The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO

[Melo965]

15 minutes ago, ViperPilot2 said:

the 100th BG

 

I am currently reading "DAMN LUCKY" about 2nd Lt John "Lucky" Luckadoo who was a pilot in the 100th BG and made it home safely after his 25 B-17 missions.  Author is Kevin Maurer.

[PhrogPhlyer]

2 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

Since us Rotorheads need to stick together, I'll be following you in 'The Lady' shortly.

Sounds great!

And remember, when you transition to the H-46 or H-47, "Two heads are better than one!"

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 hour ago, ViperPilot2 said:

Flying Fortress, the seminal work by Edward Jablonski.

A must for any aviators library.

[Melo965]

I know I am getting ahead of myself, still have some flight reports to complete and submit.

 

My Chipmunk landed in Bankstown and then flew back to Bathurst for the car races, then back to Bankstown again.

 

My flight paths there and back again.

 

Upon arrival at Bankstown, I was pleased to hear from the RAAF that they are making an initial order of 250 DHC-1B Chipmunks for their training needs.  So my primary mission during this Gaggle was a success!

 

After the previous productive discussion with Kit at Warrnambool, and further consultation with the RAAF, they have agreed to hire me and the Albion Canberra PR9 (which Kit arranged to have shipped here while he was stuck repairing Austral Rose) to do some aerial survey work between here and Darwin International Airport.

 

 

 

 

Kit gave me some valuable advice on the performance and flight characteristics of the Albion Canberra PR9, and my test flight yesterday went well.

 

Wanting to roll even with zero throttle once the engines are running.

 

I plan to overfly all of the Airports on the Eastern route and take reconnaissance photos for the RAAF and deliver them to their side of Darwn International later today.  In the process, I will complete a circumnaviagation of Australia!

Looking forward to flying this fast jet after the slow and steady Chippie. 

 

[Bossspecops]

Great to see 'Marham Rose' again. 

 

I know you'll LOVE flying her Melo, specially the take-off. And remember the Vne speeds for the landing gear!

 

And just as a side note, you might just be able to see 'Marham Roses' original RAF serial under her tailplane, which is XH131.

 

My avatar here shows me standing right next to the real XH131 at Kemble on June 6th 2006, which was the day she made the last ever RAF Canberra flight. 

 

Sorry, I do tend to go on and ON about '131....................

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 hour ago, Melo965 said:

My Chipmunk landed in Bankstown and then flew back to Bathurst for the car races, then back to Bankstown again.

Good thing you don't have to include that time for the race!

[Melo965]

1 hour ago, Bossspecops said:

And remember the Vne speeds for the landing gear!

 

I had the gear retracting while still over the runway, not best practice in the RW.  She got up to 50,000 ft in under 10 minutes! 

 

[ViperPilot2]

Made it to Coffs Harbour without Incident; 1h 24m 33s so we'll call it 1h 25m.

 

Will commence the timed Eastern Route tomorrow. 

 

Good Luck to All! 

[Bossspecops]

1 hour ago, Melo965 said:

 

I had the gear retracting while still over the runway, not best practice in the RW.  She got up to 50,000 ft in under 10 minutes! 

 

 

Actually that was SOP for 13 Sqdn when they were flying the PR9s. They used hardly any runway length at Marham, and yanked the gear up almost as soon as they had a positive climb rate. 

 

It takes 10 mins for 'Austral Rose' to reach 5000 ft! 

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

CU: “Hi everybody, this is Claus Ullrich, for Elias Pacheco, Radio Chachapoya, and Piper’s Performance Planes, here with the Update for today, February 22nd, 2024. Here’s the Leaderboard and the news:

 

“It was actually pretty quiet on the race course for the first part of the morning. Sirrus sold his Cessna and recouped his original investment. Bosss changed his Goose for a Sikorsky S-38 that automobile enthusiasts everywhere have to thank for shiny finishes.

 

“Then we heard the rhythmic thumping of large rotor blades and watched an army-green Bell 206 lift off, point towards Coff’s Harbour, and head out, low and on a tear. PhrogPhlyer has taken over the controls of the helicopter, and is trying to salvage a Combined run after Captain Dirk Doovalacky’s last-place finish in the Combined. He had an excellent run, too, taking a minute out of his +7 to Coff’s Harbour, 2 minutes into Ballina, a perfect run to Coolangatta, and another -2 to Brisbaine. He has moved up into fifth in the Combined, with a CV of +2 and 4 more legs in which to whittle that down to a 0.

 

“Not long ago, the sharp whine of a couple of old turbojets was heard in Sydney. Melo, opting to give someone else a chance to win something this month, switched to a Canberra PR9 for the Eastern Route. He’s getting the aircraft, wet, and is getting paid to fly it, too – it’s nice to have friends! He ran a +1 to Ballina, a -1 to Coolangatta, and a 0 to Brisbaine. He now leads the Eastern Route with a perfect CV and 4 legs to go.”

 

EP: “And now it’s time to talk about money. No, not the money that the Aussie Correspondent wants to talk about. Prize money.

 

“It took a while, but we have finally secured the funds to pay our podium finishers. For either the 1976 Australian Air Race or the Eastern Route, first place pays $25,000*, second pays $12,500, and third pays $6,250. Should more than one person finish on a given step of the podium, the prize for that position will be split evenly. Thus, for the 1976, Melo will receive $25,000 for first, VP2 and Bosss will split the $12,500 for second, and JSMR will take home $6,250 for third, as we stand now. Should any of these finish on the podiums of the Eastern or Combined Routes, the prize money for those races will be added to what they have already won.

 

“The prizes for the Combined Route are $40,000 for first place, $20,000 for second, and $10,000 for third. We have a week to go, and plenty more cash to award. Oh, and let me add that if a podium for a race is not filled, say in the case of only one person finishing the Combined, those who are on the podium will split the unclaimed prize money evenly. Thus, if PhrogPhlyer is the only one to complete the Combined, he’ll walk away with $70,000. If PhrogPhlyer finishes first and ViperPilot2, who is warming up the engines of The Lady as we speak, finishes second, Phrog will win $45,000 and VP2, $25,000.

 

“All questions regarding prize money will be answered as they arrive.”

 

CU: “In the meantime, let’s bring this edition of the Daily Update to a close. I’m Claus Ullrich, for Piper’s Performance Planes, here with Elias Pacheco for Radio Chachapoya, signing off. Safe flying, everyone!”

 

[* - All monetary amounts in this Update are in Simbucks, which only exist in the virtual world, are only payable to and spendable by our virtual characters, and in any case are worth the final decimal place of PI preceded by zeroes up to the decimal point percent of a US Dollar]

[PhrogPhlyer]

YBBN - Brisbane

Wake up call for 0200, on the ramp and preflight complete by 0430, buckle in and in the air at 0500. This early bird is giving it's all.

 

About an hour down range and the sun's finally warming the early morning.

 

YBRK - Rockhampton

Overfly a few old gals getting fueled, Helo Pad ahead.

 

A bit out from Rockhampton and climbed to 2000'. Just when I was getting used to low along the coastline.

 

YBMK - Mackay

Quiet morning, glad for clear visibility. Who puts a large antenna this close to the ramp and Helo Pad?

 

Out of Mackay and heading feet wet. Looks like a few islands along the way.

 

Duck Island, not a bad landmark and airfield. Luckily I won't need to divert. Soldiering on.

 

YBTL - Townsville

Nice to get back over land again.

Forgot to take a pic, oh well, I have my memories.

 

YBCS - Cairns

The end is in sight.

 

 

And it's all over.

 

Taxi to the ramp... I'm NOT DONE YET!

 

Quick "Gooday Mate" up close an personal with the control tower crew.

 

Whip around to assigned parking.

 

Shut down and quiet, resting among friends,

 

Another long day, 5.5 hours flying today. And with over 25 hours in the seat for this total run (not counting a jaunt with the Vamp), it's time for lunch, a large cold one, and a long nap.

 

See everyone in the morning.

 

Today's stats...

[Bossspecops]

6 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

YBMK - Mackay

Quiet morning, glad for clear visibility. Who puts a large antenna this close to the ramp and Helo Pad?

 

 

 

My money's on the same guys who plant trees on the runway centre line for FSX! 

[Bossspecops]

For the Leg 3 flight to Gold Coast I chose a more modern aircraft than the S-38, but not THAT much modern.

 

This time I chose a Supermarine Walrus, a pusher bi-plane amphibian that was used a lot by the RAF as an air-sea rescue aircraft during WWII and by the Royal Navy as an observation aircraft being was catapult launched from battleships and cruisers. This one's an RAAF machine though, and they were the first customers, even before the RAF, and in Oz it was known as the Seagull V.

 

 

The cockpit of the FS model is very good and oozes 'period appeal'! You can almost smell it. 

 

 

It flies very well, very stably, albeit slowly, and is easy to get on and off the water. What it doesn't do is taxi very well, and below about 25 kts it bounces all over the place. I've tried tweaking the .cfg file with no success, and it's a good thing this is a still pic and not video or you'd see just what I mean. 

 

 

Lifting off at around 55 kts the Walrus climbed away nicely over Ballina heading pretty much north toward Gold Coast Airport. That's the 'marina' where I stayed over last night, indicated by the arrow.

 

 

I took a short diversion from the direct flight path to Gold Coast to pass over a very significant spot in Australia, and that's here, Byron Point, which is the easternmost point on the Australian mainland, and it seemed worth the diversion just to see it.

 

 

But being in an aeroplane I could fly right over it too, and in this pic I certainly was the easternmost aircraft on the Continent, or rather ABOVE the Continent. 

 

 

Heading on toward Gold Coast the scenery consists mostly of those river-mouth towns and beaches, but WHAT beaches! They go on for miles and MILES! 

 

 

It wasn't long before it was time to descend for Gold Coast, which was going to be a tricky landing as I was aiming for part of the river system just inland from the coast. Handily it passed just west of the Gold Coast runway, and I planned to taxi up on the bank there. That's Gold Coast in the distance.

 

 

Turning onto the 'runway' centre line here, and there's enough straight to get down nicely, even if she did bounce as if she was on a trampoline doing it!

 

 

She looks nice and calm in a still pic though..............

 

 

And here I'm parked up on the bankside with the Gold Coast threshold only a few yards behind me. Off to the city centre now to sample their accommodation and look forward to tomorrow's amphibian, and that's going to be a big difference......................... 

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

4 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

My money's on the same guys who plant trees on the runway centre line for FSX! 

This many years later and they still laugh about it over their morning coffee!

[PhrogPhlyer]

3 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

I love this pic. It reminds me of all the times I'd see ships when flying over the ocean and was so glad I was in the air, and not on the sea.

 

Another excellent seaplane choice.

[Bossspecops]

4 minutes ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

 

I love this pic. It reminds me of all the times I'd see ships when flying over the ocean and was so glad I was in the air, and not on the sea.

 

 

If you flew CH-46s didn't you have to land on ships at some time?

[PhrogPhlyer]

Calling all seaplanes...

Bossspecops,

If you would, I'd love to get an airborne pic of all the seaplanes you've used here.

I'd like to create another montage, this one with just seaplanes.

Set up the camera angle similar to as you did for the original montage pic.

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

Just now, Bossspecops said:

If you flew CH-46s didn't you have to land on ships at some time?

Many thousand of ship landings through the years, and two 6-month deployments aboard ship.

I always tell people that being aboard ship is a life of "you can run, but you can't hide."

Great memories but don't want to do that again.

[Rupert]

23 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Looks like I forgot to post the first leg, I'll correct that with todays run. Of course it's NOT age related.

No, me neither.  I'm sure I meant to do that, whatever that was. 

[Rupert]

2 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

 

If you flew CH-46s didn't you have to land on ships at some time?

Actually they were designed so we could choose to land on ships.  In fact they're also called Sea Knights.  They follow the tradition of the H-34 Sea Stallions, etc. that were also designed to land and take off from ships.

 

Like Phrog, they bring me a lot of great memories as well.  But I'm happy to also be able to say, I've already been there and done more than enough of that!!

[Bossspecops]

2 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Calling all seaplanes...

Bossspecops,

If you would, I'd love to get an airborne pic of all the seaplanes you've used here.

I'd like to create another montage, this one with just seaplanes.

Set up the camera angle similar to as you did for the original montage pic.

 

 

I've got five more to go yet before I reach Cairns. 

[PhrogPhlyer]

3 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

I've got five more to go yet before I reach Cairns

Excellent!

[PhrogPhlyer]

58 minutes ago, Rupert said:

Actually they were designed so we could choose to land on ships. 

They also were designed for water landing and taxiing. Of course with all the seals and drain plugs tight. Seeing into the water through the chin bubble was quite a sight. 

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

CU: “Hi everybody, I’m Claus Ullrich, for Piper’s Performance Planes, Elias Pacheco, and Radio Chachapoya, here with the Daily Update for today, February 24th, 2024. What can I say? We now have a winner of the Combined Route:

 

 

“Captain Dirk Doovalacky ran the 1976 Australian Air Race for Team PhrogPhlyers. Due to three bad sectors, primarily due to weather, and despite a heroic recovery flight to Sydney, he left the team 7 minutes behind.

 

“Those of you who joined us, either in person or over the airwaves, for the Bathurst 12 Hours, heard a lot about driver classifications. If we apply this to pilots, Capt. Doovalacky would be a Silver, while PhrogPhlyer, the team principal, would be a Platinum.

 

“PhrogPhlyer, after a fun but not particularly low-scoring run at the Eastern Route in a DeHavilland Vampire, took over the sticks of the Bell 206 for a crack at the Combined. And what a cracking run it was, too! Yesterday, I told you how he took that +7 down to a +2 by Brisbaine. Getting those last two minutes is always the hardest, though.

 

“PhrogPhlyer had fun with it. First, he went up another minute to Rockhampton. That was only so that he could go down 1 to Mackay, down another 1 to Townsville, and down a final 1 to Cairns to finish with a 0 CV for the win. Congratulations, sir, for doing it in style!

 

“Congratulations are also due Melo965. With a 0 to start at Brisbaine, he maintained 0’s through Rockhampton, Mackay, and Townsville, and finishing in Cairns with a -2 for the Eastern Route – no mean feat in a Canberra. I wonder what he would have done in a Spitfire? I hear he has a little more time in the type than he has in the bomber.

 

“Speaking of Supermarine, Bosss chose a Walrus for his run to Gold Coast. I’m starting to get an appreciation for how much fun biplanes are. I’m rated for high-performance complex singles, twins, and instruments, and I had been planning to stay that way. After the run to Cairns in the B-58, we took a Hawker Hunter T7 to pick up the Tomcat in Perth, and I flew left seat. The Tomcat was also dual-control, so he let me take the front seat for the run back. Over the Australian Bight, I had her up to 55,000’ and Mach 2.4. There’s nothing like that feeling.

 

“But my real dream is to fly a Mustang. The first thing I need is a taildragger endorsement. Eli thought it might be fun to start getting the feel of a tailwheel in what the guys who flew the Mustang originally did. And it just so happened that Sydney Exotics had a WACO UPF-7 that needed to be brought to the shop in Canberra for paint, and another one in RAAF colors that they’d comp him for a few days for all the money he’d already spent on the Tomcat, the Hustler, and the Hunter – sounds like the title of an action comedy.

 

“After dropping the first plane off, picking up the second, and having a nice breakfast, we flew the WACO down to Melbourne and then up to Wagga Wagga, where we landed on fumes. We overnighted there, and then had some fun with a low run through the mountains back to Bankstown. Okay, I’m hooked.

 

“And with that, I’ll conclude this Daily Update. I’m Claus Ullrich, for PPP, Elias Pacheco, and Radio Chachapoya, signing off. Safe flying, everybody.”

[ScottishMike]

“Ok, you fly the first leg and we'll swap each time we stop.” Suzanne agreed and took first turn on the (YBCG) Coolangata leg to Brisbane (YBBN)

Coolangata is a busy place, queuing for rwy 140 behind a Dash8:

 

Strong crosswind blowing us sideways the minute we left the ground:

 

Down town Coolangata reminds me of a mini Miami:

 

I am not sure the white areas are supposed to be there. Coral sand or malfunction?

 

Not far from Brisbane and the GPS and map are not showing the land we are flying over. I am getting nervous. I don't like malfunctions, other systems seem to be OK.

 

 

We are cleared for 010R (YBBN) Brisbane Intl. Nice view of the city as Suzanne takes her onto final:

 

Not the best final:

 

We are down smoothly:

 

After more than 10 minutes taxing, we passed two terminals and a cargo loading area, we arrive at our directed parking spot. It's in the middle of nowhere. The plan was to have lunch here but there are no facilities. It has confirmed my impression that big airports don't really care or cater for general aviation.

 

So we decide to leave and have lunch in Rockhampton. We swap seats and are directed to take off on rwy 010L this involves another fifteen minute taxi.

Finally bye bye Brisbane:

 

Busy airspace as we head north again:

 

Purring north low and fast, all good and just some tropical haze:

 

Approaching Rockhampton and white sand appears again. Is this a system malfunction? Or are the patches meant to be white? Maybe missing a texture?

 

I have been following a Cessna 208 for quite a few miles. He is cleared into Rockhampton and 1.8 nm. in front of me. We are cleared as well and told we are No 2.

 

Maybe a little close to his rear end and the inevitable request to go around comes from ATC.

“Did you hear the tower say something?” I ask Suzanne.

“No must have been static crackle.” She smiles at me.

“We have good brakes, let's land behind him.”

 

A tad close, but as I said our brakes are good

 

The C208 does that annoying AI trick of simply disappearing. Still it makes it easier for us to taxi into our parking spot. Power down and go for a well earned lunch.

 

Lunch over and Suzanne is back in command as we power up:

 

Leaving Rockhampton and turning onto a north heading for Mackay:

 

Suddenly the screen goes black and FS does a Crash To Desktop. Why? I have no idea, I suspect a memory issue. Anyway I have a program that saves FS every few minutes so getting back to where I was is not a problem.

Zipping north at 230 kts. Cloud has come to join the haze:

 

Mackay off to the left as we push forward:

 

Just behind us we pass what looks like a large man made harbour for loading bulk coal:

 

Mackay through the window as we enter our downwind leg:

 

Turning onto base:

 

Onto final:

 

Down in Mackay:

 

In our parking spot. Close down and time for dinner, drink and fun.