Oakey Fly in - thoughts?

[nathan_c]

So who went out there? What did you think? Favourite part? You know, all the usual questions...

 

I was out there today, I thought it was great and my favourite part woulda been the roulette cause thats the first performance I have seen i person.

 

So everyone..... discuss!

 

 

[Tomo]

The 09 Oakey show is on soon sometime I think... October I'm thinking! will have to find out, one of these days...

 

 

[Guest Walter Buschor]

Oakey is on Saturday 3rd of October.

 

Should be a great day

 

the Grey Nomad

 

 

[Tomo]

Ok, so who's a gonna be there?

 

If I can con the family in to it... It should be flying in, in either the Jabiru or Drifter on the Saturday. :thumb_up:

 

 

[Scottw]

G'day All

 

the Oakey Fly-in is on both the Saturday and Sunday 3-4th October respectively.

 

Not sure how many are expected but I do know a CAC Mk21 Mustang wil be conducting adventure flights along with a T-28D-5 Trojan Usually a nice turn out of classic aircraft. I know a couple of recreational aircraft clubs in the area thinking of going.

 

it is getting bigger each year. And the ex-military vehicle club members will have a collection of vehicles there. And some trade and memorabilia displays will be present as well.

 

Should be a good weekend.

 

 

[Mazda]

Is there any information about times etc or will people be coming and going all weekend? If there are any flying displays will the airport still be open for arrivals and departures?

 

 

[Tomo]

Yeah I rang up the other day about just that, He said the thing actually starts at 10am to 4 or 4.30pm can't quite remember now. Though you can flyin before those times apparently. Anyway he said there will be people coming and going all day... so I assume that is what we can do?! The only thing he new of was the P51 Mustang, which will be operating all day, so you just have to fit in with him I guess. I'm hoping to arrive before 10am if I can. Aircraft and weather permitting!!??

 

I may ring again sometime this week and just double check I think, unless someone else knows what is happening?

 

 

[Scottw]

G'day All

 

The fly-in is a fairly laid back affair, nothing like an airshow. There is ground advisory and the tower will not be active but they will advise on the day if the tower does become active and the airfield operates under normal CTAF® 127.65 same as Toowoomba on weekends. And there are no hard and fast scheduled display times, it's "as it happens"

 

And as mentioned the times are from 10am till 4 pm both days which are spectator invitation times but if you are flying you can arrive earlier and even the crowds tend to start arriving from 9am

 

if all is fine I should be positioned out near the windsock so if you are flying in and see me there give us a wave (may even be the chance you see yourself in the pages of Pac Flyer :thumb_up:)

 

 

[Tomo]

Well, Weather permitting, I'll be flying in from Dalby in the Drifter (Jab will be out and about!). Mum will be my passenger for the trip there, so if you see a green Drifter coming at ya... best to get out the way!!

 

I'm hoping to arrive some time around 9.30am

 

See-ya there!

 

 

[Spin]

Any feedback (Tomo?), weather didn't look awfully flash from this side. I had wanted to go, but it ended up being a choice between watching everyone else fly at Oakey or flying myself tomorrow - no contest!

 

 

[Tomo]

Yes, there will be feedback, pic's etc... in the next day or so... got to go to Brisy tomorrow, so it'll probably be monday.

 

I flew in, (blew in?!!) with a 20kt tail wind... and flew home in a 22kt head wind:faint:

 

And apparently I left a bit of an impression on the place with my 'vertical' take off, got off the ground and straight into thermal, 1200fpm lift off!! twas pretty cool!:thumb_up:

 

Anyway.... more latter.................

 

 

[Tomo]

Just to wet the tongue....

 

I'd think twice if you want to fiddle with the Drifter... It was closely guarded!

 

[ATTACH]8837.vB[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

[Scottw]

Hey Tomo you had more guarding the Drifter than there were guarding the Defence Assets(Tongue in cheek). Shame I missed your departure but left early as things weren't happening all that fast.

 

It was resonably good weekend but it was a real shame about the dust on Saturday which put a lot of pilots off from coming to the event. Today (Sunday 4th) the weather was a lot kinder and few flew in and the crowd that gathered was a lot better and the fly's out numbered the crowd 100 to 1, they were shocking. The Museum boys get my tick for the organisation. One of the most laid back oakey events I have been to.

 

Regards

 

Scott

 

 

[Scottw]

A couple of shots from the fly-in thatI was able to get

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tomo]

report

 

Ok, so here go's........

 

Arrived in Dalby to collect the Drifter, with the wind now picking up around the 15kt mark, and a dusty haze blowing in from the west. I wasn’t real pleased with the way it was thickening itself up. But it was still plenty good enough for flying, just not real pretty! I fueled up, putting a good amount of fuel in, because of the winds, I wanted plenty to play with...! (it’s no fun being up there wishing you had put that extra bit in!) and seeing as weight wasn’t a problem, why not. Full up I had about 60ltrs, so over the 3hr mark...

 

I got everything sorted out, briefed Mum on what I was planing on doing, which was - taking off and going and having a quick look around from upstairs and see what the visibility was like, if it wasn’t any good, I’ll just land again and call it a day... if it looked all right, I’ll continue on toward Oakey and have a look over there, and if it looks radical over there, I’ll just have to return back to Dalby. (it was the wind I was a little concerned of there).

 

Anyway, as it turned out I took off, and it was dusty, and looked really quite yuk on the horizon, but still pretty good. But just to be sure I was playing legal! I got on to the Oakey ATIS, and it told me that Vis was 10klm or more, so still plenty legal!! So I continued on with the plan to Oakey, Soon giving my 10mile inbound call (remember I had a 20kt tail wind!) Could just see the airfield from there! so I was extra careful on my lookout for aircraft and I made sure they new I was there...! I overflew the Base at 4000ft (just to be sure I was out of harms way!) looking at which of the three runways I was going to use, two Yaks were using 23, a T28 Trojan was coming in on 32, both of those runways having a cross wind, but they were nearest to the Museum, resulting in a smaller taxi, but me not wanting to show of my 20kt crosswind skills in front of a hundred or more people!! I chose 27, the wind being pretty much on the nose at that particular time. And making a great landing. (that’s what Mum said anyway, and an army dude said I did well! You got to be happy with that hey?!)

 

On landing, taxiing over to and back tracking 32 to the museum, the ground crew then directed me to the GA parking bay, me being the first one for the day... the warbirds having another parking section.

 

Shutting down, and being engulfed by army guys all wanting to see how my flight was, and where I had come from, and what type of aircraft is this, and did I build it?? Having not brought any pegs to tie down with, (because I had rung earlier and they said they will have some lying around somewhere) A fella went off and found some pegs, and he even gave me a big wheel chock, to which I then used to dong the pegs’ into the “Hard” ground (due to not finding a hammer!)

 

That all being sorted out, I then went and enjoyed myself looking through the museum, and other aircraft... having to try out and sit in the cockpits of the Blackhawk, Tiger, and Boeing Helicopters... pretty good set up in them I reckon. And all the other airplaney sort of stuff.

 

Tony Blair (not the British one!!) in his Rebel 300 did two great aerobatic displays throughout the day, well done! We also got to see what sort of training the chopper guys at the Oakey army base do, by a Tiger who was doing a training sortie around the base, doing brilliant air handling in the wind, hovers, flying sideways down the runway, touch-n-go’s, etc... was really fascinating to watch. Also the Bell helicopter was kept busy doing joy flights pretty much all day...

 

At about 3pm I packed away my gear and piled in the Drifter, (with one of my brothers this time) and taxied out to 32, it now having a 22kt cross wind! but due to the runway width, I positioned myself on the far down wind side facing into wind, resulting in a diagonal position with the runway, making it then, a direct into wind take off. So in front of all the army base and other spectators I performed an almost vertical take off! Having got off the ground with-in about 10 meters, and then hitting an awesome thermal, my VSI whipped around to 1200ftmin and I was at 300ft in about 3 seconds, I look down and the 2nd white line from the start of the runway slowly disappears under me, now I’m only climbing at about 800ftmin and my ground speed would have been about 30kts, so pretty slow!

 

The whole thing made a bit of an impression on the crowd anyway apparently! It was a pretty cool feeling climbing so quick to... but I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to be landing when a thermal like that comes through!

 

So It was a pretty cool day I reckon:thumb_up:, wasn’t a great deal of other aircraft there, only two other privates flew in after lunch, and that was it when I left at 3.15pm, but I had lot of fun, and it was made interesting by the wind, and dust, it kept me on my toes all day to see if it was getting worse, which it didn’t, actually started clearing out about 2.30pm so that was a plus.

 

Flew back to Dalby, taking almost an hour... so you can see I had a pretty decent headwind! Had an uneventful landing in Dalby.

 

So here are a few pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Good to see you doing some real flying Tomo, and with your Mum too, what a guy !! Did Mum take those great photos ?................................

 

 

[Tomo]

Good to see you doing some real flying Tomo, and with your Mum too, what a guy !! Did Mum take those great photos ?................................

Hey thanks Maj! Yep, Mum would have taken the ones from the air.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Tell her I'm impressed !!..................................................................

 

 

[Sean]

G'day Tomo.I parked next to you in the A22 Foxbat.It was a great weekend even if the weather was not the best.Sean.

 

 

[Tomo]

G'day Tomo.I parked next to you in the A22 Foxbat.It was a great weekend even if the weather was not the best.Sean.

Oh really! so that was you... Nice to meat you then. Yes I enjoyed myself even though the weather wasn't very great...

 

Did many others fly in on Sunday?

 

 

[Tomo]

Hey Tomo you had more guarding the Drifter than there were guarding the Defence Assets(Tongue in cheek). Shame I missed your departure but left early as things weren't happening all that fast.

Haha, yeah I was kinda the center of attention for quite a while, all the army grounds guys had to come and check it out!

 

 

[Sean]

Six aircraft or so in the parking area when we left around 1100.Sean.

 

 

[Tomo]

That's pretty good...

 

 

[Guest Decca]

Tom thanks for the great report.

 

Sounds like you were almost the star of the show. How did Mum get home? Brothers car I'm guessing.

 

(Tried) to change your avatar again?

 

Great stuff. Decca.

 

 

[Tomo]

Tom thanks for the great report.Sounds like you were almost the star of the show. How did Mum get home? Brothers car I'm guessing.

 

(Tried) to change your avatar again?

Thanks Decca, Yes you guessed right... the rest of the family drove over, so that was all good.

 

No I haven't tried to change anything... don't really know what is happening there!