Tomo goes flying again...

[Tomo]

Had some fun yesterday (thursday)....

 

Drove out to Chinchilla for first light (up at 4am ) for a check flight with the CFI to see If I'm all good to use his plane for the day.

 

Met up with him (never been there before), did a DI on the J230 I would be using, and piled in. Started up, warmed up, pre take off briefs etc etc... take off, climbout, come around... downwind, slow up, base, final, flare, landing.... "that'll do" he said.

 

Taxied back in, and headed to the fuel bowser.

 

Did some paper work, fueled up and away we went. (Passenger and I)

 

From Chinchilla I tracked toward Dalby for a bit then turned for Goondiwindi (to stay out of the tiger if you went direct). Passed by Goondiwindi, tracking for Moree. Soon enough it appeared, overflew and turned heading for Coonamble.

 

Landed at Coonamble for a fuel top up. Great service there, ring up the number on the aero club wall, and the chap was out in a few minutes. Fueled up, nearly died when coming to pay for it... over $2 litre......

 

Anyway, that can't be helped.....

 

From Coonamble, we flew to a property we were checking out, for crop quality etc... From there went Walgett, then up. A little while later passing Dirranbandi on our left - for St George.

 

Arrived at St George and overflew tracking for Surat, arrived at the next property to do similar stuff, check out some crops.

 

Everything done, we headed back to Chinchilla... arrived, joined circuit, and managed a pretty good landing, I thought, for a 15kt direct cross wind.

 

Was a total of 7.8hrs airtime, so a fairly big day, but a lot of fun and a lot of country covered. Weather was excellent, 10kt headwind down, but got a good 12kt tailwind on the way back. Grounds speed of around 120-125kts coming back.

 

The J230 went well.

 

This is south of Moree

 

 

And out the other window

 

 

The beast!

 

 

We made it back out alive!! NSW/QLD border, marked by the Dingo fence.

 

 

Out the other side - pretty straight!

 

 

Nearing St George

 

 

 

[dazza 38]

Nice one mate.

 

 

[Spin]

Nice Tomo, must have been an interesting flight, I've driven quite a lot of that at various times. I'd get your camera checked out though - too much green in those photos!

 

 

[dunlopdangler]

....and I was stuck in bloody brisbane!!

 

 

[Tomo]

Thanks guys, was great fun, I'd do it again anytime :big_grin:

 

Spin, yeah the green is mind blowing at the moment, really makes it look good. Then you have the Conola crops here and there with their yellow, really makes for pleasant viewing!

 

And wet, very wet in places, especially nor/west of Coonamble. One of the properties there that we looked at had a lot of water about still.

 

Dunlop, I was thinking about you..... :big_grin: Hey, if you want, and it isn't raining tomorrow.... give us a yell, I'm pretty sure I'll be around, and the strip down the road is always there. :big_grin:

 

 

[Relfy]

Good work mate, thats a fair trip in a day! If ida known I would have met you at St George for a chat.

 

 

[XP503]

Tally HO!, Tomo!

 

Good show old boy.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Nice one Tomo, Looked like a nice day for a bit of time in the saddle, and a good long run too !. Chinchilla is a great spot to stop at, it was one of my favorites until I discovered your hospitality at Cecil....Cheers.........................................................Maj...

 

 

[bones]

Landed at Coonamble for a fuel top up. Great service there, ring up the number on the aero club wall, and the chap was out in a few minutes. Fueled up, nearly died when coming to pay for it... over $2 litre...... Anyway, that can't be helped.....

Im hearing ya there you want to try Boulia, $2.35 ouch, but still cheaper then walking

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Bones, have you run into the Cliffs in Boulia ?. Billy Cliff had a couple of Thrusters, then got into Gyros last I heard. Not sure where they are relative to town but maybe they might have cheaper gas at their property ?............................................................Maj...

 

 

[bones]

Bones, have you run into the Cliffs in Boulia ?. Billy Cliff had a couple of Thrusters, then got into Gyros last I heard. Not sure where they are relative to town but maybe they might have cheaper gas at their property ?............................................................Maj...

I thought it was Cluffs, but anyway i know of them, in the gyro world, actually their npehew? i think, wants me to teach him to fly as soon as i get time. i do have a contact this side that i can get fuel, but i preferr to keep my asks until i "really" need them if you know what i mean.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Yes Bones Cluffs it is...nice folks I believe.................................Maj...

 

 

[Tomo]

Hey Tomo, down here we only call the fence on the border the "Dingo" fence when there are Queenslanders about. Wouldn't want to offend, eh? Seriously though, what a great trip and story with pictures. I hope it was tax deductible - or even better somebody else paid :big_grin:

 

I'm sure a few of us would be interested in some numbers like cruising rpm & fuel consumption, etc. Also, some details, if/when you have time, on the nav planning involved. What type GPS was in the J230? Good to use? Preference compared with others you've used. Also, if it's not a rude question, what $/hr were they charging for the J230?

That's ok, we call it the dingo fence so as not to be to offensive either - Vermin fence sounds a little dramatic.......

 

Well I don't believe you can claim it... well I don't cause I don't want to get in trouble. Anyway, it wasn't a commercial flight... so it was a shared cost between us both like it supposed to be. (mind you I had to take a day off to do it) We were gonna drive, but I thought it much funner flying! :big_grin: And it was indeed!

 

I cruise at 2850-2900rpm in Jab's, indicating in this one (with the wrong prop for cruising btw) at about 112kts indicated - fuel burn would have been about 22ltrs hr.

 

Planning was as per normal... flight plan, maps, weather, notams, ersa etc.

 

GPS in the aircraft was a Garmin 296 - though I don't use the full features of most units I've had with me. In my case I didn't have any co-ords for the properties flying to, so it was just an X on the map, and compass, timed naving. And land marks of course. GPS wasn't much help in that case.

 

Also I do carry with me a little hand help Pilot III Garmin GPS, that I usually use if I need it, good to have ground speeds etc if aircraft hasn't a built in one...

 

To be honest, I couldn't give a real good comparison on different units, as I don't use the features on them enough to know - I usually just have it on the compass page, much easier to read than the one on the roof. I've mostly used Garmin models and have never had an issue with the basic functions I use.

 

Hire costs vary... from mates rates, or, just top it up with fuel, to school hire rates which in this case was $110hr dry. Which I guess isn't to bad for a J230, I pay $110 wet for the J120.

 

Hope that helps a bit.