motzartmerv Posted January 19, 2009 Posted January 19, 2009 They say aeroplanes are a great way to go somewhere fast if your not in a hurry.. Well, i'd have to agree after this weeks trip. I was tasked with the job of delivering our new (old) Gazelle from Warwick to our club near nowra. An easy task you might say.. I took a student with me who is doing her nav's at the moment, so what better way to learn then to do.. So we blasted off on a virgin 737 to brisbane on thursday morning and hired a car to make the trip to warwick. It took one and a half hours to get out of the airport due to a prang on the highway. We met the seller and drove out to warwick to inspect the plane.. All was good, so we planned to blast off that arvo to get to grafton before last light. But it was incredibly hot and i was very tired so we decided to stay the night in warwick. I have to say, i met some real champions on this trip, and rob (the cfi at warwick) was no ecception. He and his wife bent over backwards to help us out. So we blasted off early on friday and after an uneventfull nav we made south grafton.. Just in time to watch a front roll in.. so an overnight at grafton.. Once again, we met some incredibly nice people at grafton who were more then willing to help out. A guy who didnt know me from a cake of soap drove me to the servo and leant me some jerry cans to fill up. Stuey the CFI at sth Grafton made us feel incredibly welcome. So we went to blast off the next day.. During the runups the oil pressure shot through the roof, so it was back to the clubhouse and in 5 minneys flat we had 3 or 4 people pooring all over the acft. A LAME (terry) assured me it was guage or sender error, but insisted i couldnt fly on a dodgy instrument. So, another night at grafton. My student had to go home for the kids so we borrowed a car and drove to coffs. The next day the error was gone, so i had all greens and decided to go. The wx was pretty crap and i got myself into some bad stuff in the hills south of Grafton. Radioed coffs harbour and requested an airways to transit due weather, they looked after me quite well. "gazelle 3486, are you clear of cloud?.. coffs tower, yes i am, only just, turn towards the coast and tell me what you see.... I see you, coffs airstrip dead ahead..( i knew i would, i wasn't lost, just couldn't continue on my FPT..). .whats your altitude??, 2500 i replied.. and whats the cloud base altitude?? 2600 ft .. well we better bring you down some.. that would be great i said.. anyway, i got to the coast and made it to port maquarie.. Tried to refuel but the club card was expired, when i was on the phone to the pressident a guy (geoff h) taxied a sportstar over and overheard my prediciment. He had his fuel card out before i even got off the phone and offered me to use it.. I am convinced after this trip that we have a real good community spirit going on in the RAA, and spending a lot of time in and around GA i can't speak highly enough of the generosity and comradery that exist amongst RAA members.. Im overwealmed by it actually.. Anyway, the rest of the trip was uneventfull, a landing at maitland for fuel, and down the victor one back to nowra.. A great flight actually... cheers...sorry its such a long post...
K-man Posted January 19, 2009 Posted January 19, 2009 Time to spare? ;) Go by air!! Sounds like lots of fun though.
Guest Brett Campany Posted January 19, 2009 Posted January 19, 2009 I said to my instructor today that there's no more fun than having a challenge put in front of you! Top write up mate and it's good to know that there's a lot of RAA members more than willing to help out when you need it!
Tomo Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Time to spare? ;) Go by air!! Sounds like lots of fun though. I was talking to a fella last night and he said he sometimes does day trips to Townsville, from Toowoomba and back! In the same day + do his business stuff... That's what you get when cruising at 260kts at 25,000ft I s'pose...
Guest Maj Millard Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 Tomo, and what sort of rockey ship did you say he flys. I work at Townsville and often see a TBM come in and leave the same day.
Tomo Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 Tomo, and what sort of rockey ship did you say he flys. I work at Townsville and often see a TBM come in and leave the same day. I think it's a Piper Cheyenne, twin turbo prop. but he did mention something about another acft he uses as well, but i'm not sure what it is... by the way, he's a company called Bettabuilt, he builds huge acft hangers and other complexes all over the place...he's building a big shed in Townsville at the moment, although i think it's nearly finished.
Guest Maj Millard Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 Yes I have seen the Cheyanne, and I believe he also flys a Fletcher Cresco on occasions. Cheers
Barefootpilot Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 Yeah Rod (I think from bettabuild) flys his Cheyanne 2 around a fair bit. I got to have a fly of it in airlie beach (500' over whitehaven beach at 200 kts with about 60% tourque set) He had the Cresco on order as "the work truck" and I believe also have a VLJ on the way. (Not bad for a bloke with about 500 hours!)
Tomo Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 Yeah I reckon... He's looking at sending the VLJ over seas I think...he's got projects starting up over there. He's taking me for a spin next time he does a day trip somewhere, can't wait...:thumb_up: I was just at his shed today actually, and had a tour around the place, very nice set up...:thumb_up: I'm not sure about a Rod, but Matt is the owner and pilot...
Barefootpilot Posted January 28, 2009 Posted January 28, 2009 Thats right sorry its Matt I have his card floating around somewhere. Nice bloke wish I had that sort of cash! Sorry for the thread drift Motz
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