[Jan 10, 2014] Great Eastern Fly in. (NSW)

[flying dog]

Folks,

 

Sorry if this is a "double post" but I can't see any reference to the 2014 event here.

 

http://www.greateasternflyin.com/

 

January 10 - Jan 12.

 

See you there!

 

Zip code? Huh?

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Why did you put so much yowie country between me and Evans Head? Not ready to cross that forest just yet, FD. Maybe next year. Good luck, hope lots do make the trip.

 

 

[flying dog]

Well:

 

It was a good turn up.

 

Alas the weather made it a bit scarse for people but there was a lot of people there.

 

Lovely days on the days, but Friday was a bit overcast and why so many didn't turn up.

 

 

[Chocolate]

Yep. Didn't want to risk it with so much low cloud on the range between me and Evans. Weather still like it this morning.

 

 

[MarcK]

I drove down for a couple of hours on the Sunday the gentleman with the goat glider let my son climb all over it and get a couple of pictures which was kind of him and the snow cones and fairy floss were great. A nice day and my boy loved it

 

 

[winsor68]

What did you think of the Goat?

 

 

[flying dog]

I helped him with initial assembly. Getting the wings our of the trailer, etc. But I was out of there by 10:30. A 9 hour drive was not someting I was looking forward to.

 

 

[MarcK]

I thnk it would be great fun there is a heap of information on the net and youtube. Looking at it it would have to almost be the cheapest way to get into a 3 axis aircraft. If I evere loose a few kg I will have a go for sure

 

 

[kgwilson]

I was there on Saturday. The crowd was similar to last year. The F111 exhibit was well done with very informative commentaries from the guys there walking along and explaining all of it's intricacies as you made your way around to climb the steps to check out the cockpit.

 

The Paul Bennett Pitts x 2 along with a Yak 52 put on a good aerobatics display as well as a Mustang and various other big radial engined warbirds including the Wirraway T6 Texans & Harvards. The big blue Navy thing with folding wings (Trojan I think) surprised me with how poorly it performed. It took forever to get airborne then flew so slowly even in the so called high speed ground attack passes that it would be so easy to shoot down or at least hit. I guess it had its purpose whatever that may be.

 

The number of RA aircraft was well down on last year, possibly because of the poor weather on Friday. SAAA had a good informative stand (where was RA-Aus) & the Sling agent was busy showing his new 19 registered aircraft. Byron Bay Microlights were there with their trikes & there were some flash $125,000 Gyrocopters on display.

 

There was lots of poor airmanship with poor & often incorrect radio calls. I haven't been to Natfly yet but I hope it is a lot better in this dep't than The Great Eastern Flyin

 

 

[flying dog]

I liked the RAA plane who tried to do a landing when the Trojan was back tracking.

 

Did a go-round at 50 feet. After he landed, CASA walked over to talk to him.

 

As much as yoyu are right KG, the important thing is no one hit anyone else.

 

 

[arielle]

I went down on Saturday after missing a few years for various reasons. The day visitors park seemed to have fewer aircraft, possibly thanks to cloud lurking in the distance, although we got through from Brissie ok. Would be a bit sad if the CASA presence kept anyone away. Crowds seemed a little thinner initially, which made for easier getting about, but plenty more filed in by lunch.

 

Must say I didn't see anything too concerning airmanship wise, you're always going to have a few minor problems with the numbers and mixing in displays, flips etc. I had better things to do than listen to radio traffic, so cannot comment on that, no issues when we came in or left though.

 

The dead grass award would probably have to be shared by the Sling LSA and the Gyros, even if the whirygig things aren't your game, the eye catching colour schemes of the display aircraft drew the crowds in.

 

Had to chuckle at the description of the "big blue navy thing" above. Now even I know that's a Grumman Avenger, a WW11 torpedo bomber. Ok, it doesn't have the performance of a fighter, but has anyone seen a Fairey Swordfish, the pommie equivalent? Actually it got off the ground after a pretty short roll, as you'd expect of a carrier borne aircraft, but Paul Bennet (I think) held it down at dot feet, before doing a climbing turn. Personally I found a single that has more cylinders, much more power and weighs 3x what a Piper Chieftan does, rather impressive. The wing folding is quite the party trick as well. All round there was a bit of a feast for round engine fans.

 

What I really liked was the camping area, especially the underwing camping tucked down one of the old runways and slightly out of the public gaze - next year, provided the significant other can guarantee a 12V hairdryer and some form of gas powered espresso machine!

 

The event gets a big thumbs up from me, wish there were more like it, spread through the year.

 

 

[kgwilson]

Had to chuckle at the description of the "big blue navy thing" above. Now even I know that's a Grumman Avenger, a WW11 torpedo bomber. Ok, it doesn't have the performance of a fighter, but has anyone seen a Fairey Swordfish, the pommie equivalent?

I knew someone would know what it was. Hardly comparable to a Swordfish that was designed in the early 30s & obsolete by the start of WWII. Still they had plenty of them & they did manage to torpedo the Bismarck. They were so slow that the German fire control predictors made the shells explode a long way in front of them & they also flew so low that the flak guns couldn't depress far enough. Other than being able to carry a torpedo they were pretty hopeless & were sitting ducks. They did manage to sink a dozen or more U boats when they got re-deployed as anti submarine depth change bombers.

 

 

[DrZoos]

I was there Sunday awesome awesome awesome. But i did see a fair bit of very ordinary airmanship. And of course the Piper almost landing on the Mustang (10ft miss) .

 

But the organisation, variety of warbirds, air displays and the F111 absolutely awesome.

 

I certainly know CASA was a concern but i made sure i had everything. It was funny talking to guys with there planes there. About half a dozen or so said. Be careful CASA is here "but they are not ramp checking so far".

 

Overall well worth the trip.

 

Thanks to the organisers for a great fly in...

 

 

[Ultralights]

I liked the RAA plane who tried to do a landing when the Trojan was back tracking.Did a go-round at 50 feet. After he landed, CASA walked over to talk to him.

 

As much as yoyu are right KG, the important thing is no one hit anyone else.

Would have been interesting to hear what CASA would have had to say, as doing a Go around, with another aircraft on the runway is the correct thing to do. backtracking with an aircraft on final, not so good airmanship.

 

if he had landed when the other aircraft was on the runway, then CASA would have something to complain about.

 

 

[flying dog]

Yeah, well that is the SIMPLE story.

 

The "long" version:

 

The Trojan was backtracking..... Had landed and turned around. Duh.

 

This was taking TIME.

 

In the mean time: The jab turned base/final and came in all the time with the Trojan on the runway. It isn't that it suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

 

On the go-around, no radio call - so I am told - and no shift to the right to clear the runway.

 

They didn't throw the book at him, but did have words with him.

 

 

[facthunter]

I find the Grumman Avenger a bit lacking in performance. too. They might be operating the engine conservatively to extend it's life. It's quite something to have one flying, but doesn't do much in the flying get up and go stakes. Nev

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Casa had words with someone for doing a go around? Interesting. :)

 

 

[DrZoos]

Casa had serious words and lots of arm wavi g at the fool in the piper that tried to land on the mustang. They chewed him up, and so they should have , he taxis like a rally car driver and parks like a stint driver. There was plenty of bad airmanship for casa to observe.

 

 

[DrZoos]

The 20 min airshows are awesome, but they create traffic congestion. Perhaps a suggestion is to let the inbound holding traffic in before anyone can leave after an airshow. Maybe a 10 min wait or so before anyone can depart.

 

 

[motzartmerv]

There always is. The airshow mentality brings out the best in evrybody..:)

 

 

[Ultralights]

unfortunately bad airmanship isnt illegal in some/most cases, but if an aircraft landed, backtracked, and a took a little time, then there is no problem with a go around, might not even need to move to the right if the reason for the go around is on the ground. and not taking off under you.

 

as for landing almost on top of another aircraft, thats a different story, and not taxiing at a safe speed.

 

its sad that airshows/fly-ins tend to bring out the worst in airmanship, im not sure if the same pilots fly and act like that every time they fly, and there is no airshow/fly-in crowd to see, or they suddenly get a case of look at me itis and stop thinking properly, who knows, but its obvious that airmanship 101 needs to be added to the initial training syllabus.

 

apart from that, i didnt make the evens head fly in, no hours left on the aircraft. theres always next year!

 

 

[arielle]

I didn't see the Jab/Trojan incident but I'm having some trouble following what the problem was, as described. Fitting in with traffic of differing speeds does occasionally mean a go around and there are times when non-standard circuits, eg extending downwind create more confusion than they solve. That's no excuse for buzzing the traffic that prevented you from landing (not that this has been suggested), but we'd all be better off if people were a little more go around orientated.

 

 

[Ultralights]

any more pics from the fly-in?

 

 

[flying dog]

arielle,

 

I thought it was a Jab and the .... Trojan.

 

Someone said it was a Piper (or what ever) ((CRAFT disease is getting worse! Can't remember 1 minute ago))

 

But what ever. It was an RAA plane though I am 99% sure.

 

 

[arielle]

I think DrZoos mentioned a Piper/Mustang incident - I didn't see either so can't help there.

 

Whatever, I'm glad nothing too serious came of it and am looking forward to the next event.