'...

 

We aren't sure of the reason for the shape here but, assuming that it's still sandstone and other sedimentary stuff, we decide it must be rivers, which we confirm later with a map. It's accepted that in a lot of Wales most of the valleys were cut into what was originally flattish ground by glaciation and subsequent river erosion, and that the glaciers weren't around long enough to finish the job.

 

Blackheath and Katoomba are on the plateau in the middle of the map, immediately south of the obvious scar of the Grose Valley.

 

We cross the A32 between Blackheath and Katoomba, perfectly situated on the very edge of the plateau and we pass overhead a rather neglected Katoomba airfield. If you have FS9 with VOZ, keep an eye out for it. Mine may be missing something.

 

Looking online later for the Grose Valley, the canyon that delimits the north eastern edge of the plateau, I found we'd arrived at much younger rocks -- Triassic sandstone around 250 million years young. Not much in Wales of that age; just a small sliver in the north east corner. If I ever visit NSW, Katoomba and the Grose Valley will both be on the list.

 

Looking south over Katoomba perched on the edge.

 

From there it was all down hill.

 

We'd been intending to make a straight in approach to one of the 11s but at the last minute I decided to call Tower. They gave us 29L.

 

"Oh, you idiot."

 

"Yeah. Sorry."

 

Better open the taps.

 

Duly opened.

Left downwind.

 

It was a somewhat stressful approach and landing, fast and with only inches of tarmac to spare.

 

Full stop at YBTH at 0408Z. We thought Katoomba was a possibility.

 

I see it now

 

[ScottishMike]

SUNDAY 11^th. Feb 2024

 

No distractions today. I have calculated times and am leaving early at 8:00 am. For the following three legs:

Mangalore (YMNG) to Tocumwal (YTOC) @ 130 kts 32 mins+2 mins take-off and landing = 34mins

Touch and go at Tocumwal (YTOC) then to Narrandera (YNAR) @ 130 kts 37 mins + 2 = 39 mins.

Touch and go at Narrandera (YNAR) then to Parkes (YPKS) @ 130 kts 1Hr. + 2 mins = 1 HR. 2 MINS.

Doing touch and gos should be more fun than overflying but not take up as much time as full stops.

So let's get the show on the road. Powering up at Mangalore:

 

These Australian airstrips are busier than one expects, queued behind a Cessna for the runway:

 

He's reached the end of the runway, waiting for him to turn and take off:

My turn next. On our way:

 

Turning onto 8 degree heading for Tocumwal:

 

Settled at 4000' 11 Kts headwind. KIAS and GS almost identical. Cruising at 130 Kts as decided in my flight plan.

Passing Shepparton, it looks like a sizeable town:

 

Descending to 3000':

 

Tocumwal (YTOC) ahead:

 

At 1000' the wind has shifted round by 180 degrees, now 180@ 5 Kts. I am lined up for Rwy 360 and a Cessna 172 is on base for Rwy 180. Who will get to the runway first? I hope this does not turn into a game of chicken who will blink first and do a go around?

 

Where did the Cessna go? The sensible thing to do would be to climb and do a circuit to come in on Rwy 180 however there is nothing less sensible than an FS pilot in a time trial:

 

But wait, there is another option; the grass rwy the Cessna was landing on rwy 180L (the tarmac one). If I use the grass 360L all will be well: Touch and

and go (Time 8:44 variance 0):

 

Turning onto heading 24 degrees for Narrandera (YNAR)

A short leg, only 39 minutes.

 

Downwind Rwy 140 Narrandera. Learnt my lesson and radioed ahead for weather:

 

It shows the big changes in wind direction at different altitudes. I chose the correct Rwy this time:

 

Touch (Time 9:24 variance +1 and I must have crossed a time zone):

and go:

 

Turning onto heading 034 for Parkes:

 

Longer leg this time 1hr and 2 mins. ETA 10:26.

18 nm. to go for Parks and the landscape has changed from the flat of previous legs:

 

The town of parks is ahead, but where is the airport?

 

There it is:

 

And safely down (Time 10:26, variance 0.) A good day's flying:

 

Parked in the shade of Eucalyptus trees. Time to find food, beer, music and whatever else may be available. Bye gals and guys.

[Melo965]

4 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

That's the one Melo, and I've got a tweaked .cfg file that really will get her to 60000 ft. But that maybe the same one that you have already of course if you have it with the Albion SpecOps repaint as 'Marham Rose'? I did the repaint and the .cfg mod at the same time.

 

Thanks.  I think I have all the bits and pieces to get it reloaded properly now.  I will let you know if I still need your tweaked .cfg file. 

 

[Bossspecops]

At last I managed to get away from Warrnambool on my 11th Leg, and landed at Moorabbin 4 mins early. What a MASSIVE place this is, runways everywhere, and loads of GA stuff all over the place.

 

Full report with screenies in the morning, but I'm not sure if my 4 mins early was good or bad. On the spreadsheet I'm at -5, so does that mean I'm 5 mins too early already, or 5 mins late?

 

[jgf]

A brief sojourn at Derby to take in the sights (https://www.kimberleyaustralia.com/derby.html) and I'm off to Onslow (or maybe I'm just off).

 

Course change at the RAAF Base Curtin VOR, 20mi SE of Derby

 

Curtin Derby is one of the RAAF "bare bases" with only a maintenance staff stationed there during peacetime

 

Another ocean excursion for over a hundred miles

 

Next course change, the VOR at Port Hedland, which has the highest tonnage port in Australia.  It was also the site of the third worst accident in Australia's civil aviation history.

 

Continuing along the coast

 

To the next waypoint, YPKA, Karatha.  Constructed in 1966 as a private facility for an iron mining corporation, it was eventually taken over by the regional government and upgraded, it can now handle aircraft as large as  C-17 and An-124.

 

And there is Onslow, but since I had plenty of fuel I decided to continue to RAAF Base Learmonth, another "bare base" only 70 miles farther.

 

RAAF Learmonth on the coast

 

 

That Lear got out of the way just in time (maybe they heard I was coming)

 

YPLM

 

And the Cessna pilot waited for me to park

 

No idea what this is but I slewed over for a look

 

750 miles in 3hrs 41min.  Jandikot is only 725mi away, though the flight will probably be around 800 miles, still within non-stop range of this old Beech.

 

 

[Bossspecops]

Having checked out my repaired joystick with a test flight 'under the Bridges' from Dean Forest Regional (Melo knows EXACTLY what I mean..... ) I figured I was OK to continue my much delayed Oz Rally flights.

 

Accordingly I powered up 'Austral Rose' on the ramp at Warrnambool around lunchtime y'day and headed for the far end of the runway, backtracking down 31.

 

 

I'd fully tanked up before taxi-ing as there was only 20+ gallons left from my last leg, and although that seemed just about enough for the 

140 nms to Moorabbin (Don't Oz place names have LOTS of repeated letters? ) I wasn't going to risk it. That seemed especially so when I checked the STAR for the 22 runway at YMMB as it went around half the state before turning inbound!

 

So here I am taking-off past the same tree outbound!

 

 

This part of Australia looks very pleasant,  not too hilly, nice and warm and the beach is just a few miles away. All that and an airfield too, what's not to like?

 

 

Before the Rally started I was expecting miles and MILES of sandy desert to cross, and while that was true on our Western legs, I wasn't expecting the large number of lakes I encountered out there. It's just the same further east too! This one's a real eye opener as it's almost exactly circular, and it had me wondering if it was a meteor crater, but I can't find anything about it in the Net. It's just north of a place called Terang if anyone else knows anything of it.

 

 

Further east there were yet MORE lakes, lots of little ones at first......

 

 

....... and then one GINORMOUS lake! I was SO tempted to do a splash-and-run, but as I wasn't 100% sure if I should be trying to go faster or slower than my estimate I passed on the opportunity.

 

 

Heading further east you can see that massive lake stretches from horizon to horizon. There's a HECK of a lot of water there!

 

 

The first real point of any significance on my flight plan was Avalon Airport, just north east of Geelong, one of the only places in Oz that I know about as there was a large Ford plant there, and they had one of my employers test machines which I was supposed to be looking after. I never got the chance to go there to do so as we found we could fix the system remotely via dial-up modems etc!  

 

 

Soon afterwards I was feet wet over Port Phillip, another massive sea-lake that seems to be Melbourne's port estuary. Moorabbin is just the other side of it, but it's about 30 miles wide! 

 

 

The north edge of Port Phillip showed a bizarre area that stretched for some miles, and I was at a loss to figure out what it was, but a bit of airborne Googling revealed it to be the Western Treatment Plant - Biosolids Storage Area. Whatever that may mean....................

 

 

My penultimate waypoint was the VOR right at Moorabbin itself and as I had to pass directly o'head the Tower I thought it prudent to warn them as the STAR only had me at 500 ft by then! That airfield sure is a BIG place, lots of runways and ramps, but of course I had to fly right over it all and then turn around to come in from the east!

 

 

Realising that I wasn't hanging about, just over 200 kts after my full throttle descent, the Tower Crew took advantage of my low level pass and took this as I whistled over them! 

 

 

My thoughts at this time centred on getting down as fast as passible, still not being sure whether I was too early or too late on aggregate, so I cut short the lengthy STAR, with ATC's permission, and turned in sharply for the short 22 runway.

 

 

My landing wasn't perfect, I was going MUCH too fast, but got down before the half way point and pretty much on the centre line. The tail wheel undercarriage helped a lot as I came to a rapid halt as soon as I was tail down, thank goodness.

 

Taxi-ing to the tower took a while as the place is so massive, and there was lots of other ground traffic all over the place, but eventually I made it.

 

 

Later today I'll be off to Mangalore, and that's not too far, but I'll wait till the Daily Report is posted to see if I need to fly faster or slower. 

 

 

[TomPenDragon]

15 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

At last I managed to get away from Warrnambool on my 11th Leg, and landed at Moorabbin 4 mins early. What a MASSIVE place this is, runways everywhere, and loads of GA stuff all over the place.

 

Full report with screenies in the morning, but I'm not sure if my 4 mins early was good or bad. On the spreadsheet I'm at -5, so does that mean I'm 5 mins too early already, or 5 mins late?

 

Great to see you back in the air, Kit!  I went through the thread and found your report for Renmark, where you reported as 8 minutes early and it was recorded as a -.  So, your 4 minutes early "adds" to your CV of -5 for a -9.  There are plenty of legs ahead of you to make that up, though.  Eli and Claus are looking forward to calling a great recovery run.

 

14 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

and then one GINORMOUS lake! I was SO tempted to do a splash-and-run, but as I wasn't 100% sure if I should be trying to go faster or slower than my estimate I passed on the opportunity.

Feel free to take splash-and-go's; you need to arrive later than estimate.

[PhrogPhlyer]

10 hours ago, jgf said:

No idea what this is but I slewed over for a look

Nothing to see here, nothing suspicious at all, move along, move along.

[PhrogPhlyer]

54 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

Biosolids Storage Area

Some  politician came up with that name!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/05/biosolids-toxic-chemicals-pollution

[PhrogPhlyer]

58 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

Great to see this grand dame in air again.

[PhrogPhlyer]

10 hours ago, jgf said:

Reminds me of a song from the soundtrack for "Jonathan Livingston Seagull." ~"Lost, on a painted sky, where the clouds are hung for a poets eye."

 

Beautiful pic.

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

EP: “Hello and welcome to our Daily Update for the 12th of February, 2024. I’m Elias Pacheco, for the Radio Chachapoya team. As I predicted facetiously yesterday, the Chiefs’ win over the 49’ers with just seconds to go in the first overtime period was only the second most exciting sporting event going on in the world yesterday. Let’s go to the Leaderboard:

 

 

“Melo965 remains in first, with a perfect CV and 4 legs left to go.

 

“ScottishMike has moved into second place after yesterday’s run to Parkes. He flew a perfect run to Tocumwal, scored a +1 into Narrandera, and topped his day off with a perfect run into Parkes. This puts his CV at -1, with only 2 more legs to go.

 

“This drops ViperPilot2 into third, with a -1 and 8 legs left to go.

 

“There was some confusion regarding dj’s flight status, and she flew one last stint with her father. What a stint it was – 6 legs, from Melbourne to Sydney, to finish the race. Their numbers speak for themselves: A +1 into Mangalore, perfect into Tocumwal and Narrandera, then a -1 into Parkes, and perfect into Bathurst and Bankstown. Their final score: -2, on 11 February. So, 2’s the CV to beat for those still running. Currently, defaid and dj sit in fourth place.

 

“Now fifth is our other finisher so far, Captain Dirk Doovalacky for the PhrogPhlyers, with a +7.

 

“JSMR moves up into sixth place, also with a +7. He’s currently in Renmark, with 9 legs left to go.

 

“But now for the news that we’ve all been waiting for: Bossspecops and his Short Sealand are back running. They took a hop to Moorabbin, arriving 4 minutes early. Added to his previous -5, this puts the Bosss in seventh place with a CV of -9 and 6 legs left to go. A respectable test run for sure, but now it’s time to slow down and eat away at that 9.

 

“Meanwhile on the Free Flying front, jgf had a sweet run from Derby to Learmouth, which puts him in fuel range of Jandakot now.

 

“We arrived in Perth yesterday afternoon. If you remember, yesterday Claus was flying and I was talking. We’ve been switching back and forth for fun and fairness, but I was feeling a little off on the run into Darwin and didn’t feel up to flying yesterday. Getting into Perth, I went to the Royal Perth Hospital to get checked out. The doctor who saw me ran some tests, but since he also happened to be a flight surgeon, he pulled my medical. So, I’m grounded.

 

“Claus, who’s been a wonderful flying companion, noticed something that she didn’t like about the Saratoga on yesterday’s flight. She accompanied me to the hospital and then went back to Jandakot to tear apart the Piper. She was noncommittal about what the team found in the aircraft, but from her demeanor I suspect that it isn’t good.

 

“So, plane and pilot are back where the 1976 Australian Air Rally started, and unless we get some good news this afternoon, here’s where we’re stuck. I’m going to wrap up the Daily Update here – I’m Elias Pacheco, for Radio Chachapoya, signing off. Have a great flying day!”

[TomPenDragon]

1 minute ago, TomPenDragon said:

“We arrived in Perth yesterday afternoon. If you remember, yesterday Claus was flying and I was talking. We’ve been switching back and forth for fun and fairness, but I was feeling a little off on the run into Darwin and didn’t feel up to flying yesterday. Getting into Perth, I went to the Royal Perth Hospital to get checked out. The doctor who saw me ran some tests, but since he also happened to be a flight surgeon, he pulled my medical. So, I’m grounded.

Just to clarify: I'm fine; my flightsim computer is not.  I'm going to give it a thorough cleaning and reseat everything, but if that doesn't work, the graphics card has packed it in.  I'll let you all know what's happening once I've taken the machine apart and put it back together.

[Bossspecops]

3 hours ago, TomPenDragon said:

Great to see you back in the air, Kit!  I went through the thread and found your report for Renmark, where you reported as 8 minutes early and it was recorded as a -.  So, your 4 minutes early "adds" to your CV of -5 for a -9.  There are plenty of legs ahead of you to make that up, though.  Eli and Claus are looking forward to calling a great recovery run.

 

Feel free to take splash-and-go's; you need to arrive later than estimate.

 

Ah, right. I got it totally round my neck on the last leg and was running full throttle for most of the flight! And the  odd  splash and go will surely happen now! (where's the 'banging head' emoticon when you need one?)

 

The next leg will be flown as close to stall speed as I can manage.