Breakfast Flight Crab Claw Darwin

[kevb]

Hi Everyone,

 

A few of the Pilot's from MKT Darwin ducked across to Crab Claw for Breakie this morning, (three Drifters and a Gyro).. The flight across was fantastic and the bacon and eggs on the deck at crab claw overlooking the water even harder to beat. Did a run over Indian Island and popped into Dundee for a cold drink before heading home, tried one of the bush strips in the area and found the upper crust a little thin, no harm done though. Here's a couple of pics of the flight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BJFly]

Nice one Kev, I was flying a few days back on a nice sunny day and started thinking about the "Hornet". So I landed, took the doors of the Courier chucked them in the hangar and went flying. It was good, but nothing is the same as a Drifter. Safe flying.

 

 

[mnewbery]

This is not a criticism. That black crud under the wings is one reason why some people and clubs keeps their wheel spats on.

 

I'm not sure a wheel spat wouldn't have kept that mud for causing problems later rather than falling out. In black soil country it tends to fling off like little bullets. Especially if the runway has been dressed with blue metal.

 

Did anyone notice a change in flight characteristics with muddy under wings? On a WB drifter I would doubt it unless the contamination was severe.

 

Look like a great day and I think the campers at crab claw would have loved the parade

 

 

[farri]

These days my flying is done from my home strips and they are grassed and kept well mowed but I still keep the wheel spats on! I wouldn`t fly off bare terrain without them!

 

Bare terrain is most likely to have stones mixed with it, so, any mud being thrown into the prop will cause some damage to it! Mud should be cleaned off and the Prop inspected carefully, before taking-off again.

 

I doubt the mud under the wing or the elevator, would make much difference to the flight characteristics but it would be smarter to clean it off before getting air-born again!

 

Frank.

 

 

[SSCBD]

These days my flying is done from my home strips and they are grassed and kept well mowed but I still keep the wheel spats on! I wouldn`t fly off bare terrain without them!Bare terrain is most likely to have stones mixed with it, so, any mud being thrown into the prop will cause some damage to it! Mud should be cleaned off and the Prop inspected carefully, before taking-off again.

 

I doubt the mud under the wing or the elevator, would make much difference to the flight characteristics but it would be smarter to clean it off before getting air-born again!

 

Frank.

Yes Dad

 

 

[farri]

Yes Dad

I Love it!!!! ........Be careful Son, I`m watching and waiting!!!!

 

Frank,

 

 

[kevb]

Hey Frank,

 

Yep, we were lucky that the mud had no rocks ect in it, the strip that we looked at was cut into a clay pan and we were looking at it as a potential camping spot for the dry season up here. We left the mud to dry while we had a cuppa at the dundee lodge and then lightly tapped the around it and it just fell off, gave her a good looking over and off we went.

 

 

[SDQDI]

Spats are good for loose surface stuff but I would hate to have them when landing on black soil mud, it will block them up quick smart!

 

Yes you need to be a bit more careful and do good prop checks but it is still good fun. I haven't noticed any marked difference with a little mud under the wings but it would be wise to allow a little extra safety margin to your stall speed ect.

 

I don't find plain mud as bad as mud with dirty puddles, the plain mud will stick to your wings worse but when combined with puddles it is easy to get a really dirty windshield very quickly which is something to be careful of.

 

 

[kevb]

Hi Guys,

 

The wife was starting to do job lists this morning so I did the only sensible thing and headed out to MKT, was lucky as there were a couple of club members keen for breakfast at Crab Claw once again the Hornet was dragged out of the hanger for another day of fantastic flying, After another great breakfast we tracked over to Batchler, checked out the airstrip there and had lunch at the pub. Took the long way home tracking over Darwin River Dam, Manton Dam and surrounds.

 

Here's a couple of pics of Crab Claw today, always worth a visit.

 

Got home to a hot beer and very cold wife. Worth it but.