The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO

[Bossspecops]

6 minutes ago, ScottishMike said:

The Golden Monkey at the secret volcano island.

Somewhere off the Solomon islands.

Find it if you can...

 

 

I wish! I've got all the files installed but the main scenery islands etc don't appear in FSX.  Somewhat bizarrely all the  piers, sheds and huts etc DO appear but they're just floating on the water!

 

43 minutes ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Have you considered uploading the changed cfg?

 

I hadn't until you mentioned it, so maybe I should. Thanks for the reminder. 

[taoftedal]

1 hour ago, Sirrus said:

A low-time 1971 Cessna 310Q ...

 

Beautiful bird Sirrus ... trusting you'll be back in the air soon ... thanks for the update!  Take care ...

[ViperPilot2]

3 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

There was a recent news story in the US where a 17 yr old left a hand written note in the pocket of a donated winter coat that was given to a 2nd grade child in need. The child sent a note back in thanks. The two notes were shown in the news article. The 17 yr old's printed scribble was no better the the 7 yr old's. Writing is becoming a lost art in many school districts, with a trend to not teach cursive writing. In another generation or so many Americans will not be able to read the actual US Constitution or Declaration of Independence. How quickly those may become passé and unimportant.

 

I'll be the first one to admit that my Penmanship isn't the best in the World, but most people can read my handwriting.

While Penmanship, Grammar and Sentence Structure are paramount in any Writing activity, I was specifically commenting about the fact that many just don't write Letters like we used to. Not very many go through the act of creating a Letter anymore.

[jgf]

18 minutes ago, ViperPilot2 said:

Not very many go through the act of creating a Letter anymore.

 

[Rupert]

1 hour ago, taoftedal said:

 

Beautiful bird Sirrus ... trusting you'll be back in the air soon ... thanks for the update!  Take care ...

+1! 

 

And yes what a beautiful plane!

[Rupert]

1 hour ago, ViperPilot2 said:

 

I'll be the first one to admit that my Penmanship isn't the best in the World, but most people can read my handwriting.

Sadly the penmanship issue is quite old, in part because of poor understanding by teachers that not everyone is made exactly the same way. 

 

When I started school, students were not allowed to write using their left hand.  Whenever I was spotted with a pen or pencil in my left hand it was swatted by a ruler more than once,  About 3rd grade, I was forced to the front of the class and spanked with a paddle for my "continuous disobedience."

 

I am truly left handed which has never been a big issue except for writing and firing a military rifle. 

 

I was never allowed to learn the cursive basics with my left hand in school.  So I bought a used desk top typewriter for $10 with money I made as a golf caddie and used it for term papers, book reports, etc.  When I actually took a typing class, I got straight As.  But I still have trouble reading my own writing using a pen or pencil.

 

If you've fired semi or full automatic rifles, especially military style such as the M-1 and the M-14, automatic shotguns, or "Grease Guns," you probably hardly noticed the casings and clips ejecting to the right and out of your sight lines.  However if you fired them left handed you often had hot casings flying across your line of vision during rapid fire.  And in the case of the M-1 you'd have the occasional round clip hit you in the face. 

 

 

 

[Bossspecops]

I write right handed, but my left eye is stronger, and I found it much easier to shoot left handed when I was in the Cadets. We shot No 8s., small bolt action, single shot 0.22" rifles that looked like sawn down SMLE No 4s, and the cartridge ejected to the right when you worked the bolt of course. Luckily I don't have a long nose..............

 

Later on, when shooting my own BSA Martini International Mk II, which had an underlever action, I gradually worked myself into shooting right handed, and was more accurate eventually.

 

I still write TERRIBLY though, and that comes from going to 11 different primary schools, each one of which had different ideas about how we should do it! Crazy!

[PhrogPhlyer]

30 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

BSA Martini International Mk II,

Hope you still have this. A bit pricy to purchase one today. 

[PhrogPhlyer]

5 hours ago, ScottishMike said:

Gonna need bigger marshmallows!

[Bossspecops]

6 minutes ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Hope you still have this. A bit pricy to purchase one today. 

 

I wish! I had a Walther 0.22" bolt action as well, and when I moved to Derby in 1969, the cops there wouldn't give me a licence so I had to sell both weapons. 

 

They said it was because they'd already reached their quota for the county that year, but a long time later I learned they were lying. Because I'd already held a licence in Oxford for more than 5 yrs they weren't allowed to refuse me one, but they did anyway!

[PhrogPhlyer]

2 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

they weren't allowed to refuse me one, but they did anyway!

Speaks volumes.

[Bossspecops]

All this talk about replacement hip joints reminds me I used to know Sir John Charnley, he invented them back in the 60s. He bought an all singing-all dancing test system from my employers in 1978 and it was the first system I installed when I started real work for them. A very interesting and clever man, he certainly earned his knighthood. 

[ViperPilot2]

3 hours ago, Rupert said:

Sadly the penmanship issue is quite old, in part because of poor understanding by teachers that not everyone is made exactly the same way. 

 

When I started school, students were not allowed to write using their left hand.  Whenever I was spotted with a pen or pencil in my left hand it was swatted by a ruler more than once,  About 3rd grade, I was forced to the front of the class and spanked with a paddle for my "continuous disobedience."

 

I am truly left handed which has never been a big issue except for writing and firing a military rifle. 

 

I was never allowed to learn the cursive basics with my left hand in school.  So I bought a used desk top typewriter for $10 with money I made as a golf caddie and used it for term papers, book reports, etc.  When I actually took a typing class, I got straight As.  But I still have trouble reading my own writing using a pen or pencil.

 

If you've fired semi or full automatic rifles, especially military style such as the M-1 and the M-14, automatic shotguns, or "Grease Guns," you probably hardly noticed the casings and clips ejecting to the right and out of your sight lines.  However if you fired them left handed you often had hot casings flying across your line of vision during rapid fire.  And in the case of the M-1 you'd have the occasional round clip hit you in the face. 

 

 

 

 

It's why I swore off Semi Autos. Always was, and always will be, a Wheel Gun guy.

 

And... Regardless of Gender, if that Schoolmaster tried to rap my knuckles because I'm a Southpaw, they would be flat on the floor, with Acute cases of "Sum'r Teeth".

[Sirrus]

1 hour ago, Bossspecops said:

All this talk about replacement hip joints reminds me I used to know Sir John Charnley, he invented them back in the 60s. He bought an all singing-all dancing test system from my employers in 1978 and it was the first system I installed when I started real work for them

 

Having just had the second one done, he has my undying gratitude.

My surgeon tells me that they should last between 15 and 30 years, so I could be 106 when the warranty runs out!

[Rupert]

2 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

 

It's why I swore off Semi Autos. Always was, and always will be, a Wheel Gun guy.

 

And... Regardless of Gender, if that Schoolmaster tried to rap my knuckles because I'm a Southpaw, they would be flat on the floor, with Acute cases of "Sum'r Teeth".

 

I WAS SIX OR MAYBE EIGHT YEARS OLD WHEN THAT FIRST HAPPENED!  HOW BIG AND STRONG WERE YOU AT THAT AGE????

 

[MAD1]

A message was passed to me from the Aussie Correspondent. He thanks all for the comments about the Vietnam item especially the songs. Songs do encapsulate memories, feelings, emotions. If I had of been 5 years older, I would have been in the national compulsory draft lottery for all 18 year olds, we had 'conscription' for a few years (a ball was drawn from a barrel with a number on it, and if your name was against that number, you were off to Puckapunyal for initial training, then to Canungra (behind the Gold Coast, near Coolangatta airport, QLD) for jungle training, then Shoalwater Bay south of Townsville for more training, then shipped to Vietnam.

 

Re letter writing and comms when I was a young bloke wandering the world in my twenties, with backpack (we called ourselves 'travellers' as opposed to 'tourist', the term 'backpacker' wasn't used back then) the only comms I did was the blue Aerogramme home to the folks, every month or so. When I went into the Middle East, so as not to scare Mum, I chose not to write for about 2 or 3 months, and only told her where I'd been afterwards. And very rarly, a phone call home, very expensive. I haven't written a hardcopy letter with a pen for some years, I type on the computer everything, and most written comms is email. The other thing I notice, is many younger people (and not so young nowadays, people in their thirties, don't hold the pen 'properly', they grip it in a claw-like manner. We also had right-hand only rule, I'm right-handed, kids who were left-handed were 'encouraged' to retrain themselves to be right-handed.

[ViperPilot2]

1 hour ago, Rupert said:

 

I WAS SIX OR MAYBE EIGHT YEARS OLD WHEN THAT FIRST HAPPENED!  HOW BIG AND STRONG WERE YOU AT THAT AGE????

 

 

They recognized I was left handed, and allowed me to continue with my individuality intact. 

[Bossspecops]

I flew over to Parkes on Leg 15 y'day, and it was quite a long flight by recent standards, taking almost an hour to cover the 146 nms. I quite liked Narrandera, it has a nice, homely feel to it for some reason, but the East was calling and I had miles to cover.

 

 

I got some pics of the props unfeathering on startup at last. The #2 engine seen just before I hit Ctrl-E, and just after, but before the prop started to turn. A fascinating sight.

 

 

The wind direction meant using Narrandera's grass runway again, but that wasn't a problem for the Sealand and I was soon skimming over New South Wales again.

 

 

I'd no sooner left the airfield boundary when I realised there was a SOCKING great lake just over the way! I could have easily flown into and out of there had I taken notice beforehand, totally dumb! It turns out it was Lake Coolah, the subject of much discussion in the area about if it being dammed to raise the water level even higher.

 

 

Yet again the rivers of the area made themselves known visually. This pic shows the line of the waterway very clearly by the dense vegetation along its banks.

 

 

At around the half way point I passed over a pretty large township for these parts, which turned out to be Forbes, and it even had its own airport over to the west. I didn't stopover to say hello though as I was pretty much on schedule for an on-time arrival at Parkes.

 

 

With the wind direction the Parkes STAR had me flying a large loop out to the North before turning into wind for landing, and that made calculating my landing time a bit more complex than it otherwise would have been, and I'd sped up a bit after leaving Forbes to give me a bit of time in hand. That loop of the STAR can be seen in pink in the FST plan below.

 

 

With only one major turn, apart from that STAR loop, in the entire plan it was worth a pic. 

 

 

Passing Parkes to the east I could see it was a pretty large field, much more so than many of the others I'd flown though on the Rally.

 

 

That loop seemed to go on for EVER, and I got pretty bored with seeing the horizon tilted over all the time, a bit of harking back to my time on the railways! As you can see from the timer I was close to my estimated 51 mins landing time, but was probably going a tad too fast, with both the gear and flaps still retracted.

 

 

Just for a change there WASN'T a tree right on the runway centre line, but I still had to dodge between two of them. Why DOES that always happen  in FSX? I'm sure it didn't in FS9.

 

 

Try as I might, I was a still a minute early on touch down at Parkes, making life a tad more difficult on the last two legs, but that's all part of life I guess.

 

 

Parkes was very well founded, lots of hangars, big ramps and a very impressive tower too. The guys there had seen me pass over the south edge of the field and asked if I was flying a seaplane. I confirmed that I was and they replied 'Hey mate, you know we're a LONG way from any water, don't you?' but I said I had scope for dealing with that as I lowered the landing gear. They hadn't noticed that I was actually in an amphibian, and they'd never heard of a Sealand anyway! 

 

Once I was parked up they all crowded round to have a look at '...weird Pommy seaplane....'

 

Off to Bathurst later, nicely in time to catch the race on Sunday. 

[PhrogPhlyer]

53 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

Just for a change there WASN'T a tree right on the runway centre line, but I still had to dodge between two of them. Why DOES that always happen  in FSX?

Part of the endearing challenges it offers? 

Great run on this leg.

Enjoy the race at Bathurst on Sunday. I'll bet the ramp will have quite a few planes when you arrive.

[jgf]

2 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

I'm sure it didn't in FS9.

 

No, FS9 gives you this

[TomPenDragon]

9 minutes ago, jgf said:

 

No, FS9 gives you this

 

That wouldn't be Forrest, would it?

[PhrogPhlyer]

42 minutes ago, jgf said:

No, FS9 gives you this

Time to ask ground for a progressive taxi. Don't know who or what is lurking in there.

[ScottishMike]

As good as his promise, the Aerostar was ready and waiting:

 

One of the easiest ways to make a sleek aircraft look even better is putting an elegant and competent woman at the controls:

 

They complemented each other. We got the familiarisation flight underway. We are cleared to Rwy 290C. The Aerostar is good mannered on the ground but like many powerful aircraft once moving one needs to throttle back to keep at a sensible taxi speed. An occasional touch of brakes is OK but not sitting on them, unless you want to cook the discs and pads.

 

Holding for take off clearance and wondering if we get a discount voucher from Bunnings. The PA 60 has four flap stages. We were recommended to use first stage flaps for take off. It lifts at 90 Kts with this setting:

 

Cleared to go. She takes a bit longer than expected to get to 90 kts and take off. This is not a STOL aircraft. Finally up and undercarriage retracting:

 

Once in the air the Aerostar 700 Superstar PA 60 (FSD) to give it it's full title is impressive. She can climb at 1200 ft/min at 175 kts GS all the way to our chosen 8000' cruise altitude.

 

At cruise altitude and testing out various speed settings:

APPROVED OPERATING SPEEDS:

VA - Maneuvering Speed 161 KIAS

VLO - Maximum Gear Operating Speed 154 KIAS

VLE - Maximum Landing Gear Extension Speed 154 KIAS

Turbulent Air Penetration Speed 160 KIAS

VNE - Never Exceed Speed 245 KIAS

VS - Stalling Speed (maximum weight) 83 KIAS

VSO - Stalling Speed in Landing Configuration 74 KIAS

VX - Two-engine Best Angle-of-Climb Speed 97 KIAS

VY - Two-engine Best Rate-of-Climb Speed 109 KIAS

VXSE - Single-engine Best Angle-of-Climb Speed 101 KIAS

VYSE - Single-engine Best Rate-of-Climb Speed 116 KIAS

Minimum Icing Conditions Speed 139 KIAS

VMCA - Minimum Control Speed 93 KIAS

Minimum Glide Range Speed 124 KIAS

 

FUEL LIMITATIONS

Fuel Capacity (U.S. gal.)

Wing Tank (each) -- 65.0

Fuselage Tank -- 85.0

Total (all tanks) -- 215.0

Power Settings for correct engine operation :

 

Maximum rated power : 350HP at 42" MAP & 2500 RPM

for take-off only.

Climb power : 37.5" MAP / 2400 RPM.

Normal climb : 37.5" / 2400 RPM at 145 Kts

or greater.

 

Cruise : Normal & recommended power plant

operation is at 2200 RPM.

Turning for home:

 

On descent prior to landing calibrate altimeter and calibrate for giro drift. I did lean in the climb and rich on descent but apart from small fuel improvements it didn't seem to make too much difference to the performance.

I had to virtually close the throttle to slow to 150 kts then deploy first stage flaps, then re-apply throttle in preparation for landing. This aircraft is not a glider, getting behind the power curve can be dangerous, she does not like to fly at less than 100 kts. Only go there when already just a few feet above the runway. Late turn onto final:

 

Straightened out and keeping above 100 kts.:

 

Reasonable landing and back at the hanger:

[jgf]

23 minutes ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Time to ask ground for a progressive taxi.

[ScottishMike]

JGF is that plane the US equivalent of the Beriev 200?