The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO

[ViperPilot2]

2 hours ago, jgf said:

 

As an insatiable reader I've noticed this trend in more and more history/reference books over the past forty years.  The problem is usually hack authors.  These are freelance people who accept contract work from publishers, often on topics for which they have no prior experience;  they do minimal research, enough to sound authoritative, and meet a deadline. 

 

It not only happens in Print, but on the TeeVee and in Film as well. The most recent TV reports specifically regarding "The Bone" (B-1B) and its sorties in the Middle East show Rhinos (F/A-18E's & F's) taking off from Carriers... 

 

Writers and those in other Media ventures with lax Standards and no regard for Accuracy or simple Research continually do a dis-service to Aviation and its Image in the Public eye.  As jgf said, the slew of Aviation 'reference' books released since the mid 80's are a cornucopia of contradictory and misleading Facts and Figures that make an Aviation Buff's head spin, pitch and roll.

[taoftedal]

2 hours ago, TomPenDragon said:

Thank you all so much for your words and thoughts of condolence.  The thing that sucks worst about getting old is having friends who don't.

 

How true TomP ... too many are missing.  Peace to Ilan's memory.

[Bossspecops]

Landing a big Goodyear blimp at GIBRALTAR! That must have taken some doing, there are horrendous wind gusts around The Rock with the wind in almost any direction.

 

I wish I'd have been there to see that, but I've only ever seen one airship flying in my whole life, and that was the tiny 'Bournemouth' ship in the early 50s. 

[Melo965]

2 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

2 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

If all else fails, throw money at it. 

OMG, Kit's a closet government contractor!

 

 

Question:  What is an Elephant?

Answer:     A Mouse made to Government specifications.

 

[Melo965]

32 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

I've only ever seen one airship flying

 

I saw the Goodyear Blimp flying right overhead at low altitude in southern California once.

 

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

31 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

'Bournemouth' ship

What an interesting design for a club built airship.

https://www.airshipsonline.com/airships/Bournmouth/index.htm

 

I was luck to have seen many USN blimps as a child, since I grew up in central New Jersey, home to Lakehurst.

They used to cruise along the summer beaches, of course to wave back to all the happy waving little children. 

 

LTA is a passion for me, with a rather sizable library and airship memorabilia collection. I even have small relics from the Hindenburg and the USS Akron.

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 minute ago, Melo965 said:

I saw the Goodyear Blimp flying right overhead

I liked the older paint scheme, but any LTA that you see is worth every second.

[jgf]

17 minutes ago, Melo965 said:

I saw the Goodyear Blimp flying right overhead at low altitude in southern California once.

 

Those are frequent sights here (their main base is still near Akron), flying downtown or over OSU stadium.  Unfortunately there is no public access to them;  the only passengers allowed are corporate guests and reporters/photographers.  For a while back in the seventies you could get tickets for the blimp based in Florida, but this was a condition of the agreement with Miami to allow them to operate in the area;  once Goodyear moved the operation to a different base in Florida they stopped the public flights (my wife and I got tickets when visiting relatives in '76, but the winds were too gusty so the blimp wasn't flying).

 

Even the Akron base, now a National Historic Site, is not open to the general public;  tours are given to valid groups such as schools, churches, etc., and you can get on a mailing list to be included in such events, though I've heard it may be months before you hear anything.

 

https://www.goodyearblimp.com/

[PhrogPhlyer]

4 minutes ago, jgf said:

the only passengers allowed are corporate guests and reporters/photographers.

Luckily in the '80s public access for blimp flights was still allowed.

A lawsuit over an injury ended those wonderful public relations flights.

[jgf]

1 minute ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

A lawsuit over an injury ended those wonderful public relations flights.

 

I figured it was an insurance situation.  The flights weren't cheap though,  I think we paid about $150 each for a flight of about an hour.  My sister-in-law told us that a couple of times a year they had longer flights that came to Orlando (where she lived) looped around Disney World and returned to Miami, but these were quite expensive and the waiting lists were ridiculous (I think it only carries about a dozen passengers, but the number varies with weather conditions).

[PhrogPhlyer]

3 minutes ago, jgf said:

The flights weren't cheap though,  I think we paid about $150 each for a flight of about an hour.

Times had changed, they were free back in the day.

 

[Melo965]

1 hour ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

any LTA that you see is worth every second.

 

The secondary office for my company was right on the Santa Maria California airport.  I used to go there once a month for a few days to handle all of their IT issues.  I came out from work one afternoon at 4 PM to see the Goodyear blimp landing about 100 ft away.  (Can't find the pictures I took then, at the moment.)  The next morning I had breakfast with the Blimp pilots in the airport hotel.  They were very nice and answered my questions.  The Blimp's top speed was 35 miles per hour.  Makes my Chipmunk seem like a speed demon.

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

32 minutes ago, Melo965 said:

The Blimp's top speed was 35 miles per hour. 

That's cruise speed. its max is 50mph. Woohoo.

I did fly an ILS into Long Beach with the Columbia. THAT was an experience.

A large bag is not easy to keep on the glide path.

[ViperPilot2]

2 hours ago, Melo965 said:

 

The secondary office for my company was right on the Santa Maria California airport.  I used to go there once a month for a few days to handle all of their IT issues.  I came out from work one afternoon at 4 PM to see the Goodyear blimp landing about 100 ft away.  (Can't find the pictures I took then, at the moment.)  The next morning I had breakfast with the Blimp pilots in the airport hotel.  They were very nice and answered my questions.  The Blimp's top speed was 35 miles per hour.  Makes my Chipmunk seem like a speed demon.

 

 

Just imagine cruising from Friedrichshafen, Germany to Pernambuco, Brazil at a sedate 60 knots...

[Sirrus]

5 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

Just imagine cruising from Friedrichshafen, Germany to Pernambuco, Brazil at a sedate 60 knots...

...sitting under all that flammable hydrogen for nearly 5 DAYS!

How high would your blood pressure be?

Would you have bitten your nails down to the quick?

Did they carry a doctor to deal with nervous fliers?

 

Granted airships looked magnificent but an aeronautical dead end, unless, of course, someone can prove me wrong.

 

[Bossspecops]

I have a great liking for the R100 rigid airship, the Brit one that DID work! I guess that's mainly because it was designed by Barnes Wallis and I've had the FROG kit it since goodness knows when.

 

I went to Howden in Yorkshire once, where it was built, and the site is now a golf course, but I went to look anyway. The clubhouse has one pic of the R100 in the bar, but that's about it.

 

On the way out of the area I passed a massive concrete foundation about the size of three Brit houses and maybe 2 feet high. It had the world's BIGGEST eye bolt set in the middle of it, and I realised it was one of the R100s mooring pads! 

 

Of course the sheds for the R100 and R101 still exist at Cardington in Bedfordshire here, and you can see them for MILES!

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

8 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

a sedate 60 knots...

Considering that cruise ships were mostly under 25kts, 60 was true luxury.

[PhrogPhlyer]

59 minutes ago, Bossspecops said:

Cardington

Available here at FlightSim for FSX and FS2004

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 hour ago, Bossspecops said:

FROG kit

It's in my stack of "airships to build someday" boxes.

[taoftedal]

Time to leave Alice Springs but as I walk out to the apron ... wait a minute ... another PA-30 is moving out... first one I’ve seen in Australia and what pretty paint ... wonder where they’re headed?  Oh well ... with the walk around complete and a word from the tower this Charlie Alpha is directed to 30 for departure.  Once off we head north-northeast and start the final trek to Cairns.

 

 

 

As we’ve all become accustomed the landscape will turn again from brown to green on this final eastern leg on our way to the banquet.  It has all been a great experience and I have enjoyed how effortlessly the Twin Comanche has made the journey.  She just does everything (thanks again to Don Moser and his team) so well.  What a great bird!

 

 

 

At the half-way point I start to hear a note of sadness coming from the Lycomings.  Is there a problem?  I scan the gauges and all seems normal ... after about 5 minutes I check again ... all the needles are where they should be ... but something in that now all too familiar sound is different.

 

 

 

Crossing the Macalister Range our approach puts us in a right hand pattern to 15 and as we taxi in and shut down ... still in the left seat I reach over and take the last Tim Tam out of the package ... and as I savor that biscuit in the quiet of the cabin I hear the song those Lycomings have been singing ...

 

... and his ghost may be heard if you pass by that billabong

"Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me"

 

I'm missing Australia already ...

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

42 minutes ago, taoftedal said:

... and his ghost may be heard if you pass by that billabong

"Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me"

 

I'm missing Australia already ...

Nicely done,

[PhrogPhlyer]

AAR Poster 4

[PhrogPhlyer]

On 2/27/2024 at 4:07 AM, MAD1 said:

if you're able to squeeze me into the first poster

Be more than happy to add all three into the set of posters.

Could you redo the screenshot with a camera angle slightly in front of the wing/rotor (front quartering view).

Try to align close to the others in the poster.

Then I'll redo and make a final set of posters for the event.

Thx.

[TomPenDragon]

A reminder: voting for Spirit of the Race is open.  I assume that each nominee has the vote of the person who nominated them; if you wish to change your vote you may do so.

 

The Team PenDragon vote is for Bossspecops. 

 

In the endurance racing that I watch, the SOTR most often goes to the team that has faced the most adversity and has never given up.  Between the joystick issues and now having to rebuild his simworld pretty much from scratch, the Bosss has epitomized this Spirit.  When his rig has been working, he has regaled us with beautiful pictures of a different sort of aircraft for many of us, expertly flown, starting with a quick jaunt from the UK to Australia.  Until the most recent, catastrophic failure, he had been planning on turning the Gaggle into a circumnavigation.  Hopefully, he'll be able to continue this effort soon.

[Rupert]

18 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

 

A couple past pics in FSX.

 

 

Nice,

 

We had an occasional visitor at MCAF Santa Ana,  One of the 60's era Goodyear blimps would float in from time to time.  And yes, they were a fun ride and we all tried to snag a ride on one, especially over the beaches when the beauties were out sunning.  Choppers and a ton of GA craft got reported for getting too low and close to the beaches.  But the blimp was always welcomed there.