The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO

[Melo965]

4 hours ago, TomPenDragon said:

ViperPilot2 had a really nice, 3-leg run to finish his race.   .  .  .   he has finished the 1976 Australian Air Rally with a perfect CV, which locks in his position on the second step of the podium.

 

Awesome finish!  Congratulations!

 

[ViperPilot2]

2 minutes ago, Melo965 said:

 

Awesome finish!  Congratulations!

 

 

Many Thanks, Guys! Hats off to everyone else as well.

 

Barramundi on the Barbie for all when the Party starts... my treat!

[TomPenDragon]

1 hour ago, taoftedal said:

Sydney to Cairns huh ... what Piper model is that?  

A four-piper, actually.

[Melo965]

Renmark (YREN) to Naracoorte (YNRC) to Warrnambool (YWBL)

 

My flight reports will be abbreviated, just hitting some highlights.

 

Engine started at Renmark.

 

For this leg, based on wind direction, I took off from a gravel runway and landed on a grass runway at Naracoorte.

 

Final approach to Naracoorte.

 

I did land one minute early.  Touched down right of centerline and stopped left of centerline on the narrow grass runway.

 

The flight from Naracoorte to Warrnambool was uneventful.  There is a Cherokee 180 off in the distance.

 

Approaching Warrnambool.  X marks the spot.

 

There sure is NO other place to land nearby.

 

My Chippie landed well just left of centerline, but I did land 1 minute late.

 

Here is where I caught up to Kit while Austral Rose was still being worked on.  He informed me that there would be another aircraft painted in the Albion colors waiting for me at Bankstown (YSBK).  If I could stand flying a jet instead, there is some aerial survey work that the RAAF is asking us to perform.  The Chippie was wonderful to fly and had performed very well so far, but I was looking forward to the new challenge.

 

After concluding the business discussion, Kit and I walked into town and had a drink together at Rafferty's Tavern, the local pub. 

 

I still have 7 more legs to go to get to Bankstown.  Next stop Moorabbin (YMMB).

[taoftedal]

45 minutes ago, TomPenDragon said:

A four-piper, actually.

 

Oh yes ... I've heard of them ... 

 

 

[Sirrus]

1 hour ago, taoftedal said:

 

 

RMS Britannic and RMS Olympic were similar to their sister, apart from the fact that the bulkheads went all the way up to the main deck. Britannic didn't last long but my Dad was a cabin boy on Olympic. Some of her interior still exists on a Celebrity Cruises' "Celebrity Millenium". My Dad went on to get his Master's ticket but came ashore in 1937 to marry my Mum.

[ViperPilot2]

3 hours ago, taoftedal said:

 

Interesting route ... did jgf plot this out?  

 

Sure isn't like the old school Route ladies like the OG 99's flew. Back then, most times the Terminus was Cleveland OH because that was the home of the National Air Races. Both the Powder Puff Derby and the Bendix ended there.

 

I like the Idea, though; any kind of Air 'Race' is fine by me! Even Pylon racing, but only the T-6's; the Unlimited Class still scares me (visions of the NTSB Hearing... absolutely chilling.)

[jgf]

11 hours ago, taoftedal said:

 

Interesting route ... did jgf plot this out?  

 

Lol, my routes don't cross themselves.

[jgf]

10 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

 

I'd have been SO tempted to head out past the 12 mile limit, light the burners and REALLY have a go at it. 

 

Lol, it has been eight years since I flew the XB-70 and had forgotten how powerful it is.  Trying to fly by regs - keep it below 250kt til over 10k ft (does that rule hold in Australia?) - I got a jolt when I saw 500kt before she'd even reached 2k ft.  No doubt residents were burning up the phone lines with complaints.  (Mental note - use autothrottle once you've cleared the runway.)

[taoftedal]

11 hours ago, Sirrus said:

Britannic didn't last long but my Dad was a cabin boy on Olympic.

 

What a link to history.  They were in many ways the 747's of their day.  TomP's reference to four-pipers (used I believe by the USN) triggered the more familiar four-stacker or four-funnel phrase in my mind.  The Titanic perhaps being the most famous.

[Bossspecops]

I was sitting on the ramp at Bathurst awaiting the fuel truck when I read the daily report which said VP2 had arrived in Bankstown with an aggregate V of 0, placing him 2nd to Melo in the results. I realised I really HAD to got my work cut out to match that, and the best I could achieve now was equal 2nd so long as I was a minute ahead of the estimate into Bankstown.

 

I'd set up the FST flightplan only to find the most bizarre STAR in place for their 11L runway, which involved passing the field to the north and then making a 180 turn to starboard and then a 90 turn to port and then a 270 degree turn to starboard! Quite why this was required I'm not sure, but it did give me some flexibility in my timing. 

 

 

Taxi-ing out at YBTH went OK, but I needed a long taxi almost all the way on the good tarmac runway to meet the intersection with the into-wind grass runway.

 

 

Heaving backtracked a short distance along the grass I found they had actually laid a small slab of concrete for the runway, but only so they had somewhere could paint the ID numbers! The runway itself was still pretty invisible, as it was when I landed.

 

 

Heading east it soon became apparent that this was a VERY different Australia to the one I'd got used to since Perth, around here it was looking seriously hilly for a change.

 

 

So much so that I only just made it over the top of this one as I climbed out............

 

 

But I sure wasn't going to make over the next one!  Accordingly I climbed a bit steeper to clear the ridge and then resumed my 5000 ft cruise altitude.

 

 

I was dodging in and out of IMC almost all the way to Sydney, and now and then saw plumes of smoke rising past me vertically! I tried to grab a pic of them, but with no success. Around the 1/3 distance marker I saw a lovely lake to my north, which turned out to be Katoomba Lake, and it looked so good I may head back and do a splash and go there later on.

 

 

The scenery after that became a LOT steeper and I could see why it's called New South Wales, because it's like South Wales, not that far from where I live in the UK, in that it has lots of steep valleys running north-south with the townships either perched on the tops or lined up in terraces up the valley sides.

 

 

This one was one of the 'perched on top' variety, with an almost vertical cliff to its east side!

 

 

Passing the very steep sided part of the country I flew over a much flatter area, presumably part of the river estuaries in the region and passed over the town of Glenbrook. Glenbrook has the HQ of the RAAF's Operations Division and it's inside the red circle somewhere, but they didn't actually have a big flag hanging up, and it's not an airfield as such, although it does have helipad.

 

 

And it has a rather nice looking lake too! They're all over the place down under!

 

Before long I was passing north east of Bankstown on that crazy STAR, which was a pain as I could easily have made a slight right turn here and got into 11L (marked) with ease, but I'd have been FAR too early for my aggregate time.

 

 

Heading further east before starting the turn I could just see the Pacific in the far distance, an ocean I'd only ever seen from the far side when I was visiting Melo In LA! 

 

 

Making the first turn showed me just how far out of downtown Sydney the airfield was, but I don't care as I'll be a LOT closer later on! 

 

 

I'd kept a close watch on my timing, continuously checking against the flight timer and the estimated flight time to the next waypoint, and despite running at full throttle a lot of time the Sealand was doing as it had earlier in the Rally, steadily losing time the further I got along the leg. I was pretty sure it was due to a strong headwind on this leg though, so some devious thinking was required........

 

This involved making the STAR turns a LOT sharper than the plan demanded, thus cutting my time, but making the approach a bit more 'Spitfire like', something that Melo and I both know about quite well. 

 

So making the final turn onto 11L was a bit tight, as you can see. It didn't help that the AI ATC was using 11C for its landings and take-offs and there was a Cessna 310 waiting to go on the 11C threshold as I whizzed over him to land on 11L! Not exactly 'best practice', but it got me onto the ground EXACTLY when I needed to, one minute ahead of the estimate! 

 

 

Bankstown Ground parked me up not far from Flight Ops and I was able to log in there OK, with much glee on my part, but I wasn't staying for long as 'Austral Rose' has a date with a guy in Sydney Harbour for some serious fuel tankage re-fitting.

 

More on that later.

 

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

EP: “Hello and welcome to the Update for the 19th of February, 2024. I’m Elias Pacheco in the right seat, with Claus Ullrich in the left, for Radio Chachapoya. Let’s get straight to the Leaderboard:

 

 

“Melo is in sole possession of first place. Yesterday, prior to our show, VP2 shored up second place. He is no longer alone on the second step of the podium, however. Bossspecops took full advantage of Bankstown’s rather elaborate STAR to finish his 1976 Australian Air Race with a -1, which gave him a perfect CV for the race. This puts defaid, with his -2 CV for the race and his finish on the 11th of February, in third. ScottishMike is in fourth, also with a -2 but a two-day-later finish. Dirk Doovalacky moves up into fifth for the PhrogPhlyers, with a CV of +7 and a finish on the 1st of February. This makes JSMR the lone entrant in the ‘76 still on the course, with 9 legs left to run and a +7 CV.

 

“So far, the PhrogPhlyers are the only team to have set a time for the Eastern Route, coming in with a -20 CV. No one so far has chosen to stay in their ‘76 aircraft to set a Combined time. There is prize money to be won yet, and nothing saying that a pilot cannot take a break from their race plane for a few days, return to Bankstown to pick up their plane, and continue the Combined course with a run to Coff’s Harbour. I’m looking at you, defaid, and you, ScottishMike, and if JSMR can put in a few days’ worth of hard running, I’m looking at you, too. For that matter, I cannot find anything in the Rules that would prohibit someone from running the Eastern Route in a different aircraft, then doubling back to pick up their helicopter from YSBK and setting a Combined time – hint, hint, PhrogPhlyer.

 

“We are nine days out from the finish of the Gaggle. It’s time to start to consider the Spirit of the Race award. The award will go to the person, team, or organization involved in the Gaggle that exemplifies the best of what we would like Club Chachapoya to be. Each team, whether participant, Free Flier, or support staff, may make one nomination. Once the nominations are in, each team gets one vote. The nominations are now open.

 

“And this concludes our Daily Update. I’m Elias Pacheco, for Claus Ullrich and the Radio Chachapoya team, signing off. Have a great flying day, everybody.”

[Bossspecops]

Can we start the Eastern legs right away? I thought there was a time gap before that bit started, but I guess I got that round my neck. 

[TomPenDragon]

Just now, Bossspecops said:

Can we start the Eastern legs right away? I thought there was a time gap before that bit started, but I guess I got that round my neck. 

Absolutely - the sooner the better!  I'm looking forward to seeing what web-footed friend you're going to be flying next.

[Bossspecops]

Prior to heading back to UK after the Rally I did a couple of long distance check flights in G-AUST to figure out the best altitude to fly from the fuel burn point of view, but she won't go higher than 12000 ft, and the fuel burn there is just the same as it is at 5000 ft.  That turns out to be 4.5 gallons/mile, which could be better really. Originally I figured on island hopping across the Pacific to Hawaii and then heading for the US, but that last leg is 2400 miles! That'd need 560 gallons of fuel and the Sealand would be TWICE as heavy as her max allowed take-off weight, so that idea's out the window.

 

However I have figured out a route where the longest leg is 1400 nms or so, and that'd need only 320 galls approx, and she flies OK at that weight, but the take-off run is a lot longer. So I'll need some larger tanks, and a friendly guy at the floatplane marina in Sydney, Bruce Dwyer, is fine with updating the Sealand to that extent, provided I grease his palms with silver of course. 

 

I had to deliver G-AUST over there from Bankstown so I only hung about there for maybe 30 mins and headed off tor another water landing. This time YSBK ATC had me take-off on the 11C runway, and here I am waiting for the off.

 

 

Thanks for the short visit Bankstown, I expect I'll be back soon.

 

 

This time the SID was a lot more sensible but still entailed a 180 degree turn to port and then a 90 degree one to starboard. I'm headed over where the arrow is, on the other side of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

 

 

I had to cross the entire width of Sydney, south to north, and there were some rather odd sights. This guy has got one SERIOUS swimming pool! Not quite large enough for a splash and go, but close!

 

 

Heading further north it's obvious why so many people in Sydney have boats, there's waterways EVERY where!

 

 

Way over to the east I could see the Bridge and was SO tempted to fly under it to get to the floatplane marina on the other side, but I figured the Oz CAA may well not approve of that.  Melo knows just how much I love doing under-bridge passes...........

 

 

Turning around north of the harbour I lined up with the Rose Bay water runway, and was pleased I was doing it then and not 10 mins earlier as there was a big USN carrier heading of the harbour!

 

 

On finals for Rose Bay I glanced across to my right and saw the Bridge and Opera House again just before a nice touchdown. The nice things about water landings are that there are no 'numbers' to land on, no centre line to follow and usually there's LOTS of space in all directions too. 

 

 

Taxi-ing fast across the bay, and trying to avoid the myriad boats that are all over the water, I moored up in the little inlet on the marina and left the keys in Bruce's safe hands. 

 

 

I'll be back here soon to start the Eastern legs aboard a different variety of amphibian.......... 

[jgf]

8 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

but that last leg is 2400 miles! That'd need 560 gallons of fuel and the Sealand would be TWICE as heavy as her max allowed take-off weight

 

 

Call ahead for an aircraft carrier to be halfway along that leg.

[jgf]

39 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

Can we start the Eastern legs right away?

 

I didn't even wait, just removed the race placards from the fuselage and continued ....all the way around to Jandakot.

[jgf]

51 minutes ago, TomPenDragon said:

We are nine days out from the finish of the Gaggle. It’s time to start to consider

 

... the next flight

[JSMR]

Whoa...I've fallen behind. Crazy week.
Ok, here's my run plan coming up to Moorabbin. 

All based on Skyvector and 160 KTAS planned. 

YREN-YNRC : 1:03
YNRC-YWBL : 0:44
YWBL-YMMB : 0:50

I'll remember it if it's posted here lol. And see how many legs I can do today. Maybe I can squeeze in another leg or two after that. 

Don't count me out just yet!!
 

[PhrogPhlyer]

14 minutes ago, JSMR said:

Don't count me out just yet!!

 

[jgf]

20 minutes ago, JSMR said:

Don't count me out just yet!!

 

Plenty of time.  We'll all wait for you.

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 hour ago, Bossspecops said:

This guy has got one SERIOUS swimming pool! Not quite large enough for a splash and go, but close!

 

 

If you're luck you'll get an invite to the annual Beer and Bubble Bath Bash!

[JSMR]

@ScottishMike

 

Is that the FSD Aerostar you used? 

[ScottishMike]

JSMR, The link just takes me to Retro United Airlines.

 

Yes it is the FSD Aerostar.

[JSMR]

3 minutes ago, ScottishMike said:

JSMR, The link just takes me to Retro United Airlines.

 

Yes it is the FSD Aerostar.

Yeah sorry, that link is in my signature thingy. Something separate. Still working on that one. 
 

oh nice. Is that available somewhere?