Tell us about your last flight

[alf jessup]

Sunday 25th May turned out to be a pleasant total of 3.6hrs in the log book flying my Sierra .

 

Took off from West Sale after the fog cleared and travelled to Bairnsdale airport for a cuppa with the Doc flying in his Foxbat.

 

Filled the kettle and boiled the water and Doc kindly donated to the honesty box and found no coffee or tea bags. "such is life"

 

Doc headed back to West Sale & I departed for a jolly around Lakes Entrance then a return to West Sale, on passing Bairnsdale I duly noted what looked like hmm the possible small rain band forecast for later in the day arriving a bit earlier than expected in the distance, a quick look at the radar and the race was on, power set a little higher than the norm, touch more nose down trim and 110kts on the ASI in silky smooth air.

 

The end result?

 

I called it a draw, called straight in 5 mile final on Rwy 23 and at 1 mile out a few spits on the canopy, 1/4 mile out a lot more spits hitting the canopy, on the ground & back tracking steady light rain and zippo wind to go with it, parked plane in hangar & proceeded to wipe it down clearing the collection of bugs that have formed over the various surfaces over the last few flights, time for a coffee & chat with my instructors then off I go again after the showers had passed, this time to LTV and caught up with old trike pilot friend who was basically the only person frequenting the airport at this stage.

 

After the chat it was off to my old stomping ground Newborough (Not MOE) then over to Yallourn North and a flight then following the old railway line once intersecting it at Glengarry right through to Stratford junction.

 

Was having such a nice time on my own in the silky smooth air that I decided and T&G was in order for Bairnsdale again so off I headed from Stratty dead reckoning for Bairnsdale airport and LTD (Living the dream) as my mate Mick the plumber and fellow trike pilot says.

 

Another nice T&G conducted on Rwy 04 and I was off back to Stratford to see if I could wind up LTD who was unfortunately doing practically a Sh!t pile of work on this marvellous flying day thanks to his newly acquired fan dangled iPhone being on silent and him missing all those important breakdown calls.

 

No such luck spotting LTD at home so off I went to the Doc's on the East side of Sale township, a quick fly by and back to West Sale I went completing a magnificent day of flying, paperwork completed & another wipe down of the baby as quite a few more insects decided to make their acquaintance with my aircraft with the latest jolly I had just completed.

 

All told this last 3 weeks off was 13.7hrs in the book and everyone of them was enjoyable.

 

I find it funny that at times some of my friends often mention to me they find it boring if they fly by themselves? obviously they must not love it like I do as I have never once ever been bored while looking down on (what I call the) the poor people below me while I am soaring in the skies above.

 

Cheers

 

Alf

 

 

[Brett]

Took off from Geraldton with a sleeping bag and air mattress and the like. Flew to Shark bay over some nice scenery. Stayed a few days caught basically no fish. Fuelled up and flew back home. 5 1/2 hours round trip.

 

 

[facthunter]

Keep it up. You are dead a long time. Nev

 

 

[SDQDI]

Yesterday morning (Monday) I went for a local flight we had had half an inch of rain over the weekend so it was still wet (was a bit boggy getting going and wouldn't have done it two up). But it was a glorious morning and being too wet to work I was under no pressure to be home so just enjoyed myself climbing up to the scattered clouds cruising around locally a lot higher than i normally do then descended for a 700 ft cruise to home landed in the mud again and put it back in the shed.

 

Today mum and the kids went to gunnedah for swimming lessons (heated pool I think lol or I'm really gullible) and after doing a little work I got the urge to go for a fly again so I gave mum a quick call and she said they would be there for a while longer so I decided to fly over and fly my little girl home (she loves flying and I haven't taken her for a couple of weeks). It was considerably dryer taxiing and taking off and I had a nice half hour flight idling over to YGDH (where I learnt to fly and incidentally the first trip in a plane back there since completing my last endorsement). Mum and the kids were there to see me land and I also said a quick hello to a young Dutch man who is learning there (have never met him before but he had some study books and was quiet friendly:yes:)

 

After saying goodbye to mum and little boy I loaded little girl into her seat and strapped her in, it wasn't long and we were leaving the circuit area, with a cloud cover of about 3/8ths to the east and 2/8ths to the west I decided to take her for a look up above them and even though we had a ten or fifteen knot headwind up there she enjoyed it so much we stayed up there for most of the trip home. She just loved seeing the round rainbow in each little cloud and was disappointed when I decided to come back down. A quick fly over the house so she could see her swing and then over Poppy's and we were ready for home.

 

So I have had a good couple of days with beautiful weather (it's too foggy to fly early so you have to sleep in:whistling:)

 

Where have you flown lately?

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

On my Jab the outsides of the main tyres scrub leaving no wear on the inside so yesterday I split the hubs and swapped the tyres so inside was now outside on both. I put the spats on after painting them a bright orange/red....because I could...... After it was done went flying did a few circuits and went up high did some stalls, power on/off and flaps in and out......and then came down as the sun was getting ready to set......late afternoons and early mornings.....bliss!

 

Check out the lairey spats!

 

Andy

 

 

[Keenaviator]

Just flown off my first 25 hours of test flying within 40 nm of YLTV. I'm enjoying flying this UL450 much more than I imagined - finding it a bit challenging mainly due to its 'long wing aeroplane' characteristics compared to other aircraft I've flown. I've been testing a 'Sweetapple' prop from a mate's Corby Starlet, 56" x 44". Better climb and getting very close to VNE straight and level. I'm very pleased with the CHT's and oil temperature. Oil pressure seems a bit high but within Jabiru specifications. It's burning about 14 - 15 lph for 95 knots IAS at 2950 RPM. My next task is to forward the final 'test flight' correspondence to RaAUS to complete the registration process. The attached photo was taken when I recently took my paraglider for a fly (on passenger seat) Laurie

 

 

[Jabiru7252]

Went for a quick blast then on landing, nearly copped a face full of bird...

 

http://users.adam.com.au/kleb/welcome.html

 

Scroll down to find the link to the video....

 

 

[Graham Pukallus]

Straddie breakfast flyin today, 40 + aircraft.

 

A Picture Perfect Day.

 

Thanks to Pat and the Team, well done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

Flew to Casino to say hi to the lads but the airfield was closed with X's all over the place so went to Lismore instead to fuel up and see who was about...answer not many, but the pres and vice pres of the Aeroclub were there and made us welcome. Across to Yamba down the coast a bit and back home to South Grafton.....If this is winter we need more of it!

 

Andy

 

Photos:-

 

 

The Mighty Clarence River at Grafton just after take off from South Grafton Aerodrome.

 

 

Lismore main street out passenger window late downwind.

 

 

Late final Rwy 15 Lismore.

 

 

Yamba (and no I don't know why the forum software is dead set on having this photo on its side!)

 

 

Yuragir National Park

 

 

Brooms Head

 

 

And late final Rwy26 South Grafton

 

 

[PA.]

Nice morning buzzing around Murray Bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jabiru7252]

Was that today? (Sunday 22nd) because it was blowing madly and very nice flying weather around Parafield.

 

 

[PA.]

Was that today? (Sunday 22nd) because it was blowing madly and very nice flying weather around Parafield.

Yes it was today.

[bushcaddy105]

Currently trying to fly north to the APY lands to visit a friend. Called it quits yesterday at Glendambo when ground speed dropped below 50 kts. Camped overnight at the airstrip. While the wind swung from N to W overnight it dropped enough to head to Coober Pedy this morning. The last 40 miles was sheer hard work. Gusting 30 kts with up to 5 tailwind component. Windsock on 22 was dead horizontal and swinging. The eventual landing after 2 gust relaunches was surprisingly smooth! Now in the roadhouse waiting for the wind to drop, but no sign yet. That's my last flight story.

 

 

[SDQDI]

I got the opportunity to head down to the inlaws and help out with some calf marking, I was planning on heading off Sunday afternoon but the weather was horrible (low cloud and blowing a gale) so I spent an extra night at home and decided to see what the weather was like as to whether I flew or drove. The forecast looked a bit ordinary but was supposed to improve and at first light it was beautiful and clear to the north but the south looked foggy. So after packing my gear I was ready to go but alas I had left the isolator key on and the battery just didn't quiet have enough grunt to start it so jumper leads it was and an extra fifteen minutes which didn't really matter as I wasn't in a rush.

 

The forecast was for low cloud to the south early and rising as the day went on, a phone call to them out west and I was told beautiful day out there with low cloud to the east but all clear to the north so off I headed. Hillston is south west from home but because of the low cloud I decided I would head for coonabarabran and then cut down from there I had a consistent fifteen knot headwind for basically the entire trip so it was going to be a slow one. As I got closer to coonabarabran the southern side wasn't looking attractive at all so I decided to pull up and give it a chance to lift.

 

I sat there for a while and added up my options, it was clear to the north and down at Hillston the cloud to the east was lifting I could see blue sky over the warranbungles to the west but the south was filled in with fog and low cloud, above me was just a scattering of cloud about 3/8ths so with a look at my charts and a double check on google earth I decided I would climb up above the clouds and cut across to bugaldie It is north of the warranbungles and if you get up a bit there are still plenty of options for a forced landing, if that didn't work out I would stay slightly to the north and head home and go by car. So I climbed up to 6500ft (it was cold... Very cold the ground was wet at coona and on my way to bugaldie my wet wheels had a slight frosty look to them). Once I got to bugaldie it all opened up to the south and I was able to start curving around to where I wanted to go I dropped back down to 4500 and found that even though it was rougher and I had to go slower I was still making the same overground speed but instead of 5400 rpm I was only sitting on 5000 and because of the longer trip I was watching my fuel fairly carefully. After that it was basically an uneventful trip. Watching my fuel I decided to grab a jerry can off the closest property as I wasn't confident that I had enough to do the extra 20nm to the other property where the inlaws were working, a short hop and I was landing next to the cattle yards, it's something I never tire of landing in a paddock in the middle of nowhere just beautiful.

 

I took an early mark to fly back to the homestead just before sunset it was a 5nm hop with the 15 knots up the tail so didn't take long at all, and was my first sunset from altitude out there (wife and I lived there for 3 and a bit years so had seen plenty from the ground) and was beautiful. I did a nice quick circuit and landed on the road into the wind and taxied right up to the house and had it all tied down and rugged up (ill put a pic up of the rug) before it got dark. So ended Monday.

 

Tuesday morning I went for a fly over the national park before heading out to the yards and am kicking myself I didn't set up the gopro as it was a beautiful picture but those are the breaks. We finished a bit earlier and I got to fly around and have a look at a few more paddocks before I headed back to the house and I really enjoyed it as in those years we where there I rode it all on a motorbike but never did see it from above. And that was Tuesday.

 

This morning (Wednesday) I fuelled her to the brim gave all my bags to dad (he was driving home) and took off, it was a nice clear day (a bit of haze but no fog or clouds) so seeing that I dropped down at the other property to catch up with sister inlaw and her hubby and my old workmate Dave and spent half an hour saying g'day (she is having a baby next month and dave is on long service leave so I hadn't seen them this trip yet.) it was a nice trip home very uneventful and a slight tailwind so I was pleased.

 

Well that was a long winded way of saying I've had a couple of fun days flying.

 

One pic of the liverpool plains on my way another of the warranbungles all taken with my phone so not the best quality but better than nothing.

 

 

 

 

 

[John Nooyen]

Went to Caloundra with the missus. Great strip. Fig Jam cafe in town serves great Brunch.

 

3K walk to town from the strip (Not too far). We do this trip often. Great morning out.

 

 

 

 

 

[Graham Pukallus]

Yes, the Fig Jam Cafe has the best food of all varieties with great coffee and well worth the walk into Caloundra.

 

 

 

 

 

[Deskpilot]

T'was so long ago I can't remember it.

 

 

[Graham Pukallus]

Watts Bridge Poker Run, photo gallery.

 

Another excellent poker run organised the Brisbane Valley flying Club at Watts Bridge, many thanks to Richard, Glenda and their crew and of course to many who participated.

 

Don't know who had the winning hand as yet.

 

Scott and Chris ( Ninja flyers ) are putting together a video of the days activities and landings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Peter008]

I convinced the good lady to come for a fly this morning. A westerly until about 10.00am then an hour to commence the normal easterly that we have this time of year in the north.

 

We flew over the edge of Hinchinbrook Channel to Forrest Beach outside Ingham then back home again. There were radio calls from Mission Beach Sky Divers as well as some calls from Starke field near Townsville so I figure there were a few planes out enjoying the weather.

 

These were taken with a simple iPhone 4 and I am very surprised at how clear they turned out.

 

Mouth of the Herbert River. Hinchinbrook Island in the background

 

Macknade Sugar Mill ? on the Herbert.

 

 

 

 

[Geoff13]

My last flight was my first solo. One circuit of Caboolture. And no I didn't stop to take photos.

 

 

[Peter008]

Hope you had a photo taken once on the ground Geoff. A solo only occurs once in life.

 

 

[rdarby]

Flew from Caboolture to Caloundra yesterday. Not exactly cross country but I took someone up who wants to start flying, and we met up with her friend and went to the open cockpit day at the museum. Well worth it. We waited in line for 2 hours to sit in the F111! Satin a Mig15 (Polish version) and in the DC3, which has better seats and more legroom than a current 737!

 

This day would probably make a good flyin day, there is a lot going on there. From the air I have never seen the museum, probably too focussed on the centre line of the runway!

 

It was a windy day but one where it behaves by blowing straight down the runway. It was my first take off and landing on 24 at Caboolture after being there for years!

 

Ryan

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

So yesterday morning we went to our Hangar at South Grafton and my Wife declared that it was colder here than at Home in Coffs Harbour.....It may have been but I was pretty sure she needed a reset on what cold was so decided we might whip up to Armidale, about 40mins away directly.

 

 

Flew from South Grafton to overhead Dorrigo and then West to Armidale past the ASA Radar head. Dorrigo is around 2500ft altitude and I needed to climb higher than that to go west. The Photo above shows Dorrigo on its plateau

 

 

Flew over Armidale University (University of New England) before flying deadside 23 to join cross wind 23 for a full stop.

 

 

Flaps out slowed down it was then that I got a feel for the headwinds down low......it took forever on final until we landed...... Turns out later when perusing the BOM observations for Armidale that the winds on that day gusted to a max of 39km/hr on the nose.....

 

 

Anyway, Armidale is pretty high as the sign identifies. what you cant see in a photo is the coldness........BOM identified that when we landed there is was 3degrees but had an apparent temp, when windchill etc is taken into account of minus 3.5....... Needless to say wasn't having any CHT's that seemed too high today, and the wife agrees that Grafton actually wasn't that cold at all.

 

 

We had to wait for a refuel (ERSA says there is a credit card operated bowser....but apparently that exited stage left about a year or more ago....hopefully ERSA will reflect that one day) which was done by the guys that do the QLink aircraft servicing and he was on his way back to the airport for the next Dash8... Nice and helpful Guy but suggested that AVGAS availability at Armidale was on its last legs......For those that use Mogas there is a servo directly out front accessible through a key coded gate, about a 30m walk if that.

 

 

On the way home direct YARM - YSGR there are some pretty imposing tiger country....don't think I'll go that way again unless I have no choice......

 

 

My wife used to nod in a "yeah yeah whatever" way when I would speak about speed in Knots etc.......She suddenly paid interest when I showed her the speed in kmph from the Ipod Mini.......suddenly it was way faster than she thought....

 

 

And here we are back home

 

Andy

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Nice story and great pix, Andy, but those spats sure are LOUD!

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

Indeed, match the owner fairly closely then!