The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO

[Bossspecops]

I may be marooned here for a while. 

 

My joystick seems to have died, and the broadband at home is on a go slow. Things aren't to well aboard 'Austral Rose'..........................

[PhrogPhlyer]

5 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

My joystick seems to have died, and the broadband at home is on a go slow

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

EP: “Hello and welcome to the Daily Update for the 2nd of February, 2024. I’m Elias Pacheco, for Claus Ullrich and the Radio Chachapoya team, with big news: We have our first finisher! Captain Dirk Doovalacky and the PhrogPhlyers, in a marathon that included nearly six hours on the sticks and, if that wasn’t enough, tours of every aviation museum along the way, have made it to Sydney Bankstown.

 

“Even more impressive than the mere posterior resistance required in a hard-seated helicopter for that length of time is what he did with the nine remaining legs. If you recall, Double D had been sitting in Renmark with a Cumulative Variance of +44 minutes. A helpful tailwind let him take 8 minutes out of that by Naracoorte. He was able to reduce this another 5 minutes in his run to Warnambool. Melbourne saw him make up another 3 minutes, his deficit dropping below 30 minutes for the first time.

 

“500 miles to go. A half-hour still to make up. And not a leg over a hundred miles long to do it in, save for Parkes. Double D faced a daunting challenge. Even the geography was discouraging, as he had to overfly Mount Disappointment on his way to Mangalore. But, he took another 2 minutes out of his CV. He pushed it the 70 miles to Tocumwal, gaining another 5 minutes. The run to Narrandera saw him eat into his time by 4 minutes more, dropping his CV below 20.

 

“He repeated this on the long run to Parkes. 4 minutes gone. 13 to go. Another 4 minutes to Bathurst. 9 minutes. And then finally the hop to Sydney. Fatigue and air traffic control conspired to keep him pretty much to his plan, only managing to eke out another 2 minutes to finish the 1976 Australian Air Rally with a +7 CV.

 

“It was a truly Herculean effort, flown as an officer and a gentleman – no creative flight planning, no fudging of the numbers, taking his lumps from inclement weather when he had the option to go back and re-run a disastrous leg, then fighting back to come within 7 minutes of a perfect score. My hat’s off to you, Captain Dirk Doovalacky! I haven’t seen a recovery run of that caliber since Maxime Martin’s at the Nurburgring 24H, a decade or so ago. And those last nine legs – the team should change its mascot from a frog to a well-endowed spider. Great stuff!

 

“So now let’s run down today’s Leaderboard, because there is even more action to report:

 

 

“Melo965 proved that you don’t have to be an Aussie Army chopper jockey to have a good run – his +2 to Forrest has left him with a perfect score and in first place.

 

“defaid remains at Adelaide, in second with a +2.

 

“ViperPilot2 is two legs behind them in third, at Ceduna, with a -2.

 

“JSMR’s in Forrest, presumably planting a forest. He has a +2, currently in fourth.

 

“ScottishMike is in Adelaide, in fifth with a -4.

 

“Bossspecops is in sixth, in Warnambool with a -5. Unfortunately, he might be there for a while because he has discovered critical issues both with his Sealand’s flight control and its communications systems. Let’s hope that he can get these resolved in short order.

 

“The PhrogPhlyers’ +7 in Sydney moves them up into seventh position, with a completion date of the 1st of February. I certainly hope their pilot can stick around for the rest of the month; I’ve finally learned how to spell, ‘Doovalacky,’ without having to look it up.

 

“This moves MAD1 into eighth, with his -8 at Katanning.

 

“And this concludes today’s Update. I’m Elias Pacheco, for Claus Ullrich and Radio Chachapoya, signing off. 7’s the number to beat, everybody. Have a great flying day!”

[ScottishMike]

WEDNESDAY 31^st January

 

“Come in, take a seat.” he gestured to two seats covered in assorted papers in the cramped office. Craig, I presumed this was he; the plate on the door read: Dr. Craig Allardice. He lifted the papers from one of the chairs dumping them on an already overflowing desk. “Sorry!”

“Andrew phoned warning me you might call. How can I help?”

I explained the events of the last few days.

“How unfortunate. A sad ending to a chequered career. It must be a decade or so since David Segfield left his academic studies. It's a small community you see, Indigenous Studies, we know each other or of each other. Andrew said you had some questions around what Segfield might have been digging for when he died.”

“Yes.” I replied glancing round the walls of the office. The Doctor had a poster of the southern night sky on one wall;

 

That's when it hit me, the Cairns! The same shape of triangle as the Triangulum Australe, a small but distinct constellation.

“It just came to me!” I exclaimed, “Seeing your poster. The cairns at the site represent the Triangulum constellation. Same angles, brightest star at the apex and three stars forming the base.”

“How interesting, the poster comes from an illustration used in a book by Hugh Cairns and Yidumduma Harney. “I have a copy here somewhere”. Dust billowed up from a stack of books on top of an already full bookcase. “Here you can borrow these.” he blew more dust off the volumes and handed them to me:

 

“I'm still not sure how I can help?” Dr. Allardice stared at me questioningly.

“Well, I wondered if Segfield might have come across an Aboriginal Dream that mentioned the cairns and what was buried between them?”

[ViperPilot2]

Congratulations PP on completing the AU Rally! Quite an Achievement! 

[Rupert]

13 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

One of many things I tried to highlight during the AAR was that Australia has many fantastic aviation museums.

Large, small, or somewhere in between, they are troves of history to visit and enjoy.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Aerospace_museums_in_Australia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Railway_museums_in_Australia

 

When I was in Perth in the mid-80's I found a great train museum.

https://www.railheritagewa.org.au/

And I visited the Aviation Heritage Museum in Bull Creek.

https://www.railheritagewa.org.au/

 

It was enjoyable to talk with like minded train or plane enthusiasts no matter where I was in the world.

If you like train museums you need to visit the National Railway Museum of Great Britain in York UK.  In addition to Queen Victoria's train and others, a fully functional steam powered locomotive roundhouse with functional moving steam powered locomotives, they have many other full sized exhibits.   They even have the complete prototype modern high speed passenger train whose passenger cars "lean" into the turns to keep their passengers more comfortable at high speeds.

www.RailwayMuseum.org.UK

 

York is also a wonderful fully walled city complete with the York Minster Cathedral as well!  Plus the country side nearby is IMO one of the most scenic I've ever seen.  And I've been on every continent except Antarctica.

[Melo965]

9 hours ago, Bossspecops said:

My joystick seems to have died, and the broadband at home is on a go slow.

 

Best of luck getting it sorted out.  I have a spare back-up joystick here, but hopefully you can have a new one in place before mine got shipped over there.

 

I ordered a new joystick in March 2020, right when MSFS 2020 came out, and during the pandemic to boot.  It took 9 months to arrive on my doorstep! 

 

 

[Melo965]

I will post my flight report for Forrest (YFRT) later today.

 

Taking a day off from flying the Rally to take my wife out to lunch at the Spruce Goose Cafe. (0S9)  We enjoy the food there, and often get to see interesting aircraft as well. 

 

[taoftedal]

2 hours ago, Rupert said:

If you like train museums you need to visit the National Railway Museum of Great Britain in York UK.

 

Indeed ... it's been a few years but what a wonderful time we had in York ... and the museum was super!

[taoftedal]

Time to leave Adelaide but what a wonderful stay.  Spent my time wondering around the parks and city center visiting coffee shops and restaurants morning noon and night.  Didn’t go five star crazy but the regular fare and special treats I experienced were over the top ... yum!  No need to go hungry when ‘down under’ ... as both Melo and others have discovered.

 

 

My B&B family even made some homemade Anzac Biscuits, Fairy Bread, and VoVo’s!  Each very traditional with quite a bit of history.  Those biscuits and VoVo’s sure went down easy with my Cappuccino ... and I was lucky to grab one piece of the Fairy Bread before the kids arrived.

 

 

With a trip to the market for supplies I headed back to Parafield and packed up the ‘Twinkie’ with ... well ... everything but Twinkies!  YPPF> YNRC> YWBL>YMMB looks to be just 400 (+) nm so perhaps just over 2 (+) hours today.

 

 

 

All is ready ... the weather forecast is super ... the walk-around complete ... the treats within an arm’s reach and yes ... my Flat White is in the cup holder.  The tower directs us to 3L and the Piper and I are on our way ...

 

 

 

East of Parafield the landscape turns rural with small towns and settlements dotting the green fields.  Past Naracoorte we enter the state of Victoria.  Perhaps a few more stands of timber but the view below remains pretty much the same.  Almost as soon as Warrnambool passes below the Melbourne airspace is upon us and it is time to give them a shout.

 

 

Over the bay Moorabbin welcomes the Twin Comanche and with wheels down she settles onto 35L and taxis to parking.  An easy and enjoyable day of flying ... and the treats didn’t hurt! ... anyone for a Tim Tam?

 

 

 

[ViperPilot2]

1 hour ago, Melo965 said:

I will post my flight report for Forrest (YFRT) later today.

 

Taking a day off from flying the Rally to take my wife out to lunch at the Spruce Goose Cafe. (0S9)  We enjoy the food there, and often get to see interesting aircraft as well. 

 

 

Hope you had an awesome Lunch! 

 

Cafes and Restaurants at local Airports are hidden gems. The Perfect Landing Restaurant at Centennial Airport (KAPA) is one of those, and it looks out over the Ramp. You never know what you'll see coming in or departing! 

 

https://theperfectlanding.com/

[Rupert]

Well,

 

Molly's doing well enough now that I can do some flying.  Obviously I now have to fly on local time here.  But I did just land at YPKS.  That's a pretty nice looking airstrip in P3D. 

 

I admit I was having a hard time getting up to cruising speed and fuel consumption was out the roof so I started trouble shooting.

 

EEK!! I GOT TO 6,500' WITH THE GEAR STILL DOWN!!

 

Gear up I got back to my normal 180 or so indicated cruise speed.  I then landed with a little fuel left.

 

Something to be said for using a CHECKLIST! 

[JSMR]

1 hour ago, taoftedal said:

Time to leave Adelaide but what a wonderful stay. 

 

 

You've never actually been to Adelaide have you? 

[MAD1]

The Chachapoya Chronicle. Travel news. Saturday 3 February 2024.

 

Route

 

15 YNAR Narrandera. On the Murrumbidgee River, a tributary of the Murray. Another pleasant, quite, country town. Flyers might enjoy fishing in the river. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrandera

 

16 YPKS Parkes. 'The Big Dish' is here (no not another 'big thing' tourist gimmick, but the real thing, an actual big dish), Parkes Observatory radio telescope, 20 km (12 miles) north of the town, 64 m (210 foot) diameter. Has been involved in many astronomy discoveries over the decades. Perhaps most famous is it's role in the NASA Deep Space Communications Network, when needed (the 3 dishes, spaced equi-distant around the world are Goldstone USA, Madrid (Spain), Tidbinbilla near Canberra.) For the Apollo 11 Moon landing, Parkes was added into the network, and was the station that received the famous live TV pictures of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin coming down the ladder, the USA station being out of line-of-sight at the time. The video stream was forwarded to NASA in the USA. (The movie 'The Dish' celebrates it.) Easily visible from the air, flyers who are interested might like to take a short excursion over it, alternatively it has a visitors centre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkes_Observatory https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/2a/ABC_Apollo_11.ogv/ABC_Apollo_11.ogv.360p.webm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dish

 

17 YBTH Bathurst. Famous for the annual 'Bathurst 1000' car race, 1000 km (621 miles) at the Mount Panorama circuit. Rev-head paradise! The course includes parts of Bathurt's normal city streets, and rev-headers can visit as tourists and drive the course. Nothing more to say! The course includes a hill (Mount Panorama), up and over.
https://www.supercars.com/events/2024-repco-bathurst-1000 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathurst_1000

 

18 YSBK Bankstown (Sydney). End of the race. Same as Moorabbin, the big GA for Sydney.

 

[taoftedal]

2 hours ago, JSMR said:

You've never actually been to Adelaide have you?

 

LOL … only in my dreams mate (and FS9) … but I did download a recipe for Anzac Biscuits … as well as Avocado Toast!  When in Rome … 

[Melo965]

4 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

Hope you had an awesome Lunch! 

 

Still working on my Forrest flight report, but lunch was Great! 

 

Here is what I found.

 

 

 

And the lunch was delicious too.

 

 

And PP, not to leave you out, also found this book there by a local author.  A great find.

 

[JSMR]

39 minutes ago, taoftedal said:

 

LOL … only in my dreams mate (and FS9) … but I did download a recipe for Anzac Biscuits … as well as Avocado Toast!  When in Rome … 

I didn’t actually know Adelaide was IN Australia until you posted that.

[Rupert]

18 minutes ago, JSMR said:

I didn’t actually know Adelaide was IN Australia until you posted that.

Okay,

 

Let's see that Avocado Toast recipe!

[Rupert]

On 2/1/2024 at 4:15 PM, PhrogPhlyer said:

Also makes a great directional sign "Runway That Way!"

I think this airport needed one.

 

And a counter claim to the "LEARN TO FLY HERE" sign.

[taoftedal]

2 hours ago, Rupert said:

Let's see that Avocado Toast recipe!

 

Well ... there must be a hundred or so Rupert ... repeat after me ... 'Hey Google ...' (the attached should help get you started) 

 

Avocado Toast.pdf

[ViperPilot2]

Just now, taoftedal said:

 

Well ... there must be a hundred or so Rupert ... repeat after me ... 'Hey Google ...' (the attached should help get you started) 

 

Avocado Toast.pdf 76.29 kB · 0 downloads

 

It's all about the Bread. Sourdough and Rye are divine!

[jgf]

YREN to YNRC - 198mi in 1 hour

YNRC to YWBL - 135mi in 41 minutes

YWBL to YMMB - 150mi in 49 minutes

YMMB to YMNG - 79mi in 29 minutes

YMNG to YTOC - 81mi in 30 minutes

YTOC to YNAR - 101mi in 35 minutes

YNAR to YPKS - 151mi in 47 minutes

 

Altitude 8k ft except the three shortest legs flown at 5k ft;  cruise 185kt GS except last leg 175kt to save fuel (landed with 3 gallons remaining).  Entire flight, YPJT to YPKS, 2631 miles in 13.7 hours (if I'm adding correctly),  full stop at each airfield, refueled at Caiguna and Parafield. 

 

FS2004 scenery with FS2002 airplane, don't snicker too much.

Leaving YWBL

 

Over YMAV

 

Landed on fumes at YPKS

 

 

[Bossspecops]

13 hours ago, taoftedal said:

 

Indeed ... it's been a few years but what a wonderful time we had in York ... and the museum was super!

 

Not only the York Museum, about 65-70 miles north is their 'Locomotion' out-station at Shildon in Co. Durham with even more locos and rolling stock. I have a vested interest there as they have the Advanced Passenger Train - Experimental there which I worked on in the 70s, and I'm effectively 'Chief Engineer' for the train's support Group. 

 

 

That's ne on the left in the cab, and no, I wasn't driving it and about to kill the photog, it wasn't moving at the time. 

 

Sorry about the diversion from FSX, but what's a guy to do with a dead joystick? 

[Bossspecops]

Why does a Staggerwing always look like it's doing 250 kts when it's only just taken-off? 

 

My joystick news isn't good but it's passable as the local PC guy reckons he can fix it once he gets the parts, which could take a while.

 

I was hoping to get a bunch of the Rally legs under my wings early on anyway as I'll be away much of next week and won't be able to fly till maybe Sunday the 10th.

 

I hope they have good hotels and diners in Warrnambool....................

[jgf]

Good luck with the joystick.  I can't complain about mine, an old Logitech Extreme 3D Pro;  nothing fancy, four axes, ten programmable buttons, I've had it around fifteen years and it still looks and works as well as the day I got it ...for less than $30, shipping included (best computer purchase ever, lol).