Arkaroola Broken Hill & Return

[Coop]

Or, so I can appear cool and just like a real pilot, should that be YCGN-YARK-YBH-YCGN (I made the first and last one up- you won't find that code in your ERSA).

 

Anyway, that's where we went- and we had a ball!!

 

Day one dawned overcast with isolated showers, but at least a southerly wind helped overcome Dorothy's built-in headwind. (For those unfamiliar with Dorothy- she is an Auster J1, 63 years of age, high wing taildragger, rag and tube construction, cruise speed of 85-90 knots, Gypsy Major engine of 130hp, "Armstrong" starter, and few instruments. This latter feature is important, because it ensures limited distractions from the view, which is why we aviate in the first place....)

 

So, with full tanks and a fair load of luggage, we headed north, climbing slowly to about 2,500' and sliding around patches of drizzle here and there. The countryside looked pleasantly green and lush- it makes a nice change from the dustbowl that has been SA in recent times. The Navigator, upon hearing that the freezing level was about 5,000', asked that we stay low to avoid freezing her delicate toes into little blue icicles. Forewarned, she was well rugged up, (ugg boots and thermal undies) and with the oil rag stuffed into the hole where the draft from the bungees usually enters the cockpit, and a conveniently located map blocking the draft from the edge of the door, we were relatively comfortable.

 

By the time we passed the Morgan-Eudunda Road the drizzle had gone, and the cloud base lifted. North of Morgan-Burra road we climbed to 3,000' to put more space between the wheels and the dirt. The Navigator kept her finger on the map and identified various stations and water courses as we passed overhead, Dorothy's engine hammered away happily in the cool air, the ground slid past at over 100kts, and all was right in our little world.

 

Yunta (YYUN for the real pilots) has a dirt strip conveniently located so its end is only about 300 metres from the town servo. We discovered this during our planning using Google Earth. We were not expecting Yunta to have Streetview, but it did, so we confirmed that what we thought was the servo was indeed the servo- although the resolution wasn't good enough to check the price... (This modern technology is simply amazing!) By the time we arrived the cloud was breaking up and the patches of sunshine kept the cockpit comfortably warm.

 

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There was a significant crosswind, and a nasty little thermal on short final, so much stick-waving was required to wrestle Dorothy onto the ground and I almost went around for another go at it- but it all came good just before the wheels touched, and we settled in for the long taxi to the parking area- they prefer strips of a decent length in these parts. We pulled out the hammer and pegs and tied Dorothy down- the wind was a help while we were in the air, but a definite threat on the ground so we took no chances. Then with jerry can in hand we had a pleasant stroll into town.

 

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After a healthy meal of pasty and sauce washed down with coffee, and a couple of trips to and from the servo to satisfy Dorothy's needs, we were ready to embark on the next leg to Arkaroola. During lunch we encountered another vintage aircraft enthusiast also en route to Arkaroola although, sadly, on the ground. He departed an hour before us, yet we reached Arkaroola about an hour and a half before him, illustrating the value of air transport in these parts, even with a comparatively slow machine like Dorothy competing with a modern SUV on relatively decent roads. Even a Tiger Moth would have been a revelation for people in the 1930's and 1940's faced with rough dirt tracks and the primitive motor vehicles of their time.

 

When I hammered the pegs into the ground at Yunta, it felt like concrete. Things might be lush down south, but they'd had bugger-all rain in these parts, and the view from here on confirmed this impression.

 

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A few trees dotted the water-courses, but there was precious little vegetation in between. Over-grazing was apparent in some areas.

 

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I was glad we were carrying our PLB and our insulated container of 4 litres of water on this trip. By now the sun had heated the ground and numerous columns of dust betrayed the presence of powerful thermals. Dorothy alternately lifted and dropped as she waded through them.

 

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(To be continued....)

 

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[siznaudin]

A superb account Coop (as ever..) - gawd knows, I've flown over this territory often enough, although significantly higher and somewhat further to the West in the "Moomba Express" (Nat Jet BAe 146). One of the features visible, even from commercial altitude, was the rabbit warrens, showing as patches of white against the red dirt.

 

 

[Coop]

By now the sun had heated the ground and numerous columns of dust betrayed the presence of powerful thermals. Dorothy alternately lifted and dropped as she waded through them.....

 

It wasn't long before the ground departed from its flat appearance and became decidedly lumpy- at least, out to the left.

 

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To the right, the unending flatness of the landscape was only emphasised by the appearance on the horizon of Lake Frome.

 

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The road builders in these parts don't need many bends. The one following the gas pipeline disappears over the horizon without so much as a wiggle except where it crosses a watercourse. The one crossing it in the foreground didn't even do that.

 

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After passing Balcanoona (which now has a 2500 metre sealed strip- wonder what they are expecting...) we crossed the first of a series of ridges displaying the sedimentary strata typical of this area.

 

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As Doug Sprigg explained to us later, these ranges were once a shallow sea which slowly sank to great depth as a rift opened up in the Australian continent and subsequently rose again when the two halves came back together. The result was kilometers of sedimentary strata were twisted and folded (like a tablecloth being scrunched up) and lifted and subsequently weathered down again to the current altitude. The Flinders Ranges are the result, and the plains to the east and west are where all the weathered rock went (along with the Uranium, Gold and other stuff of interest to prospectors).

 

We called Arkaroola village (they have their own frequency) and advised them of our arrival as we crossed overhead, then turned and ran down the valley again towards the Arkaroola airstrip.

 

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(To be continued)

 

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[Coop]

We called Arkaroola village (they have their own frequency) and advised them of our arrival as we crossed overhead, then turned and ran down the valley again towards the Arkaroola airstrip.

During the return down the valley we had the sun behind us, giving a spectacular view of the last few miles of the country we had just flown over.

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The strip at Arkaroola needs to be treated with respect. The surface is good, but there is a high ridge to the west that creates some very nasty turbulence in a westerly breeze. We had almost calm conditions, so that was no problem, but in a stiff westerly we would have diverted to Balcanoona. The strip also slopes down at each end, so attempting to land just past the threshold can result in an "arrival" if you don't flare the aircraft so that it is travelling parallel to the surface before touchdown. In effect, this means rounding out and flying uphill a little. The northern end of the strip is also crossed by the northern access road, so watch out for careless drivers!

 

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The Navigator, who didn't have much to do during the landing, tried for a nice shot of our final approach by hanging our new camera out her side window (!!). Murphy's law decrees that the prop will always be in the wrong position when the shutter goes off, but Murphy must have blinked, because she came up with this ineteresting perspective on the Arkaroola airfield.

 

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The following day we were joined by another 8 aircraft- mostly "antiquers". There were three more Austers, a Piper Pacer and a Piper Tri-pacer, a CT4, a Piper Warrior and a Savage Cub. This latter aircraft was hired and flown by a couple from Belgium, and a chap from the UK came in one of the Austers. These three were members of the International Auster Club ( http://www.austerclub.org/ ) who had come to Australia at the invitation of the Antique Aeroplane Association of Australia ( http://www.antique-aeroplane.com.au/ ) to take part in our annual Auster rally at Broken Hill. To say that they were gobsmacked by the country we were flying over would be an understatement. The chap from Belgium, when planning his flying in Australia, had earlier noted that they always wore their life jackets when flying across the English Channel, a distance of 27 miles. Noting that Lake Frome was 40 miles across, he wanted to know if he needed to bring his life jackets!! His Australian contact told him that life jackets wouldn't be necessary, but he should bring his own water.....

 

Over the next few days we did all the touristy things that people do at Arkaroola- walks in rugged gorges, visits to old mining sites, examining the sky at night through Arkaroola's 14" telescope, ridgetop tours and so on. We were also treated to some fascinating talks from a group of scientists- a geologist, a paleontologist, and an entomologist who happened to be visiting with a group of enthusiasts while we were there.

 

Arkaroola is still active seismically, and they have a seismograph on the property with its recording drum located in the main office where you can see it. One monring we happened to take a look to see if there had been any activity.....

 

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This was the record of the recent earthquakes that took place in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. There's always something interesting going on at Arkaroola...

 

After a few days it was time to head for Broken Hill in order to meet all those coming to the Auster Rally. During the flight across Lake Frome, the Austers throttled back and stayed in company with the Cub and our Belgian visitors. (It makes a nice change when Dorothy has to throttle back for someone...). We decided to drop down and take a closer look at the surface of the lake to see if it would be safe to land on in an emergency.

 

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But after a few miles it was clear that the surface was probably too soft even though it looked firm enough, so we climbed back to our cruise altitude and joined up for our formation approach to Broken Hill.

 

(To be continued...)

 

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[Coop]

.....so we climbed back to our cruise altitude and joined up for our formation approach to Broken Hill.

The run into Broken Hill was great fun. I flew number 4 in a diamond formation and we cruised over the city to help advertise the coming weekend's activities. Around the airfield once and then we progressively broke off to join the circuit. The weather was warm, producing numerous thermals, so the formation flying took a fair amount of concentration and pole work.

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The Navigator got busy with the camera again during our approach to the runway at Broken Hill, and once again Murphy obligingly looked the other way.

 

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We spent the next couple of days exploring in and around Broken Hill- meeting a few of the locals in the process.....

 

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...and checking out some of the local art work (Pretty, eh? The bit of rock on the left ain't bad either.)

 

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About a dozen Austers attended the rally- less than usual, probably because of the distance from the eastern states. This example- a J5F freshly restored- flew all the way from Kempsey and took out a major award. The last time I saw this aircraft it was a skeleton of steel tubes in the process of being covered with fabric.

 

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The dinner on Saturday night was very well attended and there was the usual hilarity as various prizes, both serious and humorous, were handed out to their deserving recipients.

 

On Sunday morning we overflew the breakfast at Langwell Station (about 25 miles south of Broken Hill) and headed straight for our rendezvous with a good mate at Overland Corner. During the run south we diverted from our direct track and followed the NSW/SA border for a while because the scrub on our direct track provided few clearings for a successful forced landing, whereas the border fence had a clear space either side which would be large enough to accommodate our wingspan.

 

Our colleague at OC drove us to Cobdogla where we observed the Humphrey Pump in operation- an earth-shaking experience (literally!) if ever there was one. (See here: http://www.icestuff.com/~energy21/hump.htm ). This enormous pump (it's about three stories high- two of them below ground level) uses the water as its piston delivering about 12,000 litres on each stroke. It operates about three times each year for the benefit of visitors and is the only working Humphrey pump anywhere in the world.

 

After lunch we took off from Overland Corner and headed for home. About 30 miles out, Dorothy's engine gave a little hiccup to indicate that the belly tank was empty, (there's no fuel gauge on the belly tank) and we switched to the main tank for the remainder of the run into our home runway. A convenient fire gave us the wind direction, so we tracked for a straight in approach and lined up on our grassy strip, freshly mown while we were away. Before long we had Dorothy unloaded and tucked into her hangar, with her sump plug removed to allow the hot oil to drain. We didn't feel like ending the holiday just then, so we diverted into the little french restaurant in the nearby town and had fresh coffee and scones before reluctantly accepting that the holiday was over and it was time to go back to work so we could pay all the bills.

 

Coop

 

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[Guest Inn]

Hi,

 

I'm new here, haven't even begun taking a pilot's license, but these posts of yours are just the thing for carrying me over, until I get the money to do so.

 

Thank you so much :)

 

Inn,

 

Denmark

 

 

[Coop]

No worries Inn. Glad you liked them. Good luck in your training,

 

Coop