Germany to Oz by Mooney • 4 part trip vid

[Garfly]

These four films cover the trip as far as Darwin (a series covering their flying within Australia is due later).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 30 by Garfly

[Geoff_H]

It is not the first Mooney to fly from Germany to Australia.   VH-NWF did it in the 1980's without GPSS.  In fact it flew from the USA through Canada and into Great Britain over the Atlantic.

[rgmwa]

John and Marguerite Chesbrough flew London to Sydney via Perth in Mooney N6201D in 1982/83. They started in Houston originally and crossed the Atlantic to North Africa and Europe before that.  John was a member of SABC at Serpentine until he passed away a few years ago. They wrote a book about their journeys called `By Compass and by Consolan'.  Consolan was a long range radio navigation system similar to the beam systems the Germans used during the war.  The Chesbroughs used it to navigate across the Atlantic.

 

/../../favicon.ico Consolan - What Is It?, March 1961 Radio-Electronics - RF Cafe

WWW.RFCAFE.COM

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During World War II, the Germans developed another kind of radio directional broadcast system called "Sonne," their word for "sun," because of the radial antenna pattern it generated (see plots)

 

 

Edited December 1 by rgmwa

[Geoff_H]

John did navigation fixes using single ALF'S across the top of the Atlantic, Canada and Iceland had >100kw ADF transmitters in those days ( maybe still do).  John registered the aircraft on the Australian register as VH-NWF.

[rgmwa]

Thanks. Didn't know about the re-registration.  

His last aircraft, a Dyn-Aero MCR-01VLA (VH-SIP) was unfortunately involved in a fatal accident at Serpentine in 2020 after a partial power loss.

Edited December 1 by rgmwa

[facthunter]

Too much "Unfriendly" Country and Water fora single engine, Piston plane with no de-icing thanks.  Nev

[peterg]

On 1/12/2024 at 8:15 AM, Geoff_H said:

1980's without GPSS.

I did England to Australia in 1990 in a Cessna 170 - VFR, no GPS, ADF died crossing the English Channel, 2 x VOR of limited use / reliability.

ONC's had some interesting omissions, lots of military airspace in some countries, Gulf War still part of daily conversation.

The same trip in a fast single, auto pilot,  IFR etc would have been comparatively relaxing - CIR recommended if you are planning to do it - I had one.

Lots of controlled airspace and ATC with poor English - probably much better now I expect.

 

Most useful tip I got beforehand - if you need to ditch during a water crossing "if it's not tied to you you don't have it" - my marine EPIRB was a whopper compared to today's models (it's a along way across the Med leg and not as warm as the Timor one)

 

[skippydiesel]

Awesome teamwork. That first officer can fly with me an day.😈

[Geoff_H]

On 02/12/2024 at 2:01 PM, peterg said:

I did England to Australia in 1990 in a Cessna 170 - VFR, no GPS, ADF died crossing the English Channel, 2 x VOR of limited use / reliability.

ONC's had some interesting omissions, lots of military airspace in some countries, Gulf War still part of daily conversation.

The same trip in a fast single, auto pilot,  IFR etc would have been comparatively relaxing - CIR recommended if you are planning to do it - I had one.

Lots of controlled airspace and ATC with poor English - probably much better now I expect.

 

Most useful tip I got beforehand - if you need to ditch during a water crossing "if it's not tied to you you don't have it" - my marine EPIRB was a whopper compared to today's models (it's a along way across the Med leg and not as warm as the Timor one)

 

Were you able to get fuel in Timor?  Some years ago I looked at flying to Timor, problem was tht we could not get Avgas there and we did not have an import licence to send a drum there in advance.

[peterg]

8 minutes ago, Geoff_H said:

Were you able to get fuel in Timor

Getting fuel was often a problem - when no Avgas, Mogas had to do - used Mogas in Timor from memory - drums off the back of a local three wheel taxi I seem to recall.

Have an amusing photo somewhere of refuelling in Crete (other side of the island to Heraklion)  after a problem requiring a turn back or swim or pay a visit to Col Gaddafi - refuelled from some discarded drums into a bucket - bucket to refuel point on top of wing resulted in half bucket contents blown sideways - landing in the shocker crosswind required some new dance improvisations.

 

Oil was the big problem - much more difficult to get, even in the Middle East. Need to carry enough for an oil change & also carry plugs, tyre, tube etc unless you don't mind being stuck.

 

Remember, 30 years ago so things probably much better now. No need to worry about being a tad lost with the magenta line.

 

Also, no horizon with heat haze / poor viz so you need to be comfortable on instruments while hand flying - no A/P. WX forecasts in some locations were "imaginative".

 

[facthunter]

Jeppesen was the Most reliable source of weather data. Better than BOM. Always used it going to Cocos -Christmas Island. That was before 89.  Nev