The 2024 Australian Air Rally - The FBO

[jgf]

25 minutes ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

My planners only show the waypoint ICAO 4-letter designations.

 

The default planner will highlight the airport name in the list when you enter the ICAO in the window.

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 minute ago, jgf said:

The default planner will highlight the airport name in the list when you enter the ICAO in the window.

I know, but being old and lazy, was hoping someone had a list of the names!  

[jgf]

YPJT - Jandacot

YKNG - Katanning

YNSM - Norseman

YCAG - Caiguna

YFRT - Forrest

YCDU - Ceduna

YPAG - Port Augusta

YPPF - Parafield

YREN - Renmark

YNRC - Naracoorte

YWBL - Warrnambool

YMMB - Moorabbin

YMNG - Mangalore

YTOC - Tocumwal

YNAR - Narrandera

YPKS - Parkes

YBTH - Bathurst

YSBK - Bankstown

YCFS (YSCH) - Coff's Harbor

YBNA - Ballina

YBCG - Coolangatta

YBBN - Brisbane

YBRK - Rockhampton

YBMK - Mackay

YBTL - Townsville

YBCS - Cairns

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

Thanks jgf! 

[MAD1]

Finally got a chance to sit down with a nice glass of white wine, ice in it (to use the 'great Australian adjective 'bloody' ' "bloody hot here mate, mid 30s C plus high humidity, sweat just dripping off me, well, that's the subtropics in mid-summer (for USA folk, probably similar to Florida). Now, I was looking forward to reading all the stories and seeing all the screenies, but I can't see them in this FBO. Sorry TomPenDragon  "what the bloody hell have you done"! Have closed and re-opened threads, don't see them. So, my understanding, we now have 2 threads, the OFFICIAL (great) and the FBO for everything else. Is that right? Somebody please help me out. Plan to do 1st leg tomorrow morning (my RW Sat morn, NSW time. Is Fri 6:12 pm now RW time.) Thank God the grog cupboard has supplies!

[MAD1]

Just closed flightsim.com and re-opened, hoping to see all the stories. Nup. So Tom, please sort it out.

[MAD1]

My apologies, I now see the stories in pages 1, 2 etc. So, have changed to red wine now and just settling in to enjoy (finally, have been trying to read stuff since Tue Aus time, but RW interferes) reading Elias's interview with VP2. All good now, am a happy camper. (Thank God the grog cupboard has supplies!!)

[MAD1]

The Chacapoya Chronicle. Travel News. The 2024 recreated Benson and Hedges 1976 Great Australian Air Race. Report 2 by your Aussie Correspondent.

 

Location: Jandakot. Date and time (RW): Friday 19 January 4 pm (Jandakot time, Australian Western Standard Time, AWST), temp 28C 82F (lovely pleasant temp).

The great race has finally started, the Gaggle is gaggling, streaming out along the route. Many still to start.

 

Listening to Radio Chachapoya and Elias's  Daily Update (‘Posted 10 hours ago’, your reporter is still unsure about the flightsim.com times shown in posts, and the international nature of the Chachapoya coverage). The Leaderboard shows that defaid has got to YFRT Forrest, Bossspecops got to YCAG Caiguna, ViperPilot1 (VP2) and Scottish Mike have both done the first leg to YKNG Katanning. (Some of the others may have done legs but haven’t posted their official results yet.)

 

Your reporter strolled around the GA parking area at Jandakot this afternoon and chatted to a few flyers, including MAD1. He and his Cessna 182RG have been there for a week, he was putting final setup touches in his cockpit, his mechanic having completed a check-over of the engine. Chronicle obtained this interview.

 

Chronicle: “Hi MAD1, how’s it going”?

MAD1: “Not bad, am pretty well ready. Hope to get away tomorrow, Sat morning. Plan to do only one leg per day, with rest days in between. (I’m still working, Mon-Wed, with my laptop with me, so am planning to do this as a ‘working holiday’)”.

 

Chronicle: “So what do you think of this race, and this American-led Chachapoya thing”?

MAD1: “Well, I like Yanks, have been to Yankie-land, plus the other nationalities involved. I think we have a great gang, the Gaggle. It’s been a big adventure for me: upgraded from my trusty Cessna 172 to the 182RG, had to finally come to grips with nav (have only really done circuits around my home airport, YLIS Lismore, about 30km by road west of YBNA Ballina). So heaps of fun.”

 

Chronicle: “Well, best of luck for starting the journey, hopefully tomorrow, I’m catching lifts in planes eastward, so will catch up with you and the rest of the Gaggle over the next days and weeks.”

MAD1: “No worries mate, will see you when I see you at an airport on the route, both to Sydney, then the extra free-flight up to Cairns.”

[MAD1]

On 1/16/2024 at 8:38 AM, taoftedal said:

 

True ... an espresso adventure.  Not sure which one it is ... I just pointed to the picture on the menu ...  

The Chachapoya Chronicle. Social section. Coffee in Aus.

 

It's simple and easy. A 'normal' coffee can be:

1. 'Cappuccino'. Made on milk, fluffed up. Whatever that is called in the USA, I don't know. (If you don't want cows milk, then add 'on Soy'.)

2. 'Flat white'. Same as Cappuccino but not fluffed. (It's not hard, Aussies are straight-forward people, if it's 'flat', it's not fluffed, not a Cappuccino!)

3. 'Short black'. A true espresso, black brewed coffee, strong, in a small cup. Probably they'll give you the traditional glass of water with it, just like in Italy. (Nah, just get it yourself from the free water jug on the counter. Generally only understood and available from the higher class cafe/restaurant, where they will serve it to your table with the glass of water.) But the younger set, the hipsters in the big cities, are very knowledgeable about 'coffee culture', and know all the variants, including getting extra strong 'double shot' etc.)

4. 'Long black'. A short black but with more water, hence 'long', i.e. a flat white but without milk. This might equate most closely to USA standard coffee.

 

Melbourne is considered by many, especially Melbournians, as the best city in Australia for good coffee, has a strong 'coffee culture'.

[Bossspecops]

Oooh, clever stuff. No matter which Favourite link I go for, the FBO or the Stories, I end up here anyway. 

 

I'll post my Flight Report here to Caiguna later on.

[Bossspecops]

Heading out from the dubious pleasures of Norsman, I prepped G-AUST for the almost 200 mile trip to Caiguna's, somewhat barren strip, which is right at the eastern end of the world's LONGEST straight road, some 91.25 miles back to Norsman. I'm darned if I'm going to drive it though, I'll fly!

 

Taking off on the semi-paved north-south strip at Norsman was easier than landing on the alternative dirt strip, if only because I didn't have to dodge through the chain-link gates with my tip floats! Climbing away to the east I was quite glad to see that horrible looking 'lake' diminish behind me.

 

 

But no sooner had I reached half way to my 5000 ft cruise altitude than I was over an even LARGER and worse looking 'lake'! 

 

 

I was certainly glad I didn't have to make a forced landing in THAT! 

 

Heading further east I could see some hefty clouds ahead of me, and at my altitude too, so I changed my flightplan to an IFR version with the 'local' ATC, 'local' in this instance being in Perth, over 500 miles away! That's longer than the whole of England!

 

 

Pretty soon I was in it, and on Instruments for the first time in this trip, not an easy experience, but at least ATC assured me that I was the only traffic at this altitude in the entire area.

 

Outside view.

 

 

Inside view...

 

 

After clearing  the cloud bank The Great Australian Desert re-asserted itself with not a lot to see in any direction.

 

 

But eventually my flight plan took me north of Caiguna itself before turning onto the south facing end of the strip. You can just see it in the distance here, slightly south west of the township, which actually straddles that enormous straight road.

 

 

Rather oddly the view of the strip slowly vanished the closer I got on the descent, until it had gone completely by the time I was 3/4 of a mile out, a trifle disconcerting! It seems my flight plan thought the strip was some 25 yards further west than it actually was, the two positions shown in the pic. 

 

 

I doglegged to the west a tad and put the Sealand down OK, then backtracked to the 'ramp' such as it was. The Dak didn't look in too good a condition, but the Fairchild and the Piper looked OK, and I parked alongside them.

 

The less that could be said for the WELL wrecked DC9 at the other end of the strip the better I think. I didn't want to ask what it was doing there, and no-one wanted to tell me either, but I was pretty sure the Caiguna strip was nowhere near long enough or strong enough for a DC9! Which perhaps explained why it was a wreck.....

 

 

I trekked over to the township after putting the covers over 'Austral Rose' with the intention of finding a place to eat and one to sleep for the night as well. Tomorrow I'll be off to Forrest hopefully. 

[taoftedal]

Australia is a big place ... and Western Australia a big state.  An early start gets me to YJPT by 6:30am and after fueling the PA-30 it’s time to grab a 'Long Black' and plan the day.  Planning to skip Katanning and fly the original ‘B and H’ route as close as possible given what FS9 (default) will give me.

 

 

YPJT>YNSM>CAG(VOR)>YFRT looks to be a little over 4 (+) hours or about 648 nm.  I’ll keep an eye out for YHYD, YCAG, and YLGN but I’m not going to hold my breath.  If I need to stop or divert ... so be it.  Time to fill-up the thermos and turn to the east ... Forrest is waiting!

 

 

All goes well from taxi to takeoff and given the earlier flight reports (see above) the green below me still surprises ... but things eventually turn to brown.

 

 

 

 

The landscape also empties itself of activity and one starts to feel a little isolated.  At Caiguna the action picks-up a little until one turns to the northeast ... and then again nothing ...

 

 

 

The Nullarbor Plain can get into your head ... and when the ADF picked up the NDB at Forrest I finished off the thermos and eased back on the throttles.  Landing was uneventful and the terminal a welcome sight as the airport manager (I learned) stepped out to great me with outback hospitality.  “Thanks for the call mate ... ready for a coldie?”  I like this bloke already ... 

 

[TomPenDragon]

7 hours ago, MAD1 said:

"what the bloody hell have you done"!

Thank you so much, MAD1!  I've puzzled for years for something appropriate to put on my tombstone, and you nailed it (and if you ever figure out the answer, please tell me; I'm dying to know).

 

The "what" from yesterday, though, was just to ask a question, with the intent of bringing the answer to the group and letting us all decide whether to merge the Stories and FBO threads or not.  I'm pretty sure that Adrian K took my, "How feasable(sic) would it be..."(along with detailed instructions for the operation to let him assess the scope of work) as a coy request for action (if you've ever worked Tech Support, especially for a multinational constituency, you're familiar with these) instead of for information, and acted accordingly and with a swiftness that, had he been a member of one of my old teams, would have earned him my recognition and a round of applause from his peers at our next Huddle.

 

The net of this is:

1. All the Stories have been folded into the FBO,
2. The Stories have all been placed in their correct chronological order vis a vis the posts in the FBO, and,
3. The Stories thread has been deleted; any links or bookmarks to it should automatically redirect to the FBO.

So, the FBO's our same old Seinfeld thread about everything, and that's where the stories will go from now on.  The Official thread is still there, still serves its original purpose, and has been updated to reflect yesterday's changes.

 

 

[TomPenDragon]

Quick update: I hope you don't mind, jgf, but I copied and pasted (the Quote function was not working) your ICAO-Names correlation into the Route post in the Official thread (right on top).

[ScottishMike]

The forecast was from the met station at Albany on the coast. I was not sure how much it differed from here 70 miles inland. From the ground the conditions looked OK with only slight haze and no surface wind.

The hotel, or so it called itself, was basic but clean. Before leaving I had looked around for my passengers without success.

“Long gone, mate!” the landlady answered my question.

“Hired a car from Snowys' garage. Left here around seven.” she added.

What the *!#! were they up to? I grabbed my rucksack and walked to the field. I would get the Mooney ready hoping they turned up soon; they knew my intention was to start each leg at 10:00.

It was taped to the luggage hatch in the Professors' elegant copperplate:

“Back as soon as possible. Important academic research.”

The flowing script in royal blue ink. Obviously written with his fountain pen, an affectation that had annoyed me from our first meeting.

The plane was prepped and now being polished to pass the time, paying extra attention to the sticky left behind from the note.

The dust visible before the car appeared, I hoped it would be them. It was.

I glanced at my watch 11:43.

“I guess you'll be ready to go.” the prof smiled.

I realized that was as much of an apology as I was going to get.

“You guys need to remember we will depart each leg at 10:00 a.m. Be at the plane by 9:30 a.m. in future. OK?” I was not pleased “And don't stick anything on the aeroplane it causes damage.”.

The prof walked to the car for his bag. Wombat Willie came close enough I could smell stale whisky on his breath; “The Professor has important work to do. Don't get in his way. Understand?”

“What work?” I was not used to being threatened by passengers.

“Never you mind.” came the sour breathed reply.

I made sure everything was stowed safely. Looked at my notes: heading 71 deg. 140 kts. Time 1Hr 36 mins + 5 mins for climb out and approach to Noresman total 1 hr. 41 mins.

“Both buckeled up?” I glanced at Platypus' belts, all OK. Willie grunted a yes.

Taxied to the end of 070, no flaps, full power, a bit bumpy on the earth runway, 11:58 up and the bumpier the better, it suited my mood to shake the Wombat up a bit.

It only took a few minutes to get to 3000' on a 71 degree heading:

We settled into the cruise, Haar below, silence in the cockpit. I throttled back to 140 kts. On take off power speed had rapidly built up to 196 kts.

Curiosity got the better of annoyance, I nudged prof Perth indicating the head set he had removed. He put it back on.

“What are you looking for?” I asked

“Distribution of native languages” was the curt reply.

“From the air?” I must have sounded sceptical.

“Tribal history is passed down orally, many stories concern and describe the landscape that is, or was, central to each tribe and it's language. The landmarks described are actually better spotted from the air.”

It sort of explained why Willie had been tracking our progress on a map marking certain landmarks.

The mist had cleared and a 20knot crosswind had developed.

So why had Wombat Willie been so aggressive?

The landscape below was changing, farmland giving way to scrub:

The Lycoming droned on as below farmland disappeared completely. Half an hour to run:

Noreseman can't be too far away, map check showed we weren't too far off course, slight correction required:

Noreseman below, no defined runway just an expanse of grass, a bonus on this occasion as the approach was a bit crook:

Safely down 14:31 (one hour local time difference) so 8 minutes early.

Parked up next to the old billabong tree.

“Willie grab the chocks in the back and fix them on the main wheels.” To my surprise he did without comment. That's when I realized I had forgotten to retract the flaps. I decided they could stay that way till tomorrow.

[TomPenDragon]

The Daily Update

(Cue “She Sells Sanctuary”)

 

EP: “Hello and welcome to the Daily Update for the 19th of January, 2024. I’m Elias Pacheco for Radio Chachapoya, and we have race results to report. So let’s get right to the Leaderboard:

 

 

“Bossspecops is busy preparing - rather gleefully, I suspect – his PIREP for today’s run to Forrest. He shaved a further 3 minutes off of his aggregate V, and has taken the lead with a time of 1 and 4 legs completed.

 

“ScottishMike arrived in Norseman 8 minutes ahead of schedule, to cement himself in second place with an aggregate V of 1, after 2 legs completed. Some rather non-complementary comments have been heard regarding his passengers. Make sure your passengers don’t wander into the lake, Mike. Although, taping a note to an aircraft fuselage – barbarians! Might want to disregard that last bit.

 

“defaid and dj are still showing in Forrest, now in third. Hope the Sealand hasn’t scared the whales off.

 

“And in fourth... we have a mystery. Last we heard from ViperPilot2, he was in Katanning. Some of the locals said that he went out for some meat pies, but he and The Lady have disappeared. Would anyone who spots them - or anyone who hears the howl of a wolf and helicopter blades - please report it to us. And if you happen to talk to them, please ask them to call in. I hate to think this but you might want to start prepping your Citation for some SAR, AirBasil.

 

“As far as our Free Fliers go, taoftedal has been following a slightly abridged 1976 route and has also arrived in Forrest. I haven’t heard anything about a party, have you?

 

“MAD1 is getting ready for his first timed run in the 182RG. Be sure to catch his interview with the Aussie Correspondent in the Chachapoya Chronicle.

 

“jgf likewise is getting his Staggerwing ready for their first timed crack at the track. Hopefully, the timer malfunction has been sorted out. Although, any excuse to see that plane in the air… I’ll bet he messed it up on purpose, just to spend some more time in her left seat. Completely understandable.

 

“I’m back in Jandakot again, as the Porsche people want to go over the engine this afternoon. I was nearly to Sydney, too, when they called me back. jgf isn’t the only one who’ll use any excuse to spend time in his aircraft.

 

“We’re still waiting for news from the others.

 

“Nothing much else going on. It’s been a rather quiet, rather dull day since the last Update… What am I saying? In the business news of the millennium, The FBO has conducted a lightning-fast hostile takeover of The Stories. Good news for the stories, though: your present seniority will be respected by the new organization. The Stories thread itself has, however, sadly been obliterated.

 

“And on that note, this concludes our Daily Update. I’m Elias Pacheco for Radio Chachapoya, signing off. Fly safely, everyone! And keep an eye out for ViperPilot2.”

[Bossspecops]

Interesting to see ScottishMike's arrival at Norsman as there's no sign of that terrible 'lake' that's so prevalent with my scenery package. It's as if we're flying in different countries. Ah, the vageries of FS scenery, eh?

 

I managed to get to Forrest this afternoon, surprising both myself and the local Forrest ATC. After y'day I'd filed an IFR plan as the weather didn't look too promising. Getting out of Caiguna wasn't difficult, just a case of starting up, turn left and floor it. That wrecked DC9 did worry me though, I'm sure there must be a story about that somewhere.

 

 

Turning onto my clearance vector and looking back I could see that phantom runway re-appearing, MORE mystery about that place!

 

 

My flight plan to Forrest was almost a dead straight line all the way on a heading of 62 deg, so flying was pretty easy, but.....

 

 

......along came the cloud again and I was back on instruments. I could have climbed over them as they weren't too thick, but that would have screwed up my timing, which is all important in this event, and I have no performance data for climbing above 5000 ft.

 

 

Sadly it stayed that way the entire trip, and I only caught one glimpse of that looooong straight highway down below.

 

 

As the STAR for Forrest had me passing directly o'head the field before turning 180 degrees onto the 18 runway there I hoped to get a look at the airfield layout, but all I got was a glimpse of the 36 end of that runway.

 

 

Having to make long leg out to the north might have wrecked my time estimate, but I made a guess at it before take-off, and it wasn't all that bad, thank goodness. Starting the descent while facing AWAY from the field was a little strange, but I was soon back into the depths of the cloud and listening intently to Forrest ATC's talk-down controller. She really knew her stuff as I popped out of the cloud with the 18 runway right there in front of me.

 

 

A little dog-leg to starboard had me lined up nicely and I put her down at last. Not quite on the centre line and quite a way from, the threshold too, but close counts, eh?

 

 

Taxying to the ramp, right at the south end of 18, took a while, but I got there OK and now I'm parked up next to a handy JCB if I need to be dug out in the morning. (JCB in English = backhoe in American.....)

 

 

Off to explore Forrest itself, my last stopover in West Australia, as tomorrow we should be in SOUTH Australia. 

[taoftedal]

38 minutes ago, TomPenDragon said:

... heard anything about a party, have you?

 

Thought defaid was on his way east but if still in town ... dinner is on Piper!  The Arrow must be in the hanger.  Bosss is here too?  Please join us mate ... and I'd love a tour of the Sealand!

[PhrogPhlyer]

After repositioning from Pearce Airbase, I parked and tied down for the night. When I entered the FBO's (Fixed Base Operator) offices I saw that they were distributors for easy to add and portable fuel cells. They had 33- and 25-gallon bags approved for the Bell 206 by an Australian company, Turtle Pac.

 

I had them install a 25-gallon cell centered on the passenger. I also packed a folded and empty 33- gallon cell in the baggage compartment, thinking it might come in handy later along the course. This additional fuel would extend my range from 486nm to 629nm. As long as fuel burn remains close to the book 5.32 nmpg this should be quite comfortable to fly the 486 nm to Caiguna. In the morning I preflighted the helicopter and we topped off the main tank and portable fuel cell. I started up and made a quick circuit of the field to ensure there were no problems and that I knew how to operate the cell's integral fuel pump. I could now change plans and decided on no fuel stops before Caiguna. After I recalculated my weight and balance and filed my VFR flight plan, I checked out with the FBO. Not being used to civil flying I was shocked to see I had a $68.60 bill for airport fees ($11 landing fee, $29 parking fee, and $6.60 circuit fee)! Something I had completely overlooked during the planning process. Time to get out of here before they dream up some new fees.

 

OK, last minute review: Weight and Balance (check), Flight Plan (check), Charts (check), Hand-held GPS+ power adapter + extra batteries (check), Fuel (check), Overnight Bag (check), 9mm Service Pistol (one never knows) (check), Sandwiches and Crisps (check), Water and Coffee (check), and Sanitized Relief Tube (Double-check).

 

Cleared for takeoff and finally taking to the sky.

 

Plenty of lakes and salt ponds to keep a decent visual check against the GPS.

 

125 miles from Perth, almost there. Katanning should be just past this large lake.

 

Not many obvious landmarks, but there it is, Katanning.

 

Touched down 3 minutes behind planned. Need to make up some time on the nest two legs.

Wait, this Chipmunk again?! Not a building or person in sight. So, where’s the pilot?

 

Not sticking around to figure out what’s with the Chipmunk, I’m away again.

 

A quick spin of the E6-B and it looks like I’m burning fuel a little faster than planned.

So, it’s with a great sigh of relief that I arrive at Norseman two minutes ahead of schedule.

 

X marks the spot. Touch and go at the intersection of Norseman’s two runways.

 

This is the most civilization I’ve seen since the greater Perth area. Maybe I should have decided to stay overnight here, oh well.

 

Not much out here, I sure hope my navigation is up to snuff.

 

Caiguna is in sight. Glad there’s temporary fueling available. We are definitely miles from nowhere. I’ll have to take a look at what appears to be an airliner in the dirt off the south end of the runway. Bet there’s a story behind that thing.

 

Finally on the ground, not quite on fumes, but tighter than I had planned.

Just in time too. It sure gets dark quickly away from all the light pollution of cities.

 

As the sun sets, I’m refueled, repositioned, and settled amongst some fine aircraft.

 

Hiked up to the RoadKill Rest Stop and ordered their BBQ prawns. I don’t know about you, but I think these people are crazy.

 

Full of beer, prawns, and fresh air. Time for a good nights sleep under the southern stars.

 

Katanning -3

Norseman +2

Caiguna -2

 

[Melo965]

Hello everyone, yes I am still around.  All of the RW house stuff is sorted out, so back in action now.

 

I am still over on the military side of Darwin International.  The USAF C-133 B Cargomaster left days ago.  I was grateful for their ferry ride down here.  Otherwise I might still be in Asia somewhere!

 

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has been using the CAC CA-25 Winjeel 3-seat aircraft for their flight training since 1955.  This basic to advanced trainer was just retired in 1975.  So I showed up now, in 1976, with a DHC1-B-2 de Havilland Canada Chipmunk for their evaluation as a replacement trainer.

 

Here is what it looked like when it was in Canada before the repaint.

 

I am grateful to Bosss (Kit) for his advice and assistance during the repaint process, as this was my first attempt at an aircraft repaint.  And he also helped me get the Davtron gauge up and running on my rig, and it took some tweaking to get it working right.

 

To possibly entice the RAAF to order the de Havilland Canada aircraft, I repainted the Chippie in a CA-25 Winjeel color scheme.  Aircraft markings are representative for No. 2 Flying Training School (No. 2 FTS).  This is the main flying training school of the RAAF located at RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia near Perth.  And the individual aircraft codes represent the current CAC CA-25 Winjeel aircraft still flying today (2024) in the RAAF Historic Heritage flight.

 

Here is what my Chippie looks like now.

After a final inspection of my aircraft, and making sure all the Roo roundels are pointing forward as required by regulations, the RAAF has agreed to cover my fuel costs throughout the trip.  And they want me to stop at RAAF Base Pearce for sure, and maybe some other bases along the way if they are reasonably close to the planned route along southern and eastern Australia.
 

Keep an eye out for this bird, the bright orange should help you spot me! 

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 minute ago, Melo965 said:

Here is what my Chippie looks like now.

Excellent!!!

[MAD1]

Morning gents, some of us are online 'live'. Just sipping my 'wake up' cup of tea or three, it being RW 11 am here at home in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales (NSW). I now understand the post times, as when I hover over e.g. 'Posted 16 hours ago' it pops up the timestamp, which I see is my own local time. OK, yet another little thing I can tick off as 'understood'.

 

As I stated 16 hours ago (my last night), today being Saturday, hope to start engine in a few hours time and do the 1st leg to Katanning, will land, rest and review.

 

Best wishes to everyone and those still doing the 'big ferry' and yet to get to Perth, wow, your trip is a greater adventure than the race itself. Question to Melo965, why did you get the Chippie dropped off at Darwin and not get your flyboy mates to haul it all the way to Perth? And isn't it a rather small aircraft to being doing such 'long haul' right across the continent from Darwin to Perth?

[Melo965]

5 minutes ago, MAD1 said:

Question to Melo965, why did you get the Chippie dropped off at Darwin and not get your flyboy mates to haul it all the way to Perth? And isn't it a rather small aircraft to being doing such 'long haul' right across the continent from Darwin to Perth?

 

If I just had them drop me off at Perth, would not have any calibration flights to figure out distance and flight times.  For the Spitfire I flew for the last Rally, I had oodles of flight data.  Need to fly a few calibration legs in the Chippie on the way down the west coast.  Heck, I may even continue around after the Eastern leg and do an Australia circumnavigation back to Darwin. 

 

[MAD1]

13 minutes ago, Melo965 said:

 

If I just had them drop me off at Perth, would not have any calibration flights to figure out distance and flight times.  For the Spitfire I flew for the last Rally, I had oodles of flight data.  Need to fly a few calibration legs in the Chippie on the way down the west coast.  Heck, I may even continue around after the Eastern leg and do an Australia circumnavigation back to Darwin. 

 

Ahh, all logical and sensible (so I've changed my opinion of you from 'this guy is completely nuts' to 'this guy is dedicated'). Thanks for the quick reply.

[MAD1]

RW weather. Warning. East coast part of the event, Sydney to Cairns. Possible cyclone (hurricane) developing off Queensland.

 

If anyone is using RW weather, be aware of the following. 'Tropical Low 05U'.

http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/index.shtml

05U hasn't yet developed into a cycline classification (when it'll receive a person's name as its title), but it is a RW concern, including for MAD1's home base. (This is how we get major flooding, previous heavy rain events saturate our catchments, which is the case now, and a cyclone tracks south from QLD into the north coast of NSW, deteriorates into a low, which just sits over us and dumps heaps of rain.)

 

If the organisers deem the event is nominally based around RW weather, then they might have to consider re-routing the east coast event to go inland and e.g. end at Darwin. (One option would be to adopt the QANTAS old (obsolete, back in the days of the prop liners) 'Kangaroo Route' (Aus to UK via Singapore, hence e.g. Sydney or Brisbane to Darwin) across western QLD and across the Northern Territory (NT). Alternatively, pilots might choose to delay flying north of Brisbane until they can get a safe path through to Cairns. Too early to know yet, we just have to wait and see what 05U does and where it tracks.