The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO

[jgf]

3 hours ago, JSMR said:

Holy power poles Batman. @jgf

 

I was thinking how fun - and difficult - it would be to fly the leg with no gps. No navaids. Dead reckoning only. 
 

 

 

For these distances it isn't too difficult.  I'm using GPS to get the bearing, distance, and time, then fly most of the route without it on screen.  "Go this direction for this long" and constantly tweak aileron trim to counteract fuel use; but I do go to GPS or Terravue to find the airport, and runway orientation.

[Rupert]

2 hours ago, JSMR said:

Holy power poles Batman. @jgf

 

I was thinking how fun - and difficult - it would be to fly the leg with no gps. No navaids. Dead reckoning only. 
 

 

Long ago, back in the sixties and before that, it wasn't uncommon to fly long distances without usable navaids at low altitudes in various countries, including the US, during daytime hours.  There were several "dead" areas for most common navaids which were transmitted on very high frequencies for straight line accuracy.   So if you weren't flying high enough, your receiver/s wouldn't pick them up because their radio waves traveled in a very straight line and the earth's curvature blocked them from a low altitude aircraft's receiver.

 

At night we could usually pick up "Clear Channel" AM commercial radio stations such as WLW, WHAS, etc. which transmitted at a low enough frequency rather than traveling just straight line, they wrapped around the earth's curvature and very high power, typically 50,000 watts.  They worked fine for triangulating with other Clear Channel stations using the ADF at night.  But during the daytime hours "Clear Channel" stations were required to transmit at much lower power so they didn't compete with or over power local AM stations.  Therefore during the day you often flew in "dead spots,"

 

When flying "Ferry Delivery Hops" we were required to only fly using daytime VFR Flight Rules.  So we almost never flew a ferry hop over a long distance without carrying a whole bunch of highway road maps covering the cross country highways from our trip's start to destination.  I joined the American Automobile Association for that very reason. 

 

We who had to fly at low altitude had our own version of IFR.  It was called "I Fly Roads."  US 31E, Rt. 66, etc. were all easy to follow at our lower altitudes using road maps so they gave us an axis of our position.  We often circled water towers to read what town we were near for another axis.  Then used that info plus the road map we could do our plotting and ETA planning.

 

 

 

[jgf]

5 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

I STILL can't get Active Sky to hook up to its server for some reason.

 

Oh how I miss Active Sky, but they shut down the servers for all but the latest version.  So they'll never get another penny from me.

 

Sadly I've found no replacement.

[jgf]

26 minutes ago, Rupert said:

Long ago, back in the sixties and before that, it wasn't uncommon to fly long distances without usable navaids at low altitudes in various countries, including the US, during daytime hours.

 

A friend many years ago told me of flying with friends back in the thirties and forties, they would use a standard broadcast band radio, tune to a known station, rotate the radio for best reception and note the bearing, fly another 10-20 minutes and repeat, then triangulate their position on a map.  For shorter distances they would use standard road maps and just follow the roads and rivers (I have often wished FS terrain were accurate enough for this).

 

Of course little GA flying was done above 4k-5k feet back then.

 

One of the first passenger aircraft accidents was in France where two aircraft, both navigating by following the same road, collided.

[Melo965]

6 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

I STILL can't get Active Sky to hook up to its server for some reason.

 

Good luck getting it working.  On the last Rally Active Sky would not connect a few times.  After a full reboot of the computer it connected Ok again.

[Melo965]

Mount Magnet (YMOG) to RAAF Base Pearce (YPEA)

 

Here is the weather for this leg of the journey.

 

Ready to start the engine on the first clear day in Australia.

 

On course and leaving Mount Magnet behind.  Spotted a Cherokee 180 in flight behind me.

 

1 hour into the flight, still a beautiful day, not a cloud in sight.

 

Getting close to the destination, some interesting hills below.

 

Perfectly lined up with the ILS for Runway 18L at Pearce.  Can't yet spot the airport ahead in the haze.

 

Airport in sight finally.

 

Staying high on final approach until I clear those trees.

 

Easy Peasy landing.

 

Parked and engine shut down at RAAF Base Pearce. (YPEA)

 

On the way to find the No. 2 Flight Training Squadron and show them my Chipmunk.

The 2FTS guys and gals really appreciated my Chippie paint scheme.  They are hoping that the RAAF will order the aircraft.

 

No. 2 Flying Training School (No. 2 FTS) is the main flying training school of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Formed under its present name in 1969, it is located at RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia. No. 2 FTS traces its origins to the post-war re-establishment of the Air Force's original cadet training unit, No. 1 Flying Training School (No. 1 FTS), at RAAF Point Cook near Melbourne.

 

Pearce is the busiest RAAF base in Australia, with the highest air traffic including civil flights at the Joint User bases. Although its primary role is pilot training, it remains the only permanent RAAF base on the west coast, and thus has a significant logistics role.

 

The base also serves as an anti-hijacking training aid for Special Air Service Regiment counter-terrorism squadron, also known as Tactical Assault Group (West). It is used to practise airliner entry and hostage rescue drills. The base is home to a mockup of a Boeing 747 used for this counter-terrorism training.

 

Next flight is a really short hop of 27 miles to Jandakot Airport (YPJT).  About to start the race finally!

 

[ScottishMike]

Cleaned the rear seats of the Prof and Willie's detritus and locked up. It felt good to be on my own again. Gathered my overnight bag and walked towards town, it was around mid day and I was hungry. The guy at the FBO had directed me to the Ceduna Foreshore Hotel. “Best in town “ he assured me, about a mile's walk.”Call you a taxi if you like mate.” he offered.

“No thanks, be good to stretch my legs.” And it did feel good. Half a mile down the Eyre highway and I was in town. Ceduna seemed pleasant in a dusty quiet way. The heat not too bad, streets almost deserted; it reminded me of the song: “Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid day sun...” Off the A1 highway another half mile brought me to the Foreshore Hotel/Motel and it's bistro and two bars.

I checked in for the night, had a burger lunch and sat preparing flight notes for tomorrow, determined to go for a walk along the shore and pier when finished.

I decided I would over fly Port Augusta and head for Parafield tomorrow. Ensuring I had plenty of fuel this time, of course.

YCDU Ceduna to YPAG Port Augusta 205 nm. @ 140Kts = 1 Hr. 28 mins. + 4 mins Climb = 1Hr. 32 mins Heading 92 Degrees.

YPAG Port Augusta to YPPF Parafield 145 nm. @ 140Kts = 1 Hr. 2 mins + 4 mins descent and land = 1 Hr. 6 mins Heading 165 Degrees.

Fuel 85% for both legs.

Happy with myself I put the paperwork in my room and headed off for the seashore.

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

EP: “Hello and welcome to the Update for the 27th of January, 2024. I’m Elias Pacheco for Radio Chachapoya. Let’s go straight to the Leaderboard:

 

 

“At Forrest, ViperPilot2 retains his lead with a CV of +1.

 

“defaid is in second in Adelaide with a CV of +2.

 

“ScottishMike also has a +2 CV and is in third, two legs behind defaid. His Mooney has lost some weight, as his passengers prefer to walk the rest of the way to Sydney.

 

“JSMR also has a 2 – in this case, a -2 – currently in Norseman. He is in fourth.

 

“Bossspecops is here with us in Renmark, in fifth place with a -6.

 

“MAD1 is now officially on the Board! He and his Cessna 182RG are in Katanning with a -8, in sixth.

 

“The PhrogPhlyers drop into seventh, with a CV of +44. Double D and his Bell 206 are here in Renmark.

 

“Our apologies for neglecting the Free Fliers in our past few Updates. Fuel valve issues have forced Melo965 to change Chipmunks. But the good news for him is that he has now reached Perth, with a stop at RAAF Base Pearce before a short hop to Jandakot to start the race. taoftedal and his Twin Comanche had a gorgeous, full moon night flight to Adelaide. And yesterday afternoon at Renmark, we all looked up at the sound of jgf’s Staggerwing on approach – it’s always a treat to see that plane in the air!

 

“And last but certainly not least, Chachapoya Chronicle’s Aussie Correspondent has been hard at work keeping us posted about the tropical cyclone Kirrily and helping us get to know this spectacular country in which we are flying. His love for and pride in his native land shines through every single word.

 

“And this concludes today’s Update. I’m Elias Pacheco for Radio Chachapoya, on behalf of Claudine Ullrich, signing off. If like us you are taking a down day or two to watch the Dubai and Daytona 24-hour races, enjoy – the running has been fantastic so far. Whatever you’re doing this weekend, have fun, and stay safe. Bye, bye.”

[Bossspecops]

I got Active Sky to work at last, amazing what you can do with a big hammer............. 

 

So I've just got into Warrnambool, a minute ahead of my estimate  only to be greeted by an armed guard by the Tower there! No idea what he's doing, but he didn't stop me closing my flight plan.

 

Full report tomorrow, it's late here now. 

[jgf]

1 hour ago, Bossspecops said:

amazing what you can do with a big hammer

 

"If it doesn't work, get a hammer.  If it still doesn't work, get a bigger hammer.  If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway."

[Melo965]

RAAF Base Pearce (YPEA) to Jandakot (YPJT)

 

Glanced at the weather, but it is only a 28 mile flight, what could possibly go wrong?

 

Ready to start engine at RAAF Pearce.  Won't use autopilot at all for this short hop.

 

On course and leaving the Base behind.

 

Looks pretty hazy ahead, maybe I should have checked the weather more carefully!

 

Approaching Perth International (YPPH) at 1,900 ft.  Got overfly permission, but only above 3,500 ft.

 

Above Perth International at 3,700 ft.  The black arrow is pointing toward the main runways that can just barely be seen below.

 

Started descending early.  Finally broke out of the overcast at 1400 ft.

 

Runway in sight on the right.

 

On final for Runway 24R.
Touched down after 14 minutes in the air.

 

Parked at Jandakot (YPJT)

 

Here is how the weather looked just after I landed.

I was originally going to fly the first Rally leg today, but considering the local weather, will hope for better conditions tomorrow.

My flight to get here was from Bremerton, Washington (KPWT) to Williams Lake Canada (CYWL) in the Chipmunk.

Then I got a ferry flight from the USAF in a C-133B Cargomaster from CYWL to Midway Island (PMDY) to Darwin International (YPDN).

From there I hopped back in my aircraft and flew down the western side of Australia in either the DHC1-B-2 or the DHC-1B Chippie.

 

Total distance flown = 8,521 miles.
C-133B Cargomaster ferry distance flown = 6,697 miles.
Chipmunk distance flown = 1,824 miles.    

 

Here is my flight path in the Chippie in Australia. 1,541 miles.

 

Glad to be here finally.  Just going to do a little math, send a PM to Tom, and get going as soon as the weather clears.

 

[jgf]

55 minutes ago, Melo965 said:

Then I got a ferry flight from the USAF

 

You missed all the fun.  Should have followed me through Alaska, across the Bering Strait, through Siberia, down Sakhalin, Japan, Borneo, Indonesia, then to Australia ....where I was asked if I had a criminal record, and responded, "Is that still a requirement?"

[MAD1]

The Chachapoya Chronicle. Culture news, part 2 follow on from part 1 re Australia Day. Sunday 28 January 2024.

 

Old things, very old

 

From Perth to Adelaide the course covers the remote, flat, dry desert, very low population (it's not empty, people are there, but very few and very far apart). The surface you're flying over is very old, might not have changed much for hundreds of thousands of years. Hence the term 'ancient land'. This is where you get the sense of time, of long, long, long time. This concept, this feeling, is embodied into Aboriginal lore and told in their stories, their songs. Their history is not written down in words like Westerners do, but in songs, sung from generation to generation. And surprisingly, or not, it seems, the accuracy is retained through generations (when you think about it, it'd have to be, with many songs describing geography and navigation, where there is water which is a life or death matter, these 'songlines' were essential for survival especially in drought times, or at any time really. There are many travel routes, 'songlines', across the continent.)

 

ScottishMike Posted Monday at 08:14 AM 'Sparks flew into the night sky ...'. Very nice read, only error, everyone sits on the ground, in the sand, not on stones.

 

This correspondent, as a young man in his twenties, spent a little time in the Northern Territory, it was a real eye-opener. First time was in 1979, about four months about 100 km south of Darwin, working in a mining exploration camp, looking for uranium around the old Rum Jungle uranium mine. We found a hotspot too. At 24 years old this reporter fulfulled a boyhood dream of learning to fly, a Blanik glider, the NT Gliding Club being located there at the settlement of Batchelor (to be 100 km south of Darwin International airport). (We shared it with the parachute club, those people, men and women, were crazy, jumping out of perfectly good aircraft, they were a rather wild bunch).

 

The second time in the NT in about 1984, a short stint as a surveryor's assistant ('chainman'), we got a job to complete the south-east boundary of the Kakadu National Park (Aboriginal name 'Ubirr') https://parksaustralia.gov.au/kakadu https://northernterritory.com/kakadu-and-surrounds/destinations/kakadu-national-park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakadu_National_Park . The SE corner had never been marked 'on the ground' with posts/pegs, 13 km we surveyed in and placed concrete marker posts every few hundred metres. Only a job for young people, 'hard yakka' (work) in the heat. We were in virgin bush country. We stayed over a few weekends at the Ranger Uranium Mine campsite. The camp huts ('donga' in English slang) were good, being portable one-room units based around shipping container sizes, insulated, lined, air-con. Your reporter had a motorbike and took the opportunity to explore the Park.

 

A 'life memory' (you know, those little video clips in your mind) is sitting alone, nobody around, no tourists, gazing at a drawing of a thylacine, been extinct in that part of Australia for thousands of years, on a cliff face high above ground, and thinking 'wow, some bloke saw that animal and painted there, he must have been on some type of wood scaffold to get up there. It's as if he's speaking to me, saying 'see what I see' down through the eons, 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. (The thylacine, a marsupial, also known as the 'Tasmanian tiger', last inhabited Tasmania, and the last animal died in captivity in 1936.)

https://parksaustralia.gov.au/kakadu/do/rock-art/ubirr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine

(The attached pic is of the thylacine painting on the cliff face at Kakadu, and is as seen by your reporter in about 1984.)

 

ScottishMike mentioned the night sky. An interesting concept is Aboriginal culture has 'constellations' formed not only from stars, but also from the dark spaces in the Milky Way where there aren't stars (caused by dust clouds in our galaxy). An easy one to visualise is the 'Emu', who's head is near the Southern Cross, a yellow star marks its eye. This correspondent recently studied the sky (being an amateur astronomer since a kid) and could clearly discern it (needs a dark sky away from city lights).

 

Another concept, at the heart of the First Nations versus European settlers, is a legal one of 'terra nullius', 'empty land', belonging to nobody, as evidenced by no manipulation of the land. This was the basis for much European settlement, that nobody was living in or perhaps using, 'farming', the land. This was overturned in the Australian High Court in 1992 via the Mabo case, brought by Eddie Mabo. The land has been manipulated however, often using the tool of fire, by burning small patches of land regularly, which causes new green grass growth, which attracts in kangaroos etc. which thereby makes for easy hunting. Also, by frequent burning, it reduces the fuel load and so reduces the risk of severe 'bush fires' (wildfires). This practice of 'cool burning' is now being adopted to help minimise the risk of catastrophic fires, which has been experienced in recent years, and with climate change seeming to be increasing in frequency and severity. So, as Aborigines have said from the beginning, the white man has much to learn from their culture.

 

Recognition of Aboriginal culture and of them as people and citizens has been amazingly slow, perhaps shockingly too slow to some people. A 1967 national referendum was successful and they were counted in the national census as 'people' for the first time. Last year, 2023, the Australian population worked through a contentious proposal to set up an independant advisory body 'The Voice' by recognising in our Constitution the existence of First Nations culture. The referendem failed, the vote was 'no' so the whole question of First Nations peoples, European occupation, Australia Day, indigenous rights and related poor living standards, education, health standards (lower life expectancy), incarceration rates, deaths in custody, removal of children (the 'stolen generations') etc. is quite a raw topic for much of the Australian population. The referendum debates brought to the surface many issues. It'll take time for feelings to calm. This is simply all part of living in a vibrant democracy. Like in all nations, race relations is a complex matter, and there are many painful stories that can be told. Enough said. And like all nations, contemporary, modern Australia is a complex entity (it was announced last week that we've just passed 27 million people.)

[ScottishMike]

I made my way back to the airport. The town was more animated in the morning. The air fresher despite the cloudless sky. A day of promise, like meeting a beautiful woman for the first time.

I was collecting the met. report after fuelling the Mooney:

 

Nice day, much less wind than yesterday.

“Is that your aircraft Sir?” The question came from behind. A man in a lightweight summer suit. I had not seen many suits in Australia. He must have been in his forties. Solid looking if softly spoken. He pointed to the Mooney.

“I'm the pilot, yes” Not the place to go into the complexities of leasing.

“You are...?” I added.

“Detective Inspector Murray.” he flashed a warrant card at me.

“Can I help you?” perplexed at what this could be about.

“You have been flying with two passengers. David Segfield and another man?”

“Two passengers, yes. But not Segfield, I don't recognise that name.”

“Do you mind telling me the names of your passengers, Sir?”

“Professor Platypus Perth and Willie Wombat.” it suddenly struck me how silly the names were.

“I see Sir.” The inspector had a look of both incredulity and amusement.

I suddenly realised how incredibly naïve I had been.

“Is this one of your passengers?” he showed what looked like a passport photo of the prof.

“That's the Professor.” I confirmed

“Platypus Perth?” the inspector repeated, almost as if it was the punch line to a joke.

“Yes”

“His real name is David Segfield and unfortunately he's dead.”.

Well that killed the conversation as well.

“I think you had best come with me to the station, we are going to need a statement from you, Sir.”

The beautiful woman had aged into an evil hag in the space of a few minutes.

[Bossspecops]

Oh dear, looks like I forgot to post my Flight Report for Leg 09, and I've just flown Leg 10.  

 

I'll sort that out this afternoon. 

[taoftedal]

2 hours ago, ScottishMike said:

“His real name is David Segfield and unfortunately he's dead.”.

 

The Professor dead? … and Ginger turned into an old hag?  I always knew that Mary Ann had an evil streak in her … time to call Miss Fisher!

[Bossspecops]

Here's my (late....) Leg 09 Flight Report, sorry about that.

 

The flight plan from Renmark to Naracoorte was almost a dead straight line to the south, and with the wind direction as it was it was best to take-off on their 18 gravel runway, not something I'd done very often. Accelerating along it was a noisy experience, the gravel bouncing off the Sealand's hull out-gunning the two Gypsy Queens! I made a note to check the hull when I got to Naracoorte....

 

 

Climbing out to the south showed once again how much the Murray River dominates the state of the countryside in these parts. As soon as I flew anywhere near that river the ground cover was as green as Ireland, and the dull, dusty colours over in West Australia were significant by their absence, at least in these parts.

 

 

There were a couple of large tempting lakes en route south, but I curbed my enthusiasm for water ops and cruised on over them. 

 

 

Once away from the Murray the countryside soon lost its over-all green-ness and went back to the standard Australian sandy colouring, but with small plantations of trees now and then.

 

 

After about 45 mins I made the only significant turn on the whole route, changing from one targeted intersection to another, and it made a change to do something significant with the stick!

 

 

After another 20 mins I started the descent and soon afterwards made the last turn onto the approach path for Naracoorte, only 2-3 miles distant by now.

 

 

I couldn't actually see it at this range, but the small lakes in the distance gave a good indication of where it was, and soon afterward the runway popped into view.

 

 

I was a bit too far to the south and dog legged onto the extended centre-line before getting the gear and flaps down.

 

 

Once again the ramp and Flight Ops office were at the far end of the runway, so my almost 'on the numbers' landing left me a fair taxi before I got there, but they made me pretty welcome and I got a cab into the town for something to eat and to find a bed for the night.

 

 

Not a bad flight, but I was MILES out with my estimation and arrived 8 minutes early! 

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

EP: “Hello and welcome to a very brief Update for the 28th of January, 2024. I’m an exhausted Elias Pacheco for Radio Chachapoya. Let’s go straight to the Leaderboard:

 

 

“Just the facts: Bosss got to Warnambool. Melo got to Jandakot. Mike got arrested. See you tomorrow.”

[Melo965]

2 hours ago, TomPenDragon said:

Mike got arrested.

 

Hopefully just in for questioning, NOT arrested!

 

[MAD1]

The plot thickens re Mike (he must be or was in the RW a pulp fiction type crime writer. Intriguing, what will unfold? Can't wait until the next instalment. Who dun it? Willie perhaps (he always seemed like a sly thug type)?

[MAD1]

The Chachapoya Chronicle. Travel news. Monday 29 January 2024.

 

The Gaggle continues gaggling forwards and eastwards.

 

Route

 

10 YNRC Naracoorte. On the 'Limestone Coast' area of SA, hence caves. Also has a 'big thing', the 'Big Wombat' (un-informed tourists call it, but it's a Diprotodon, unrelated to a wombat, just looks like one). Given the caves have the bones of Pleistocene-era mega-fauna e.g. the Diprotodon. Some theories suggest that the first waves of Aborigines hunted them to extinction, plus it could also have been environment (climate) change, so just like the Woolly Mamoth, they died out. The first people entered the continent via the land bridge from what is now New Guinea (bringing their dog, the Dingo, previous to and up to the last ice age about 30,000 years ago, the sea level having risen to about it's present level by about 6,000 years ago).  (Australian crass tourism has a penchant for these: the Big Banana (Coffs Harbour), Big Prawn (Ballina), Big Pineapple (Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane) etc.) A little further south is Coonawarra, vineyards again, home to the famous Coonawarra wines.

 

11 YWBL Warrnambool. Into VIC now, on the coast. Whale watching anyone? For flyers' tired muscles, perhaps the hot springs will be a welcome relief https://visitwarrnambool.com.au/explore/experience-the-healing-power-of-warrnambools-hot-springs.

 

12 YMMB Moorabbin (Melbourne). The big GA airport for Melbourne - Australia's largest city, 5.3 million, recently overtaking Sydney (5.1 million). There has always been a healthy rivalry between the two, Melbourne claiming to be the cultural capital of Australia, and wealthy (old money), looking down its nose at Sydney, which considers Melbourne stuffy and a bit dull compared to the razz-a-ma-tazz of Sydney. These days, Melbourne's many laneway cafes are considered (i.e. promoted by Melbourne tourism) at having the best and most varied variety of coffee in the country. Of course, all so much hype.) But all that was last century, nowadays all the capitals are vibrant and abuzz, Australia has changed a lot in the last 24 years.

 

13 YMNG Mangalore. Not well known. Not much to report, a quiet country town.

 

14 YTOC Tocumwal. On the VIC-NSW border formed by the Murray River, the town is on the NSW side. It has a big thing, the 'Big Cod', the Murray cod, a well-known fine angler's fish to catch, and good eating.

 

https://www.australiantraveller.com/australia/most-iconic-big-things-of-australia

[taoftedal]

7 hours ago, TomPenDragon said:

Melo got to Jandakot.

 

Finally!  I for one was starting to wonder ... and where in the world is Rupert? ... let alone AirBasil ...  

[Rupert]

On 1/27/2024 at 2:48 PM, jgf said:

 

A friend many years ago told me of flying with friends back in the thirties and forties, they would use a standard broadcast band radio, tune to a known station, rotate the radio for best reception and note the bearing, fly another 10-20 minutes and repeat, then triangulate their position on a map.  For shorter distances they would use standard road maps and just follow the roads and rivers (I have often wished FS terrain were accurate enough for this).

 

Of course little GA flying was done above 4k-5k feet back then.

 

One of the first passenger aircraft accidents was in France where two aircraft, both navigating by following the same road, collided.

 

 

Flying locally we did that every day.  And that's exactly what we did with clear channel stations at night. 

 

But traveling across country during day time VFR rules, say from Baltimore to Santa Ana Ca. we didn't have nearly that much info about local daytime stations.  We probably learned as much from the town names on water towers as any other nav-aid  we used.

[jgf]

52 minutes ago, Rupert said:

We probably learned as much from the town names on water towers as any other nav-aid  we used.

 

Growing up mostly in rural areas I noticed all small towns had their names on the water tower.  Finally, around ten years old I asked why is the name always there, "Are they afraid someone will steal it?"  "No, it's for airplanes."  I pondered a moment and ,"Airplanes can't read."

[Airbasil_1]

6 hours ago, taoftedal said:

 

Finally!  I for one was starting to wonder ... and where in the world is Rupert? ... let alone AirBasil ...  

my comment on Page Nr. 3  explains it all where I have been since. 
I've been flying around quite a bit on my own... screens of these flights are shown in the Screenshots - Random Shot Corner

Also I've been busy flying in reality as my job goes on. Throughout, I've been visiting Jason Morrison and his Crew from Rebuild Rescue in Michigan, USA to check out how their project
on the free abandoned Airplane (The phoenix - Cessna 401/2) is running and enjoyed a pretty cool time with these dudes.
 
Untill next time, take care...