Are you coming to the Echuca Flyin

[Admin]

Hi all

 

Matt, unfortunately we packed up this morning and headed back.

 

Brent - a big thanks for thinking (and trying) of coming but best to always keep it safe as you know but I very much appreciated reading your post.

 

To everyone else - a big thanks for thinking of coming and it was very unfortunate that the weather wasn't on our side - the Camden haven flyin brought rain as well to that area so the standard joke at Echuca was to hire myself out as a rain god to all the local draught stricken areas to have a flyin

 

Seriously, a huge thanks to BigPete and everyone at Echuca for making us feel welcome with great meals, great bacon and eggs for breakfast, plenty of drinks and an enormous amount of fun sitting around, flying when we could, but having a lot of interesting and sometimes very funny stories - hey, this is what we as aviators do best isn't it, sit around and gas bag while having a drink.

 

Thanks to those that were able to make it there - it is always great to meet you guys, to Mick and Bernie for flying all the way down from Maryborough and Mick for taking me up in the Skylark - I almost got my cheque book out ;)

 

I spoke to the guys at Echuca and we decided to re-hold the Southern Flyin there again in the not very distant future when the weather may be a little bit kinder to us - on the same day last year they had 40deg heat - flying and weather, are they friends or foes?

 

Thanks again to all ;)

 

 

[Guest brentc]

As promised, I've included a few pics from my attempt. These were taken later in the day as you can see by the clock, so earlier, it was much worse.

 

First pic out the front, with the rain making it almost impossible to see out, second is the left side and third out the right. Whichever way you look, not good for VFR.

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Ts ts ts you naughty boy Brent!!

 

 

[Flyer]

I was at work over the weekend wondering what the weather was really like...now I know ! A good day to be sitting on the ground for sure.;)

 

Having not had that much exposure to bad weather, how would you have rated the weather, VFR of SPECIAL VFR for the distance you covered?

 

p.s. this isn't a trick question, just trying to get an understanding of what less than ideal weather looks like. What was the cloud and vis like in comparison to the reported weather etc...

 

Regards

 

Phil

 

 

[Guest brentc]

Naughty? Which bit is naughty? The windscreen shot looks bad because of the rain, but it's still very much vfr.

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Terrible attempt at humour by myself Brent!:)

 

 

[Guest brentc]

Phil, my second pic out the left side is still VFR and legal. Visibility is 10k+, cloud is scattered at 2,000ft and I am clear of cloud below 3,000ft.

 

The biggest danger on the day was that most of the clouds were quite dark. When flying in mountenous conditions it is almost impossible to tell apart the mountains from the cloud as they seemingly merge from one to the other.

 

Pic 3 out the right hand side would barely be legal as visibility is less than 5km, you'd think, however there are actually mountains that go up into the cloud. If you look closely you can see them. Therefore, it's still legal.

 

As I stated earlier, on Saturday the cloud base was around 2k and the upper layer around 8k. Where there was more than 4/8's on on the 2k layer it was difficult to see the ground and hard to distinguish the showers between the upper layer and the mountains, so if you're not careful you could have flown into a shower and then into terrain which would spoil your day and the rest of your life.

 

I did just find out that one of our guys made it up there in his Tailwheel Pacer and made it back on Sunday (Greg), however apparently the trip back was very very nasty indeed.

 

I believe that special VFR is only relevant for controlled airspace and used in reduced visibility conditions to help seperate VFR traffic. It is essentially below the VFR minima at the pilot's discretion and slows down the incoming and outgoing traffic. When operating in Special VFR you are asked if you wish to accept Special VFR conditions. I've used special VFR out of Moorabbin before and the cloud base was at about 400ft AGL but yet they were still allowing aircraft movements because it was known to be clearer elsewhere. I've also used Special VFR into Essendon, however when I went in it was quite clear and nothing to worry about, they were just carrying on with it for some reason.

 

 

[BigPete]

When I saw Gregs 1959 Piper Pacer - I fell in love with it. :;)7::;)7::;)7:

 

What a beautiful, classic aeroplane, in great condition too. ;)

 

regards

 

 

[Guest David C]

The biggest danger on the day was that most of the clouds were quite dark. When flying in mountenous conditions it is almost impossible to tell apart the mountains from the cloud as they seemingly merge from one to the other.

Hence , the cloud formation colloquially known as "Cumulo Granitus "!!

 

Dave C

 

 

[Guest Decca]

Where's Mick & Bernie?

 

Anyone know when Mick & Bernie are due home? They can't still be Skylarking around the country!

 

Decca.

 

 

[Mick]

Hi Decca,

 

We made it back today after a few days of doing battle with the weather.

 

Full trip report with pic's to come in the next few days.

 

Cheers

 

Mick

 

 

[Guest Decca]

Right on cue. Well done Sweetheart I was beginning to worry about you.

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Right on cue. Well done Sweetheart I was beginning to worry about you.

My gosh is this what you guys get up to at fly-ins?

 

 

[BigPete]

WELL it was cold and wet, not much flying and only a few of us.......:;)8: ;) :big_grin:

 

regards

 

 

[Mick]

I am really hoping that Decca was refering to the Skylark..............

 

It really was not that kind of party :).

 

 

[Guest Decca]

Nah! Bernie was too attached to his video camera.

 

Decca.

 

 

[Bernie]

Quite Decca or I'll post the video

 

 

[Guest Decca]

No! Bernie, No! Anything but the video...

 

Oh, OK, show everyone what they missed out on then.

 

Decca.;)

 

 

[BigPete]

Having a phone file clean up when I found these photos of Gregs Piper. :;)7::;)7::;)7:

 

Enjoy

 

regards

 

 

 

 

[Guest Decca]

Great Photos Pete. Terrible weather you have up there though. Enjoy your 40degrees to---day.

 

Regards, Decca.