Guest Maj Millard Posted July 16, 2011 Posted July 16, 2011 I've been doing the work commute from Townsville to Shute Harbour in the Lightwing for well over a year now. Sure beats looking at the same highway for three hours in the ute, and no chance of any speeding tickets !!. I generally do the run South in under two hours, and save about $10 in fuel over the same route in the ute. The return I've done in as little as I Hr 20 mins ground to ground, as there is usually a good tail-wind heading North. Last Monday morning I arrived a bit early at Montpelier for my usual 6.30am departure to find a heavy fog cover right over the field. No dramas, fog here is usually light and generally clears enough for a safe takeoff within 30 minutes this time of the year. 30 minutes go by and it hasn't budged a bit !. I walk down the strip judging available runway visability, and notice that the fog bank is probabily a good 100-150 feet high. If anything it is getting thicker. I jump back in the ute and drive 10 Kls back toward town so I can call the wife, and let her know there will be a delayed departure today. (She's my usual SAR watch.) As soon as I leave the field I'm instantly in clear sunshine which is real fustrating. Back to Montpelier where nothing has changed. The fog bank is parked right over the top !. I may have gained a bit of visability down my departure runway, but there's still a good 150 ft of fog above. I know I've probabily got the ability and experience to take off and climb through it, but then it's just high enough to get you in big trouble real quick. Tough decisions, but I'm feeling safe today, and decide to just sit on it for a bit. I jump back in the ute and decide to drive the three runways for a closer look. The bottom runway has probabily gone out to 1000 mts viz !. Back to the plane and I kick her in the guts quickly. I taxi down to the bottom runway, but by the time I get there we're back to about 200 mts again!. Damn !...I park her lined up down the runway, shut her down, and get out for a walk down the old WW2 bomber runway in the fog. In places the old 70 year old asphalt is still visable, used no doubt back then by B-26 Maurauders and B17s, as well as Bell Aerocobra fighters. Well at least my engine is warm now. Fustratingly I hear Piper Apache VH-DRR climbing overhead in the clear air after departing nearby Townsville airport. He's a regular early Monday morning departure just like I am, as he heads West for Charters Towers. Suddenly there's movement. A light wind is pushing the fog around and blue holes are opening up quickly in what was solid white. Fire up again, warm up, and I make a safe departure through the now broken fog with more than enough visual reference available. Within seconds I'm looking back on the offending fog bank as I climb to altitude, and set course. I'm an hour late on my usual departure time, and I'll be late for work, but very happy with my decision making this morning. This is how one get's old I reckon. The following Friday there's a sizable system moving through Queensland. Shute Harbour gets a bit of rain, lots of low cloud, and upwards of 25-30 Kt winds all day. Two RVs and a Lancair with winglets come in to Shute and tie down down for the duration, no doubt ready for a break from the high winds. A departure out of Shute is still possible, but how would an engine-out return to the field go in the high winds ?.Although it's always nice to get home late Friday, I cancel the Friday departure, and decide to see what Saturday brings. Saturday morning the cloud base has lifted a bit, it's clearer to the North, and the winds have abated to around 20 kts. I depart Shute and head North at 2000 ft, it's bumpy but no rain, and there's good horizontal visability up the coast. Groundspeed is varing between 98 kts to 104 kts all of the way, which are excellent figures for a standard training Lightwing !!.( I'm usually happy with 85 kts !) I quickly cover the 200 nm up the coast, and I'm overhead Montpelier Airpark in an hour 15 minutes, which is 5 minutes less than I've ever done it before. Once again good decision making proves it's the way to go every time....................................................Maj...
Yenn Posted July 17, 2011 Posted July 17, 2011 Good decision making Major. There was a pilot at Gladstone who knew that fog lifted quickly always and as soonas it started to clear he aviated. Found it came in again and he is above fog. Eventually got to bundaberg and found a clear spot to land. That is the trap for poor decision makers.
fly_tornado Posted July 17, 2011 Posted July 17, 2011 I can't believe you commute 2800kms every week. your carbon foot print must be massive
turboplanner Posted July 17, 2011 Posted July 17, 2011 Good point F_T, he needs to stop it. In fact he sounds like one of Facthunter's mutli-BILLIONAIRES!, cruising to Shute Harbour every day. Notice he never tells us what he's doing there Probably catches the boat over to Hamilton Island and has Lattes all day! This is the sort of person Julia is trying to rein in. That's why she's taxing me!
fly_tornado Posted July 17, 2011 Posted July 17, 2011 fairs fair though, 133,400Kms a year is an excessive amount of commuting.
winsor68 Posted July 17, 2011 Posted July 17, 2011 As Maj pointed out... his carbon footprint is actually quite low in comparison to what it could be if he drove... and he gets better fuel economy.... I see 1000's and 1000's of people each week who commute from as far as NZ to work in this region... I have done the tour of Maj Millard's work place... he has got to be the luckiest Ra-Aus pilot in the country. He gets to play with Beavers all week at an amazing airfield... and he flys his Lightwing to work!!!
Hongie Posted July 17, 2011 Posted July 17, 2011 2800 per week? Am I missing something? I was thinking maj millardbflys down on a Monday and stayed all week flying back on a friday/ Saturday?
dunlopdangler Posted July 17, 2011 Posted July 17, 2011 Now I am jealous...here is a guy that flies to work and plays with beavers all day!!
Tomo Posted July 17, 2011 Posted July 17, 2011 Now I am jealous...here is a guy that flies to work and plays with beavers all day!! Says he who has aeroplanes coming out his ears... 1
Spin Posted July 17, 2011 Posted July 17, 2011 I hate to lower the exalted moral tone of this place, but do you think we might talk flying for a bit? Good to hear of someone putting their aircraft to good use, Maj, let's face it most of us don't have to drive out to the airfield and then go bore holes in the sky - just for our pleasure. That must be an interesting flight and at least being essentially coastwise the wx should be fairly predictable, not like having to cross the range?
Guest Maj Millard Posted July 17, 2011 Posted July 17, 2011 The Lightwing at Shute harbour. Hey only 200nm each way which is 400 nm a week, down Monday and back Friday (plus the odd after work joy/de-stress flight), just to relax me before I hit the Beaver bar for a beer or two. Hell it's all wearing me out !!...And spin, yes not a bad run up and down the coast, but even so you do get a little bored with the same route all the time, but I'm not complaining............................................Maj... :rilla:
Guest Maj Millard Posted July 17, 2011 Posted July 17, 2011 Well Ozzie, he did manage to purchase the aircraft through the company, but even so it's hard to get a win these days !..I started out poor and I've still got most of it.....................................................................Maj...
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