Ferry Flight to the Centre

[pylon500]

OK, As promised, a follow up from my 'help wanted' thread with details of the ferry flight I was on.

 

Being based at Taree, I'm close to Olie Hartmann (Australian Aircraft Kits and Gary Morgan (Morgan Aeroworks).

 

Every now and then, either of these two will end up with a plane to be delivered, returned or ferried for whatever reason, and if they are busy at the time, they ask if I could fly an aircraft to wherever it needs to go.

 

This time around was to be my longest trip yet, deliver a refurbished AAK Hornet Cub to Bond Springs, just north of Alice Springs.

 

Not being the fastest ultralight around, I really needed to pick the weather for this one and unfortunately, a byproduct of optimum conditions for this trip would really mean crap weather on the east coast.

 

With a tangle of multi centred Low pressure systems and attendant ridges and fronts, it was still a bit of a guess to pick the exact window.

 

The trip would take a minimum of two days, and if I timed it right, my retrieve crew might also get a tailwind back.

 

Naturally none of the above occurred.

 

The more cautious route would be from Taree, WSW toward South Australia (probably Broken Hill), then around to the NW and upwards (Coober Pedy or abouts) and on up to Alice.

 

Unfortunately the typically stable pattern of a High pressure cell over the Bight negates any chance of tailwinds for more than one day.

 

The next alternative is to follow an 'anti clockwise' direction from Taree which would head more towards Bourke, then onwards towards Birdsville, then Alice.

 

As expected on the day, weather at Taree was pretty dismal, but instead of blowing the howling South Easterly as predicted, the wind was still from the South West.

 

I was tempted to wait another day (and in hindsight, it's still a mixed decision) but assumed the weather would be better once past the Dividing Range (called the Barringtons in our area).

 

Tracking for Narrabri, I came across a wall of weather just before leaving the Barringtons, which caused me to track SW.

 

This had me tracking towards Tamworth CTA, so I had to divert further South, and ended up heading towards Quirindi (never realised exactly where that was, Hi SDQDI) where I landed to access the situation, and get a warmer jumper out of the back!

 

With the wind still strong from the SW, heading for Bourke was going to be a struggle, better to use the weather and gain some Northern lattitude for the rest of that day, so I continued towards Narrabri and looking at Walgett.

 

Still a strong SW wind at Narrabri, I decided to keep going North and tracked on to Moree, where I posted my 'assistance request' post, after finding a minor problem with the engine.

 

I contacted the team back at AAK, and it was decided to send out a guy with more tools than I had, and make sure the problem was totally resolved there, instead of having to send a warrantee crew to Alice!

 

Day two dawned with the wind finally deciding to blow in the right direction, and blow it did!

 

Departing Moree about midday with a 15~20kt tailwind, I tracked to regain my original goal of Thargomindah, assuming I would land at Cunnamulla.

 

Within view of Cunnamulla, and with three GPS units, good fuel gauges, a fuel flow meter and the relevant maps, I crunched the numbers and figured I could still make Thargomindah, where I arrived half an hour before sunset, with reserves.

 

Up early the next morning and off towards Birdsville, still with the 20kt tailwind.

 

There really is a lot of Nothing out of Birdsville towards Alice, but it's not the hot, dry, parched desert that everyone expects.

 

There's an amount of foliage on the ground and lines of scrub trees in the long dunes, that run for miles in either direction.

 

Some of the dunes even have small creeks in them that even from 6,000 feet, looked to have water in them.

 

With the survival gear I had and my RAAF training, I could probably kick back and take it easy for a week or so if I had to land.

 

Biggest problem would have been the cold!, although there looked to be plenty of wood to burn.

 

Reached Bond Springs after 17.9 hours flying time over three days, $590.00 worth of fuel (not counting the full tanks I left Taree with) and $217.00 worth of accommodation.

 

I've yet to find out what the retrieve flight will cost in a Twin Commanchee, but I saw the pilot put in $500.00 worth at Thargomindah, although he said we could have made it non-stop, but not with IFR reserves, so we topped up.

 

Now for some pictures;

 

 

Terrain around Thargomindah.

 

 

Filled up at Birdsville.

 

 

Rows of dunes out in the Simpson.

 

 

Arrived Bond Springs, might be a hard plane to find out there ?

 

 

Phone image of my log sheet.

 

Summery, not a lot of adventure, just a lot of flying...

 

 

[SDQDI]

heading towards Quirindi (never realised exactly where that was, Hi SDQDI)

Sitting here so offended...................

 

Good to hear you did get some tailwinds though, the last few days has been blowing very enthusiastically from the SE. The windsock has been horizontal all day for nearly the last week. Although I haven't had time to pull the plane out so it doesn't worry me too much (Monday morning looks like a nice morning for a fly:whisper:)

 

And you are right about looking for that plane in the red dirt, almost perfect camouflage for that area.

 

 

[pylon500]

Here you go SDQDI, look familiar?

 

 

 

[DrZoos]

GRRRRR So jealous...awesome write up...

 

Man if i had that aircraft out there i would have done a STOL in every paddock on route

 

Imat Port Mac so when they need someone and your not avail give me a yelp