Guest J430 Posted November 23, 2007 Posted November 23, 2007 Ohhh here we go process of elimination questions.........Not NSW! Keep thinking hard. J
PaulN Posted November 25, 2007 Posted November 25, 2007 Here's a scarey one that I stumbled across while in NZ. This is located above Port Levy in the Akaroa area near Christchurch. It appears that a very keen flyer unable to find anything resembling flat ground has set himself up with a hangar/shed on top of a short but very steep strip on the side of this hill. I guess he comes in over the lip of the hill using the upgrade to slow down and then powering down the hill and off the edge for take off. A pilot with more "metal" than I could muster ;). Can't help wondering what his options are in case of engine out, s'pose he might be able to glide to the harbour below :ah_oh:. Don't bother guessing its name ... I doubt it has one. Paul
Guest pelorus32 Posted November 26, 2007 Posted November 26, 2007 G'day Paul, This is a great shot of a great NZ institution. As you no doubt found out NZ is almost completely made up of flat land - it's just that it's all standing up on edge. As a result most topdressing strips are just like the one pictured here. As a 13 or 14 year old (much lighter then!) I'd go out with the local topdressing pilot in the Fletcher and sit beside him whilst he worked off strips like this. The key elements are the flattish area at the bottom and the flattish area at the top. You come in with a little extra speed on - depending on the angle to which you have to pitch up to "flare" - no extra speed if it's flat and quite a bit if it's steeper. Then you allow your momentum to carry you to the top of the strip. There is no chance of stopping halfway up the strip - you can't turn around and you can't get yourself up the strip from a full stop! On the flat at the top you turn and face down the strip and wait whilst the loader driver does his/her job and then off you go. You are almost always off before the flat bit at the bottom and if not then you add a little bit of fertiliser to that area of the strip. The shed is very likely a fertiliser bin. The pilots will not work with damp or wet super as they then risk not being able to dump in an emergency. Most strips have an easier transition from the strip to the top flat area than this strip does. The guy I used to pax with read cheap westerns whilst working off these strips: reading whilst waiting for load, glance in the mirror open the throttle keep reading; as she got light put the book upside down on your knee; once off, immediately pick the book up again and read; as you approach the run glance up from the book and open the hopper; close the hopper, glance up and turn the aircraft; open the hopper for the return run and keep reading; configure the a/c for landing glance at the strip a couple of times and then close the throttle; as you start to flare put the book upside down on your knee and leave it there until you have turned and stopped to be loaded - then you start again. Do that about once every 90 seconds and do 10,000 hours of that you end up reading lots of westerns. First time I saw that I wondered what was going on but that's what he always did! Brings back happy memories that shot. If you look in the hills of NZ you will see strips like this everywhere. Regards Mike
PaulN Posted November 26, 2007 Posted November 26, 2007 Thanks Mike, that makes a lot of sense now (not the westerns bit). When I first spotted this I couldn't believe what I was looking at but it just had to be some kind of strip. Paul PS I'll have to post a pic of Pelorus Sound that I took just for you later.
robinsm Posted November 26, 2007 Posted November 26, 2007 Right on Pelorous 32. I am from the north of the north island and this was a standard thing. In my day they were using Fletcher aircraft and a converted DC3. The Fletchers flew from the small farm strips and the DC3 from our local aerodrome which was central to the hilly farming area around the north of NZ. Watching the DC3 low flying and top dressing was amazing. (the pilot was an ex ww2 bomber pilot).
Guest High Plains Drifter Posted November 27, 2007 Posted November 27, 2007 For anybody interested in seeing some NZ ag ops, I would recomend 'The Superpilots' DVD by Southcoast Productions. www.videosouth.com HPD
blueshed Posted November 28, 2007 Posted November 28, 2007 It's not Rawnsley Park! No Hills. Doesn't look like Malley. Maybe a bit of briglow country Though! ???????????????????????????????? Cheers Guy
Guest RogerRammedJet Posted November 28, 2007 Posted November 28, 2007 Ok have a crack at this one, an I know some RAA machines have been here too so somebody must recgnise it.And yes the screens have been photoshopped to stop the smart ar$e$. Pity my hair was photoshopped too, it can't be really that grey! Hmmm, looks familiar! Where have I seen that pic before? RRJ
Guest J430 Posted November 28, 2007 Posted November 28, 2007 HPD..........you are pretty warm in fact! But its a big place so try again! J PS: Roger, stop being a smart ASS .....hehehehehe
Guest RogerRammedJet Posted November 28, 2007 Posted November 28, 2007 You got enough GPSs in that thing J? Interesting looking LSA your driving! Roger
Guest J430 Posted December 4, 2007 Posted December 4, 2007 Gooday Roger With the DME U/S you need all the help you can get! Well I think I know where you have seen that before....and if you are clever enough you could claim the prize! Yes its a rather large LSA.....lets say a Sportstar on steroids perhaps. Nothing like 285HP up front and 160kts cruise! Mind you it drinks at over twice the rate the J430 does. J PS Think we have a common friend up that way, do you know the guy with the R44 at YATN?
Guest RogerRammedJet Posted December 4, 2007 Posted December 4, 2007 Things are not always as they seem Jaba me old mate! R
Guest RogerRammedJet Posted December 6, 2007 Posted December 6, 2007 You don't seem to be getting much response there J! Try this one - its got a few more clues. Rog
BigPete Posted December 10, 2007 Posted December 10, 2007 Where am I? - Somewhere in Victoria! regards
Ross Posted December 11, 2007 Posted December 11, 2007 Looks like a very flyer friendly place when you count the number of headlands that the cropping person had to do compared to the non aerodrome paddocks beside it.
Guest Andys@coffs Posted December 15, 2007 Posted December 15, 2007 You don't seem to be getting much response there J!Try this one - its got a few more clues. Rog Ok I Guess Rwy 28 Nullabor Motel. BTW, 1 installed GPS, 1 Garmin 296 and I presume a bluetooth GPS for the Motion Tablet...... STill cant point the finger, I have the 295, a bluetooth for my tablet and a small handheld as an emerg backup The only issue I have is that on google it shows 2 cross strips and I think I can make out only 1 so Im less than 50% confident Andy
Guest RogerRammedJet Posted December 15, 2007 Posted December 15, 2007 Don't know about any of that - I lifted the pic off another forum. Rog
Guest J430 Posted December 17, 2007 Posted December 17, 2007 only two strips, the other is a road I think to the house! USB is just a link to the 296....so only 2 GPS modules in total. Thats taken a while! I have a pic of another strip that would be 10 times harder......but Roger might know where the answers are it seems!!! J
Guest RogerRammedJet Posted December 17, 2007 Posted December 17, 2007 Go for it J - I promise not to tell! Rog
PaulN Posted December 23, 2007 Posted December 23, 2007 Not much action here J!Rog A few clues might get some of going ;) Paul
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now