The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO

[jgf]

23 minutes ago, ScottishMike said:

is that plane the US equivalent of the Beriev 200

The one negotiating the crazy taxi line?  That is a C-5 Galaxy with a custom paint job.

 

 

But I do enjoy the Be200

 

And the Be-12

[Bossspecops]

I do like the Beriev 200.  Maybe I'll add it to my ever growing list to fly the Eastern leg of the Rally, we even had one in Albion colours back in the day too. 

 

A pity no-one's done the larger and prettier A-40 Albatross for FS. 

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 hour ago, Bossspecops said:

I do like the Beriev 200.

Of course for uniqueness, there's nothing  like the VVA-14.

 

 

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

EP: “Hello and welcome to the Update for 17 February, 2024. I’m Elias Pacheco for Radio Chachapoya, here in Bathurst with Claus Ullrich, and we are counting down to the start of the 12-Hour.”

 

CU: “I just hope it can hold a candle to yesterday’s action. For a Mustang lover, it was heaven. The day started with Race 2 for the Combined Sedans. I’m crazy about this series. MARC Cars Australia have evolved the 2024 Mustang into something spectacular. Angus Fogg did the same thing with a ‘70’s-era Fastback. Geoff Taunton’s green MARC II won the first race yesterday. Angus Fogg mounted an amazing run from down in the field to battle Taunton for the win during the last few laps of the race. In the almost-end, it came down to the last turn. Both were pushing their cars as fast as they could go, and beyond. Fogg in the Fastback was in the lead, with Taunton on his tail. Taunton locked up the left front wheel of the MARC, which probably gave him the space for one final hole shot. He did; the back end of Fogg’s Mustang got a little loose, and Taunton took the win by 0.2 seconds.

 

“This wasn’t the end, though. At Bathurst, the cars are limited to a minimum of 2 minutes and nine seconds’ lap time. Taunton went slightly under 2:09, so he received a 5-second penalty for his last lap. Fogg won. But really, racing fans won – they got to see an epic race – if an endurance racing fan like myself can call a 25-minute sprint race, ‘epic,’ - two talented amateurs driving to the limits of their abilities.

 

“Taunton went on to win the third race easily, as Fogg pushed his car or himself a little too hard and ended up taking out the front end of his Fastback.

 

“The classic Group S races were beautiful if less competitive. Terry Lawlor and his Shelby 350 were the class of the field and won the second and third races easily.

 

“It was qualifying day for the competitors in the Bathurst 12H. Sheldon van der Linde took pole position in his BMW.”

 

EP: “Which brings us to a higher form of racing, or at least one where the altitudes are hopefully a little further above ground level:

 

 

“The only person running since yesterday’s Update has been Bossspecops. He scored a -1 for his run to Parkes. He’s holding onto second place with two legs left to go, one of which he is planning to run in time to watch the race. We look forward to seeing you here, Bosss – your parking space has already been set aside.

 

“And we are approaching the start of the Bathurst 12 Hours, so we’ll bring this edition of the Daily Update to a close.”

 

CU: “I’m Claus Ullrich of Piper’s Performance Planes…”

 

EP: “And I’m Elias Pacheco for Radio Chachapoya, signing off. Have a great race day, folks!”

[jgf]

[taoftedal]

6 hours ago, ScottishMike said:

Once in the air the Aerostar 700 Superstar PA 60 (FSD) to give it it's full title is impressive.

 

Indeed SMike ... Ted Smith knew something about designing aircraft ... and the Aerostar is special.

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 hour ago, jgf said:

Oh yes, the  Lun-class ekranoplan. It was operationally deployed as a warship. Technically not an aircraft (does not leave ground effect) these are very interesting aerodynamically!

[PhrogPhlyer]

32 minutes ago, taoftedal said:

Ted Smith knew something about designing aircraft ... and the Aerostar is special.

I couldn't agree more. Everything about the AeroStar and JetStar screams innovative and fast! I find it interesting that one of his designs was the Douglas A-26 Invader, while working directly for another great designer, Ed Heinemann. The A-4 is referred to as Heinemann's Hotrod.

[Bossspecops]

I managed to get to Bathurst before the big race started OK, but couldn't manage to hit my estimated duration, darn it.

Taxi-ing out at Parkes went OK, but it was a long way to the upwind runway again. No matter, timing only starts on take-off of course. 

 

 

Doing my usual slow climb out, the Sealand could really do with some more horsepower, a couple of big Lycomings or even a pair of PT6s. They'd move it along a bit I'm sure!

 

 

Soon after departure I crossed a hefty forest, something I'd not seen for many a day, and the surface started to get more and more hilly for a change.

 

 

As it was only a short flight, 28 mins estimated, there wasn't much chance to fine tune my arrival time, but it looked OK at around the half way point. That was over quite a large town called Orange, except it looked more brown and green to me from up above.

 

 

Just a short distance out of Orange were a couple of lovely looking lakes, one to the south east......

 

 

.......and one to the north east. Both  very attractive to an amphibfan.

 

 

More throttle tweaking got me to o'head Bathurst itself, a little way north of the Mt. Panorama race track, and the airfield was quite a way north east of the town.

 

 

What I hadn't taken note of was that the upwind runway at YBTH was grass, and it was almost impossible to pick out from the rest of the field! 

 

 

It's JUST visible as a browner track across the grass of the rest of the field here as I was on finals.

 

 

I needed to be down in 29 mins to crank my aggregate time to 0, but overdid it by a minute so now I'm on +1. Taxi-ing back to the Bathurst ramp on the grass was nice, and I parked up right next to a vintage DC3 that had flown a bunch of race fans in earlier. I'm keeping good company with another vintage twin right alongside me.

 

 

I'll take the day off today and watch the race and then head over to Sydney on the last leg on Monday. I'm STILL trying for that elusive aggregate V=0 though. 

[taoftedal]

I have read a number of Nevil Shute’s novels over the years, several of which take place in Australia.  ‘A Town Like Alice’ is one of his best and as such a side trip to Alice Springs seems in order.  Not that a tad over 1,000 nm from Bankstown is a side trip but …

 

At the airport for an early morning departure with my flight plan in hand (YSBK>YOOM>YBAS) in little time the Twin Comanche lifts off from 29C and we turn to the northwest and rise above and over the Blue Mountains again.

 

 

Once at cruise and with little traffic this morning I settle back with my Flat White, grab a Tim Tam and watch the hills turn into plains ... and plains into range.  The further to the northwest the flatter and browner everything became.

 

 

 

 

Through the southwest corner of Queensland and into South Australia Moomba is just ahead and a straight in approach to 30 made for an easy arrival.  Time to find some fuel (there it is) and perhaps a little lunch ... if not ... I still have some Tim Tams left in the cabin.

 

Being directed to the ‘office’ I learned that Moomba is something of a ‘private facility’ set-up to serve the company town adjacent.  Members of the public are not able to fly in ... only employees, contractors and authorized visitors.  With an apology for my lack of planning the facility manager grabbed a couple bottled waters and sat me down.  As I reached into my fight bag and pulled out the Tim Tams the whole mood changed and we ended up having a nice conversation.

 

The afternoon flight to YBAS was in comparison ... uneventful.  The terrain below never seemed to change even as the Northwest Territory welcomed ... similar to the Nullarbor? ... maybe ... but yet different somehow ... regardless I was thankful when the Alice Springs VOR/DME let me know we were not lost.

 

 

 

The tower put me in a right hand pattern for 12 and the Twin Comanche practically landed herself ... which happens once in a blue moon.  Soon I was off to the B&B but stopped at a market on the way ... needed to pick-up a package of Tim Tams ... ‘don't leave home without it.’  

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

EP: “Hello and welcome to the Update for the 18th of February, 2024. I’m Elias Pacheco, for Claus Ullrich and the Radio Chachapoya team, on this the day after the Bathurst 12 Hours. It’s just me today, as Claus is a little busy at the moment. First, our Leaderboard:

 

 

“The only one who recorded a time since yesterday’s Update has been the Bosss, who put in a +2 to Bathurst. He’s solidly in second, with a +1 CV and only the short jaunt to Sydney ahead of him to complete the ‘76.

 

“As far as the race on the ground, what can I say? Twelve hours, decided by two seconds. Matt Campbell, fresh off of winning the Daytona 24H in a Porsche prototype, won the Bathurst 12H in a Manthey Porsche 992, sharing the victory with Laurens Vanthoor – his first win after many, many tries – and Turkish newcomer Ayhancan Güven. And their sister car won the Pro-Am class, making it a very good day for Olaf Manthey and his team.

 

“I’m going to bring the Daily Update to a close here, as it’s been a wild weekend and I’m tired. I’m Elias Pacheco, for Claus Ullrich and the Radio Chachapoya team, signing off. Have a great flying day!”

[Bossspecops]

1 hour ago, taoftedal said:

 

I have read a number of Nevil Shute’s novels over the years, several of which take place in Australia.  ‘A Town Like Alice’ is one of his best and as such a side trip to Alice Springs seems in order.  Not that a tad over 1,000 nm from Bankstown is a side trip but …

 

 

One of my favourite authors too, and he was a real aeronautical engineer, a member of Barnes Wallis' design team on the R100 airship (that was the one that didn't crash...)

 

Many of his novels have aviation as a major part of their plots, 'No Highway' probably being the closest to real life as it deals with metal fatigue, but 'Round the Bend' and 'The Trustee from the Toolroom' are both heavily involved with flying, LONG distances too!

[ViperPilot2]

17 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

 

One of my favourite authors too, and he was a real aeronautical engineer, a member of Barnes Wallis' design team on the R100 airship (that was the one that didn't crash...)

 

Many of his novels have aviation as a major part of their plots, 'No Highway' probably being the closest to real life as it deals with metal fatigue, but 'Round the Bend' and 'The Trustee from the Toolroom' are both heavily involved with flying, LONG distances too!

 

+1 for Round the Bend. 

 

I've always been drawn to flying long distances; maybe it's the 'romance' and allure of retracing Historical routes, and further immersing myself with Music and Prose from the Era. I've never dabbled with Time Compression, though... something in my noggin about 'keeping it real'. I know many of you use it to good effect, though.

 

I'm three Legs from Bankstown, and thinking about the Eastern Route; I'd like to amend my A/C selection to something fixed wing and fast.

[taoftedal]

2 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

Many of his novels have aviation as a major part of their plots ...

 

1 hour ago, ViperPilot2 said:

I've always been drawn to flying long distances; maybe it's the 'romance' ...

 

'He heard, passing away above his head, the high scream of an ungeared engine in fine pitch, and automatically his mind said: ‘Harvard' ... It would not have woken him if it had been a Wellington.  Wimpies were part and parcel of his life, the very texture of his work.  He was awake now, though he lay with his eyes closed. There was a Wimpey running up one engine, somewhere …’

 

… and the story begins.  ‘Pastoral’ is perhaps my favorite Nevil Shute novel.  Set in the confines of an air force base in Oxfordshire during the Second World War the novel centers around the relationships of the bomber crews, as well as those supporting them at command (no spoilers from me).  

 

[jgf]

1 hour ago, ViperPilot2 said:

something fixed wing and fast

 

Take your pick

 

[Bossspecops]

1 hour ago, taoftedal said:

 

… and the story begins.  ‘Pastoral’ is perhaps my favorite Nevil Shute novel.  Set in the confines of an air force base in Oxfordshire during the Second World War the novel centers around the relationships of the bomber crews, as well as those supporting them at command (no spoilers from me).  

 

 

Oh yes, I like to think the base was either Upper Heyford or Abingdon as I lived at both of them in the past. Mind you, in Shute's days Abingdon was in Berkshire.............. 

[Melo965]

On 2/16/2024 at 6:26 AM, Sirrus said:

and I'm off to a nice private hospital to get my undercarriage reset.

 

Hope your recovery goes very smoothly!    I had my right hip replaced in August of 2022 and it went very well.  No pain and very good function now.

 

[Melo965]

On 2/16/2024 at 4:58 PM, MAD1 said:

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.

 

The Nuns tried to get me to switch to right handed, even went as far as tying a string to the pencil in my right hand and running it up over my shoulder.  After a month or two I rebelled and went back to being a "normal" left hander.  They never bothered me again. 

 

[ViperPilot2]

4 hours ago, jgf said:

 

Take your pick

 

 

Yep, they're both. Looks like the Military is well represented on the Eastern Route, but at this point I'm still undecided.

[ViperPilot2]

4 hours ago, taoftedal said:

 

 

'He heard, passing away above his head, the high scream of an ungeared engine in fine pitch, and automatically his mind said: ‘Harvard' ... It would not have woken him if it had been a Wellington.  Wimpies were part and parcel of his life, the very texture of his work.  He was awake now, though he lay with his eyes closed. There was a Wimpey running up one engine, somewhere …’

 

… and the story begins.  ‘Pastoral’ is perhaps my favorite Nevil Shute novel.  Set in the confines of an air force base in Oxfordshire during the Second World War the novel centers around the relationships of the bomber crews, as well as those supporting them at command (no spoilers from me).  

 

 

I know that PP is working on the story about the Pacific Clipper; I always wondered about the Crew while they were en route from place to place. Did they have 'good' Food, or were they eating tins of Bully Beef and K's? How did they pass the long hours off duty packed in amongst the spare engine parts and other cargo? As trained Pan Am Staff they made the best of the situation of course, but what a harrowing and tense journey!

[PhrogPhlyer]

4 hours ago, jgf said:

Take your pick

 

Two of the greatest designs EVER built!

[PhrogPhlyer]

 

20 minutes ago, ViperPilot2 said:

I know that PP is working on the story about the Pacific Clipper

Sheesh... Ok, lighting a fire to get it higher up on the to do list! 

[Melo965]

7 hours ago, TomPenDragon said:

As far as the race on the ground

 

Over here the Daytona 500 was supposed to be today.  It is postponed until tomorrow afternoon because of rain showers.

 

[Rupert]

On 2/17/2024 at 6:35 PM, PhrogPhlyer said:

Oh yes, the  Lun-class ekranoplan. It was operationally deployed as a warship. Technically not an aircraft (does not leave ground effect) these are very interesting aerodynamically!

IS THAT ANYTHING REAL?? 

[Rupert]

On 2/16/2024 at 8:53 PM, ViperPilot2 said:

 

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

 

Lucky you!  And I'm guessing your what 30-40 years younger than me?  And probably not enrolled in a one room 1-6 grade school room.