Tell us about your last flight

[facthunter]

I agree. You can't get that kind of information on car drivers. Nev

 

 

[gregrobertson]

One of the commitments I make to my clients is that I will be available to do the initial test flight of their new Nynja or Skyranger when it is ready to fly. With that in mind a trip to Alice Springs was in order. Chris Leisi has been toiling away on his new wide body Nynja for about 18 months in between operating a very successful tour company based in Alice Springs with his wife Anita.

 

I had prepared my Nynja the previous day and was able to get away from Watts Bridge by 8.00 AM last Wednesday 19th. The weather was fine with just a light breeze on the nose I made reasonable time to Charleville having overflown Roma. Refuelling at Charleville is a breeze as the refueller is on hand to make sure everything works. I had a quick lunch from the well stocked Café and was on my way again. I was restricted to 4500 ft as every time I tried to climb the head wind forced me back down. It is sometimes a compromise between comfort and speed. The lower you fly the more turbulent it is but generally the lighter the head wind so 4500 was the chosen compromise and I still had a ground speed of 85 knots.

 

Next stop was Windorah where I had arranged accommodation at the Pub. Refuelling was trickier as the self serve bowser was out of service, however a call to the agent from the supplied phone (no mobile coverage) had the problem licked. Kerry came out to the strip straight away to help out and kindly offered me a lift into town.

 

Windorah is a great little outback town, wonderful people and hospitality. If you ever get the chance to drop in there do not hesitate.

 

I walked the 1.5 km out to Windorah airport in the half light of dawn and was airborne as the sun was just over the horizon. It is a magical time to be flying, the shadows over the landscape are amazing, the air is still and the colours all come to life as you watch from above. I watched a dust plume behind a vehicle settle in a fine mist back over the road. Not even a zephyr of a breeze to disturb it. I feel sorry for those who will never see the things that we see from the sky.

 

I had carried 45 litres of fuel with me and I transferred that to the wing tanks at Bedourie and set off over the Simpson Desert to Alice. This is the first time I have crossed the Simpson and it is a fairly lonely place, no mobile coverage and not much radio chatter as I was still stuck at 4500 ft. There is still a fair amount of vegetation and it changes all the time so it is never boring. Getting closer to Alice the Mc Donald ranges loom in the distance. As they grow larger the grandeur is obvious and the rock formations are simply stunning, they remind me of the Flinders ranges around Arkaroola. Don't take my word for it just go and see them for yourself. We have some of the best scenery in the world just waiting for you.

 

Bond springs is the base for recreational aviation in Alice springs and where Chris has his Nynja hangered. It is a gravel strip 1800 m long and very wide about 20 mins drive north of Alice. A great spot although a little on the dusty side. The test flying is covered in another post on the forum but it all went well and Chris now has a new Nynja to fly off the 25 test hours.

 

The trip home was just as enjoyable and a little quicker with a 15 knot tail wind. Actually a 25 knot quartering tail wind which made for some interesting flying at Windorah where I transferred some fuel into the wing tanks. I pushed on to Charleville as I was anxious to get home before some predicted storms on the Monday. Charleville: what lovely people they are there. Not only did they help me refuel but showed me where I could push the Nynja into a hanger for the night . Then if that wasn't enough gave me the use of a courtesy car and recommendations for a reasonably priced motel. That sort of hospitality should be rewarded so if you are out that way drop in and say hi. Perhaps go out for the week end they can certainly use some tourist dollars as they are all doing it tough up there at the moment.

 

The leg into Watts Bridge was no problem except that as I got closer to the coast the cloud was building up and I was forced under the cloud with 40 miles to go. The cloud base was 3500 ft which gave me plenty of terrain clearance. It proved to be a good move as there were no holes in the cloud as I landed at Watts Bridge.

 

A total of just over 22 hours flying over four days out and back. Was it worth it? Hell yeah!! Would I like to do it again? In a heart beat, although a bit more time would have been nice and I would love to do a lot more flying around Alice.

 

Greg Robertson.

 

 

[djpacro]

In the aerobatic box over Narromine for the NSW Aerobatic Championships.

 

 

 

[Ada Elle]

Navex YSCN-YSCB. At LBT, started flying into rain. Weather started deteriorating into not really VMC so backed out and went to the next reporting point. Never did get to speak to Canberra approach, but did a bit of talking to SY CEN and ML CEN.

 

Put on the hood, flew around a bit with navaids, called inbound... then took off the hood on late downwind with the instructor saying 'get ready for your base turn'. Bit disorienting! At least I have the numbers to submit my RPL stuff now.

 

 

[eightyknots]

If you own your own VH-registered aircraft, the name and address of the owner/operator is in the registry (online!). I don't own a plane but I have no desire for stickybeakers to know where I'm going, when I'm flying, etc etc.

Here, where I am currently living in New Zealand, all "microlight aircraft" (as they insist on calling them here) are on the national register. This means that any aircraft's owner's details can be found out easily. If, say, a trike was parked next to an Air New Zealand Boeing 787, the registration marks are indistinguishable: both are on the same register. For instance, Air New Zealand sold their last Boeing 747 about ten months ago. The owner of a trike may now apply to have this registration mark.

 

 

 

[microman]

Here, where I am currently living in New Zealand, all "microlight aircraft" (as they insist on calling them here) are on the national register. This means that any aircraft's owner's details can be found out easily. If, say, a trike was parked next to an Air New Zealand Boeing 787, the registration marks are indistinguishable: both are on the same register. For instance, Air New Zealand sold their last Boeing 747 about ten months ago. The owner of a trike may now apply to have this registration mark.

Not strictly true - you can elect to have your details suppressed on the register and a number of owners have done so.

 

 

[Ada Elle]

Here, where I am currently living in New Zealand, all "microlight aircraft" (as they insist on calling them here) are on the national register. This means that any aircraft's owner's details can be found out easily. If, say, a trike was parked next to an Air New Zealand Boeing 787, the registration marks are indistinguishable: both are on the same register. For instance, Air New Zealand sold their last Boeing 747 about ten months ago. The owner of a trike may now apply to have this registration mark.

I've got no problems with that; I've got a problem with people looking at tx.ozrunways.com and tracking when and where I take my plane out. (eventually when i get one)

 

 

[frank marriott]

I've got no problems with that; I've got a problem with people looking at tx.ozrunways.com and tracking when and where I take my plane out. (eventually when i get one)

It's voluntary, you can turn the info Off. If you are unfortunate and have a forced landing you can keep your location private as well. Makes rescue more difficult and costly but you may prefer that as well - personally I have all functions turned on and my correct call sign - can only be useful for those who choose to use it if you are flying legally, BUT participation is voluntary.

 

 

[Ada Elle]

Only people needing to hide their aircraft call sign is people performing illegal operations.The rest of us use our call sign

It's voluntary, you can turn the info Off. If you are unfortunate and have a forced landing you can keep your location private as well. Makes rescue more difficult and costly but you may prefer that as well - personally I have all functions turned on and my correct call sign - can only be useful for those who choose to use it if you are flying legally, BUT participation is voluntary.

Obviously not voluntary according to you, you either have the info or you get accused of performing illegal operations.

 

 

[frank marriott]

Whatever - do your own thing.

 

 

[Graham Pukallus]

Garath, great to meet you at the Maryborough Flyin, your new aircraft looks great not to mention your panel.

 

Very functional and clean.

 

Our Northern Trip to the Whitsundays and Bowen with 10 other aircraft was great in perfect weather.

 

Catchup soon, possibly at the Wings over Warwick on the 12/8/15.

 

Graham and Val.

 

 

[planedriver]

Good to see you posting again Graham.

 

Like Pauline Hanson, she used to be a Frier too in years gone by.

 

(that will go over the heads of all the newbies)

 

See you've had a step up in aircraft too.

 

Keep well.

 

Kind Regrds

 

Planey

 

 

[gareth lacey]

Hi Graham and Val nice to catch up with you at the fly in and your trip north sounds great ,you will have tell me all about it, I am away till the 11th sept but will go out to Warwick on the sat so hopefully can catch up then c

 

 

[Ada Elle]

Sounds Great Ada . . . .Just remember when you've got the go-pro all set up and working, to edit out all the swearing when you get that last bit of windshear / unexpected gradient, . . .and please ditch any ideas of having Iron Maiden / Led Zepellin / Boyzone . . . playing loudly in the film as well. . . . spoils many a good vid does that mate ! Lookin' forward to that.

Happy PAPI - ing. . . .

 

PS, . . .where's YWOL BTW,. . .? Woolgoolga,. . .Wooloomaloo,. . .Wollongong . . . ? save me lookin' it up. . . .( no strip at Woolgoolga in the 1970s. . . )

Wollongong.

 

This is not me (watch from 1:40 onwards) but it's what it looked like coming in from the north. Perhaps next time traffic is good for a straight in I'll try to recreate the same video from a little plane (except I don't dare to go where the PAPI is 4 red!)

 

 

 

[Bennyboy320]

Just a question for our QF pilots on this site, why did QF let a US Navy captain fly the a/c, i.e. shoulder boards with the star?

 

 

[eightyknots]

Good to see you posting again Graham.Like Pauline Hanson, she used to be a Frier too in years gone by.

(that will go over the heads of all the newbies)

 

See you've had a step up in aircraft too.

 

Keep well.

 

Kind Regrds

 

Planey

Only when the chips were down.

 

 

[dsam]

It was a fabulous day to go for a flight over Lake Eildon. Just thought I'd share a snapshot.

 

 

 

[Kaywoman68]

Day trip to Moruya yesterday (my very first time). Flew along the coastline to Narooma before turning back, and headed home. Weather was just beautiful - will have to hint to my pilot to go back again :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ada Elle]

 

I quite like the flight along the coast to Moruya, although I've never gotten out due to my lack of ASIC card.

 

My most recent flight (about 80nm north of yours).

 

 

 

[facthunter]

BB, In some Airlines Management Captains have an extra star. . Nev

 

 

[Bennyboy320]

BB, In some Airlines Management Captains have an extra star. . Nev

I know, just taking the p### out of QF, always good sport.

 

It's funny because in most airlines everybody knows who the management pilots are.

 

 

[Ada Elle]

Reasons to get controlled airspace endorsements:

 

 

(Also, when NAIPS says SEV TURB BLW 8000, believe it!

 

 

[facthunter]

Where would you land if the engine failed? Nev

 

 

[eightyknots]

Reasons to get controlled airspace endorsements:

 

(Also, when NAIPS says SEV TURB BLW 8000, believe it!

That was a lovely day for flying!

 

 

[Ada Elle]

That was a lovely day for flying!

No, it seriously wasn't. I kept on busting out of my assigned altitude with all the turbulence around. Wing drops everywhere. Like being in a washing machine.

 

Places to land on harbour scenic one: north sydney oval, the domain... A Warrior II is 12:1, so 1500ft buys you 3 miles if you're really lucky. North Sydney Oval is about 1.2, Moore Park is just under 2. Some tall buildings to dodge on the way, though!

 

Sydney Tower were lovely. We couldn't get Scenic One due to traffic, so did Scenic Two, then asked for Scenic one, and after tracking to Manly went back to the bridge for one loop (not the two you normally get with a Scenic One). Lots of talking to CTA. I'm glad I didn't cancel the lesson - did three lots of talking to ATC for the day.