MAD1

Thanks PhrogPhlyer for the info. Yes, I understand and can appreciate, when simming the large, commercial airliners, and instrument flying, that ATC is more relevant. For GA VFR, apart from interacting with a major airport that actually DOES have RW ATC, e.g. going to, leaving or overflying through that airspace, then ATC isn't relevant. And I'm with you and others in this forum, who can't be bothered with the hassle of being connected to the Internet when trying to enjoy a sim session. Without interacting with the Internet, it's a simple joy, everything I need is contained within my software, just fire up the sim, have a fly. Job done! Also, that's why I wouldn't bother with the latest FS2022 (is that it?), with the need for a high-end PC, fast internet, tolerating the gazillion updates. I don't need the realism of the scenery eye-candy, it's the accuracy and realism of the flight model I'm interested in. So the older software is the way to go for this old guy (including that it cost me nothing, zero dollars!).

Re the various comments about Adelaide. For foreigners, you wouldn't know. As was mentioned in The Chacapoya Chronicle, the 'friendly' traditional rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney, there is also common perceptions/mis-perceptions about the other capitals. Some of these are historic and don't apply today, 2024, in this third decade of the 21st century, but people still like to joke about them and rib people from those cities. Canberra. The national captial. Boring, a public-servant's town. But it does have a dark underbelly, a bit risque after dark (understandable, all those politicians away from home and wives and family, and all those up-and-coming 'bright young things' making a professional career for themselves. Of course, never spoken about 'what happens in Canberra stays in Canberra'! I went to uni there. Adelaide. A sleepy, dull place is its reputation (from last century). A bit weird, known as the 'city of churches'. A nice town plan layout, rectalinear grid, unlike tha shamozzle of Sydney. This is JSMR's reference to it, he's being disparaging. Seems like he had a stint there, perhaps forced by work, or family, or some other reason. I've visited and personally liked the place. Brisbane. A big country town feel. Yes, it does have that friendly, breezy feel. My nearest capital (across the border). I've lived there twice for years at a time. I like it. Nothing sleepy about it nowadays. Lovely sub-tropical climate, you got the magnificent Moreton Bay at the doorstep (mustn't say anymore, this post is stealing from that other guy, the Aussie Correspondent, and his newspaper posts in the future.) Perth. The brash new kid in the west. Seems like another country, far away from the majority of the population on the east coast. Got rich on mining money, perhaps similar to Houston in that respect. Darwin. The capital of the Top End (Northern Territory, NT). I've lived there too. It's either hot, or hot and wet. Full-blown tropical climate. Also a bit of a weird place, like that Far North QLD of Cape York, a place for weirdos who can't fit into the southern states and cities to escape to. I like it. Perhaps a bit of a 'larrikan' (i.e. rebel) place. Hobart. Tasmania and Hobart are often forgotten about by some cartographers, leaving this island off the map. A lovely city. A bit cold for me, being a sub-tropical guy.

Good morning/evening Gagglers. Some general sim questions, partly related to this event. (Have wondered about such things for years, and as you guys are the 'old boy' experts, opportune to ask here. Apologies for this off-topic post.) 1. ATC. A few comments, but few, mention ATC. My FS2002 has the inbuilt Artificial Intelligence (AI) ATC (as it was in 2001) in the sim. I used it for my first and only leg so far, Jandakot to Katanning. (Am a newbie to ATC as well). It was fun, added to the realism and complexity. Question: How many Gagglers have/are used/using their sims inbuilt ATC? How have you found it, given you're foreigners and its Australian ATC? 2. Live joint flying. (No, not the one you smoke, the one where you fly with other flyers, live group flying!) Back in maybe 2008 or thereabouts, whenever I got the FS2002 CD set, FS2002 could connect into VATSIM via Squawkbox. As a newbie to that, I did do a couple of sessions of self-training, by connecting and sitting off parked to the side in my Cessna, watching an Australian fly-in event (VATPAC is the Aussie chapter) where planes were taxing and taking off. That was a lot of fun and very informative. I thought 'Right, I wanta get into this, so joined VATSIM, did my usual education about how it all works, was amazed about this amazing worldwide fraternity, so many virtual aircraft in the air at any one time. Work and life interrupted this plan different times, and it was a few years before I thought to get back to it and seriously become a VATSIM flyer. What a disappointment that the buggers changed the comms infrastructure in VATSIM and my lowly FS2002 couldn't connect anymore, Squawkbox was no longer able to connect into that network. FS2004 however could connect, it being the oldest MS sim allowed, and I presume it still is. I could see that there seemed to be some South American simmers in a live group, via that thingy (forgot name) that you could see who was online. Anyhow, I tried to connect into it a few times, no luck, so gave up. Question: do any of you participate in live joint events? Do you do stuff in VATSIM? I presume, as I'm the only person using old FS2002 that nobody would know if there is any group in the world that I could join using my FS2002 software, but does anyone know if there is any group/s that is still using FS2002 and using it's built-in comms software, maybe via other software, it's possible to join a live flying group? (I'm aware of a fairly modern one, has an Aussie chapter, I joined it, seemed to be mainly young people, but it wasn't for me, can't remember its name.)

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.

The Chachapoya Chronicle. Weather and climate news. Tuesday 30 January 2024. By your Aussie Correspondent. A famous poem by Dorothea Mackeller, learnt by most school kids, goes '... I love a sunburnt country ... of droughts and flooding rains ...'. Overseas visitors to the continent who are participating in the Great Australian Air Race re-enactment, can if they wish get a taste of the weather and climate extremes. In the last week or more, there's been a tropical cyclone, bushfires in coastal central NSW, a heat wave (max 49C (120F) at one locality, but that place gets low 40s anyway, last year was the hottest on record for the continent), and flooding. And of course in those parts with heat and rain, now the mosquitoes are very bad. All this adds a little spice to the visiting flyers' experience (we couldn't let them go home thinking the place was bland!). There are a few modern songs that epitomise this environment. Your reporter likes GANGgajang's 1985 hit "Sounds of Then (This Is Australia)" which includes the chorus "Out on the patio we'd sit, and the humidity we'd breathe, we'd watch the lightning crack over canefields, laugh and think, this is Australia."

Those using Real World Weather are advised to not rush north of Sydney for a few days, maybe a week. The remains of Tropical Cyclone Kirilly, which went westward to western QLD, via a trough a lot of that moisture is streaming south-eastward over the Brisbane area. On the ground in the Northern Rivers of NSW and SE QLD, it's overcast, rainy, in last few days and will continue for a few days.

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

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)?

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.)

Leg 1 YPJT Jandakot to YKNG Katanning. Sunday 24 December 2023.

Have finally had a chance to review my first leg and get the times. Have pm'd Tom for his review (me being a newbie). Think this is correct: YPJT-YKNG var -8 minutes, planned 1h5m, actual 57m. (My planned speed was 140 but went faster at 152 to give plenty of time to find and get down at YKNG, given that in my FS2002 there isn't a strip there, so did my method moving the Tower to the lat long and simply flying to and landing at that. It worked well. For leg 2 to YNSM Norseman, is easy, as I have it in my Airports. So can use GPS 'Direct to' I think, instead of only the Map View. Pics:

The Chachapoya Chronicle. Saturday 27 January 2024. By your Aussie Correspondent. Parafield (Adelaide) South Australia with Adelaide as state capital is the only non-convict established state. A planned state and city (unusual for Australia, the national capital Canberra is the other planned city). This reporter has visited Adelaide and lived in Canberra. Both are very pleasant cities. (As the capital cities are better known, this reporter won't give details here, flyers can look up stuff on the interweb themselves if interested. The focus in these reports are on the small places that flyers wouldn't be expected to know about.) Barossa Valley, wine country, grapes everywhere. North-east of Adelaide is Australia's equivalent of the Napa Valley, California. In the 19th century, German immigrants settled in the area and planted grape vines. World class wines come out of here. Weary, thirsty flyers might consider a little break from the tedium of hours in the cockpit and spend a few days doing winery tours (hic!). (It'll be off your port side when on the Parafield-Renmark leg, tempted to veer left? https://www.barossa.com Murray River. The 'Mighty Murray (just like the 'Mighty Mississippi' system, our equivalent) Bossspecops mentioned it (and also his famous Severn River in the UK). The Murray-Darling system (which includes the Murrumbidgee which is fed by the Snowy Mountains), the Darling River branch stretches to south-east QLD. A glass of water poured out at Toowoomba QLD, theoretically can end up in the Great Southern Ocean in South Australia, thousands of kilometres away. (The management of the 'Murray-Darling Basin Plan', the water management plan, is a bit of a shambles, not surprising given that the national government, i.e. the Commonwealth of Australia, and four state governments: QLD, NSW, VIC, SA, all have a say and finger in the pie. They all are fighting all the time over water sharing etc., there's not enough for everyone.) Flyers will cross the system again, the Murray at YTOC Tocumwal on the VIC/NSW border, it forming much of the border. Then the Murrumbidgee River at YNAN Narrandera NSW. https://www.mdba.gov.au/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray–Darling_basin Renmark. The 'Riverland' area. Another horticultural area including wine, irrigated from the Murray River. (Your reporter did a few weeks picking grapes here as a young man in his twenties.)

Very nice news from the Gaggle. 1. Yes, please ensure flyers shower, well, before joining your friends at the bar for post-flight debriefs. 2. Glad taoftedal knows how to get: - his 'flat white' fix for the day, and; - finding southern constellations is not hard, the southern sky has many more bright stars than the northern, the centre of the Milky Way, the galactic centre, passes directly over us. Of course, everything is upside down to northern hemisphere folk, so e.g. Orion is standing on his head. (Old nav trick, known by many commoners, the Southern Cross and it's two 'pointers', Alpha Centauri (the nearest start to us after the Sun, being 4.3 light years away, and in recent years discovered to have a planet orbiting that double-star system), and Beta Centauri, extend a line joining them and they point to the top of the Cross. Extend the long arm of the Cross down to the south, also a bisector line of the Pointers line, south, where those two lines intersect is the South Celestial Pole (SCP), drop a line vertically to the ground and that is due South. (We have no bright Pole star like you northern hemipshere people have). Alternatively, extend the long arm of the Cross about 7.5 times the length of the arm, south, and that also gives you the SCP. Many of us learn this as kids (in Boy Scouts etc.). - the majesty of the desert, the Outback. Many Outback residents were just passing through decades ago and just never left. This is often mentioned worldwide, for city folk it looks dead, but give it time to understand it's subtlety, it is indeed alive with creatures and wonderful sights. 3. Am picking up many little tips and tricks on this flying caper. Will try Ctl+Z in my FS2002 to see if it throws up fuel remaining. 4. SMike. So please, tell us what the Prof and Wombat were looking for, but it seems you don't know. Dear oh dear, you tease, you led us all along and 'no satisfaction'! What a brilliant ploy. Did you plan it that way or did it just evolve?

The Chachapoya Chronicle. Culture news, part 1. Australia Day, Saturday 26 January 2024. Route As promised, your loyal correspondent wanted to post RW cultural info about the route ahead, but the Gaggle has got ahead of me. So here it is in retrospect for most flyers. Ceduna Defaid mentioned the radio telescope. It's the former satellite earth station, now a part of the University of Tasmania radio astronomy facilities. https://southaustralia.com/products/eyre-peninsula/attraction/otc-satellite-earth-station https://www.utas.edu.au/natural-sciences/physics/ceduna-observatory A few flyers have mentioned the 'pristine white beaches and cliffs'. This reporter's understanding is it isn't pleasant, a harsh location, difficult to swim, and Great White Pointer sharks are known to live along that stretch. Also, facing the Great Southern Ocean, the swells roll in, no pleasant bays. Only a few fool-hardly, slighlty mad surfboard riders go there (and sometimes a shark gets one). If you want a nice beach for a swim, wait until Adelaide or better still, along the east coast. Hint, if you see a beach from the air, look at the habitation, no habitation, nobody on the beach, well, it probably isn't a nice place. Lake Gardiner, Lake Torrens and other saltpans The land is very flat, and the drainage network doesn't reach the ocean. The most famous 'lake' is Lake Eyre, which only has water in it every few years. (It fills from major floods in western QLD). There isn't any outlet, it's actually below sea level, water evaporates, leaving a saltpan. Many such features exist between Ceduna and Port Augusta. Lake Gardiner is the big one Bossspecops mentioned. (Also, he's using RW weather and the heavy weather he flew through was the big band that slid across the bottom of the continent. https://www.parks.sa.gov.au/parks/lake-gairdner-national-park Woomera, 181 km by road (Google Maps states 1h52m driving time) north of Port Augusta. Not on the race route, but an interesting excursion. Australia's Cape Canaveral or probably more apt, Edwards Air Force Base, for rockets, but like many things out here, in the past. The British used it for testing missiles during the Cold War, including nuclear tests (at Maralinga), from 1947 to the 1960's. Tourists can visit. YPWR is RAAF and it seems not available to GA aircraft. Was and perhaps still involves some secret business. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woomera,_South_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAAF_Base_Woomera https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAAF_Woomera_Range_Complex Defaid's comments about the meteorite impact and mass extinction is interesting. Port Augusta Back to civilisation now. From here south-eastwards the land becomes more pleasant, a little bit, down to Adelaide (Parafield). An amazing engineering story from the 1870s is the Overland Telegraph Line, from Adelaide via Port Augusta to Darwin. Until it was operational, info from London took weeks and months by mail by ship (it took 4 months by sailing ship London to Sydney, via the Cape of Good Hope, or the Suez Canal which opened Nov 1869). It opened up 'modern' telecommunications (via Morse). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Overland_Telegraph_Line The Port Augusta river defaid spent the night on is actually an estuary, saltwater, being the northern end of Spencer Gulf. (Hot, harsh, dry, no pleasant beach and not a beach-babe in sight!) https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-32.4543585,137.7553894,3a,90y,317.9h,78.5t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPLXyD-TKqX5nKPysnlktlxfcAt5NxWsmyY4Haa!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPLXyD-TKqX5nKPysnlktlxfcAt5NxWsmyY4Haa%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya145.89362-ro-0-fo100!7i10000!8i5000?entry=ttu

I'm still at Katanning. Now I have 3 days non-RW so hope to do 2 legs: Katanning to Norseman and land. Next day via Caiguna (waypoint only) to Forrest and land. (Am happy just to be involved, all very new for me, much to learn, and if I only do a few legs and then drop out, that's OK. Will post time for leg 1 after getting help from TomPenDragon re calcs, and have got half prepared my pics (50, compiling into a single small mosaic.)

The Chachapoya Chronicle. Travel and cultural news. By your Aussie Correspondent. 8:25 a.m. Friday 26 January, Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT). Cyclone Kirilly. Thankfully it has now deteriorated to a low and has gone west and expected to continue west, having crossed at Townsville during the night. Little damage, 53,000 people without electricity. For the air race, it is no longer an issue. So, full steam ahead for the Eastern leg. Australia Day. Happy Australia Day. The Canberra ceremony is formal and interesting. You can watch it live, starts at 9 a.m AEDT. Over 320 citizenship ceremonies across the country today and over 15,000 people becoming citizens.

Defaid's post: FS2004 Scenery--Australia Day Fireworks MAD1: neat feature Defaid. RW there will be big fireworks in all capital cities. RW weather watch. Cyclone 'Kirillly' best guess at track, sat pic http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/satellite/. As a low pressure system in the Southern Hemisphere rotates clockwise (anti-clockwise in the Northern), we can see in the sat pic the large amount of cloud that is packing much water that will be dumped over SE QLD in coming days, including in the North Coast (aka Northern Rivers) of NSW. For this part of QLD/NSW, this is the concern, not cyclone winds but flooding. For Gagglers using RW weather, not good flying weather. So, first we get the heavy rain, then once it tracks inland to western QLD, then slowly arcs around to the south-east, and exits the coast into the South Pacific Ocean (Tasman Sea) the rain continues. A system that 'just keeps on giving'!

The Chachapoya Chronicle. Weather, travel and culture news. By your Aussie Correspondent. Cyclone Watch. Tropical low 05U (it hasn't been declared as a cyclone officially yet by the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), when they do, it'll be given a person's name. See the likely track. Flyers might have to slow their progression towards and into QLD for a day or more until it passes into western QLD, then they should be able to skirt it up the east coast. So take the weight off, have a few days holiday somewhere, e.g. Sydney, Gold Coast (Coolangatta Airport is 5 minutes walk from the beach, but likely to be overcast and rainy.), so better to stay way south. Australia Day. Friday 26 January. Australia's national holiday (all shops are open, only two days in the year, Good Friday and Christmas day all shops are shut, by law.) The date 26 Jan, is the date the First Fleet anchored in Sydney Cove in 1788 with the first group of settlers (convicts), Captain Cook having sailed into nearby Botany Bay in 1770. (Interestingly, the concept to send prisoners to the other side of the planet to Australia, in today's terms like setting up a settlement on the Moon, or probably more accurately Mars, was partly because of the loss to Britain of the American colonies, where they could send them previously. They had to find another place.) A lovely, formal ceremony takes place in Canberra, broadcast live on the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) television (which is the government-funded national broadcaster). It's also streamed. (Last year's, 2023. Your correspondent will post the 2024 ceremony once it's on YouTube.) So if you can watch it, live or recorded, you'll enjoy it. The Prime Minister gives citizenship documents to a handful of 'new Australians'. Similar ceremonies are held throughout the country in many cities and small towns. The Canberra event includes military stuff, including a showing by RAAF fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. So wherever you are, pause and join the locals in celebration. (For our First Australians, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, it's also known as 'Invasion Day' or 'Sorry Day'. That's another but related story. Your correspondent has an article about our first peoples in the pipeline. It's an ancient culture, the 'longest continuously living culture on the planet', up to 60,000 years. Yes, that's right, not 6,000 but 60,000.) A traditional celebratory environment is family and friends gather in homes, parks, the beach and 'throw another shrimp on the barbie' (no! not that one! we won't go there please, politically incorrect!)

240120 Saturday 20 January 2024. The Great Australian Air Race (this is the Flight Briefing Office, FBO thread, where the chit-chat and flyer stories are, the Official thread has the rules etc. There is also the (now closed) general thread prior to the race commencing Friday 15 January.) Organised by Club Chachapoya. My first for a lot of things: first in a group event; to do proper navigation ('nav'); flying a Cessna 182 Retractable Gear (182RG) instead of my trusty Cessna 172. Did very well, flew from YPJT Jandakot (near Perth, capital city of Western Australia), to YKNG Katanning (a small town about 3.5 hours driving time and 1 hour flying time south-east of Perth. The race isn't about speed, it's about accuracy of flight plan flying time versus actual flying time. From Perth (YPJT Jandakot) to Sydney (YSBK Bankstown), 17 airports. Then there's a 'free-flying' co-event to fly up the east coast of Australia to Cairns, another 9 airports. This adventure will be document here, with many screenshots. There's a great group of guys in the flying 'Gaggle' and it's both very engaging, informative and a lot of fun.

20231223 Saturday 23 December 2023. YBBN Brisbane International. Learning Air Traffic Control (ATC), the default in-built, so-called Artificial Intelligence (AI), as it existed way back in 2001 when FS2002 was built and released. Rather good, interesting to just sit in a corner of the airfield and watch the planes come taxing along ready to take off from runway '1', being 010 heading, and listen to the radio. A good learning experience. Combining this with the paper manual I have from FS2000 and the FS2002 electronic manual, plus the Rod Machado in-built lessons, it's a good education about ATC. Attached is a collage of 13 screenshots. Numbered from top left, reading left to right. (Need to tune Brisbane Ground to hear taxiing traffic, or Tower to hear taking off and airborne traffic.) Cessna N19896 red, landed. Landmark 4453 takeoff, American Pacific 1249 (IFR to Essendon) [DeHavilland Dash 8], American Pacific 2447 (IFR destination unstated), Orbit 9383 (IFR destination unstated),American Pacific 6479 (IFR Melbourne).

https://flyingtheoutback.com.au/destination/forrest/ Good pics https://flyingtheoutback.com.au/gallery/forrest/

Is anyone intending to fly today, or has already? (i.e. Aus Sun 21, USA Sat 20 evening.) I might do Katanning to Norseman. I suppose I should just wait and listen to the Daily Update.

Morning guys. Woke up to a lovely clear blue sky (now it's Sun 21 Jan 8:23 am Australian Eastern Daylight Time, AEDT, which applies to NSW, Vic (personally I hate it). QLD doesn't do daylight saving, it sticks with Australian Eastern Standard Time, AEST). Yesterday was overcast and drizzly. Two months ago I was praying for rain, now I'm praying for no more for a few months! Thanks TomPenDragon for your weather review re 05U, you're correct with some of it, especially that they're unpredictable and the computer modelling is very variable re their likely track. The usual pattern is, as I said, they cross the QLD coast, but then deteriorate into a 'normal' but deep low and drag a huge pool of rain behind them in from the Coral Sea, and that low then slowly moves south towards SE QLD / north coast NSW, often swinging inland over western QLD and in a big arc, and with a blocking ridge to the south, tends to just sit there for maybe a week, slowly moving SE into the Tasman Sea. And of course, it's always after saturating rain events in the weeks and days before, which is the situation here now, so we have the 'perfect storm' scenario. 'Up north' (somewhat similar environment and society-wise, some people in Aus refer to it as the 'deep north' just like in the USA you have the 'deep south' (I won't elaborate)). Up north (Cairns) they're still recovering from Cyclone Jasper over Xmas, which caused unprecdented flooding in the Cairns northern suburbs. So I am genuinly slightly concerned ('be aware but not alarmed'!) what it might do. Re it as a RW phenomenon for this flying event, well, ... hmmm, wait and see I supppose.

Yahoo! A number of firsts for me. Just completed the first leg to Katanning. All went well. Will post my story in my 'FS2002 Mazda' in the FS2002 forum, and put link in this thread.

taoftedal. Thanks for posting the 2-continent-comparison, I was going to ask the Chachapoya Chronicle to do that. Glad you've picked up the coffee lingo. Question: that booklet and that route, what is that from? Is it the B&H programme or something else, given the route is different? PhrogPhlyer. 1. The phrase 'Throw another shrimp on the barbie', I don't think was ever envisioned to be as you show. That is so wrong (but I love it). Perhaps this indicates the state of your mind, I think you might need some mental health counselling (which aligns with what most of us fixed-wing blokes think of you whirly-bird guys, always a little bit whacko!) 2. Question. Your firearm, is it licensed in Australia and are you licensed under Australian law to carry it? You do know you can't just pack firearms like that, we do have laws, and I don't think you could claim a military-association or former military-association exemption. People don't carry guns here. Scary! (However, I understand your concern. There is nothing in the southern route that can hurt you, person or animal, other than a few snake species, e.g. a brown snake (the most deadly we have of the many different deadly ones we have, a Taipan comes close, and the old Red-bellied Black is rather benign), which you're unlikely to encounter unless e.g. you had to make a forced landing in the desert and accidentally came across one. If so, don't approach it, walk away. Most species will try to get away from you, except the brown, which, if surprised or attacked, will attack. Once you get up to north QLD, in addition to snakes, the real threat is the rare chance to encounter a Saltwater crocodile, they love to eat people! (The freshwater croc is a different species, they won't eat you, they're in some rivers and lakes ('billabongs'), you can tell the difference, the latter have long narrow snouts, the salty has a broad snout). And of course, north of about Rockhampton or Mackay, you can't swim safely in the ocean due to the Irukandji jellyfish, deadly. But hey, people do, you can wear a protective suit, or swim within the netted areas. Oh, and I haven't mentioned the spiders (Redback, Sydney Funnel Web etc.), and I almost forgot about the ants, our old friend the Bull Ant, watch where you sit down beside your chopper in the Outback, and the Red Fire Ant which is slowly spreading south from QLD, very unpleasant sting. But all that's for another post, probably the Chronicle can follow up on that.) Enjoy our wildlife mate!