Typical stinkin hot day... go flying of course.

[Ultralights]

The day started well eoung at Hoxton park at about 9 am. prepped the jabiru for an hour of Stalls, forced landings, steep turns and general upper air work associated with a BFR renewal.

 

departed YHOX and headed west, outside air temp was about 30 deg C on the ground. but passing through 2500ft and climbing to out nominated height of 4000 ft, we passed through the Inversion layer that has been over Sydney basin for the past 24 hrs, the outside air temp started to rise, and approaching 3500 it was surprisingly warm! and then during the usual scan the oil temp was creeping into the red!!!

 

so a decision was made to return to hoxton park and have a look at the problem..

 

Oil wasnt the issue as it was changed before the flight and was full and fresh.

 

on descent and entering hoxton traffic pattern the temp was back in the green. the decision was made to continue with a series of action packed circuits. first normal circuit, and a absolute greaser of a landing,

 

the next circuit was a little more interesting, turning base the throttle went to idle power and wouldnt come back...... wonder if the instructor had anything to do with it? anyway, glide approach it was! made it easy, dispite being unsure of making the field for the first half of the approach, outside air was nor mid 30's and it made a noticable difference to the performance.

 

touchdown in the perfect spot, flap up, full power, then at 200 ft, Doh! engine failure again! nose down, aim for the paddock straight ahead! perfect..... full power, off we go again, then again mid base, i am informed the flaps no longer work... oh well, nice long flap approach, again perfect greaser, full power, then just after rotation, engine failed again! dammit! land straight ahead, and hard on the brakes.... with the high ambiant temps and associated higher flying speeds, i am surprised the brakes didnt catch fire! anyway, taxi back to a cold hard water fllowing an interesting mid morning of hot and furious circuits....

 

So now comes the trip report bit... after a hour or so debrief, booked in again to complete the BFR later in the weekend, and we soon became bored,, hmmmm how about an hour in a duchess!

 

no need to be asked twice.... so its off for a quick hop from Hoxton park to Bankstown to meet our new bird..

 

 

its a Beechcraft....

 

 

76 model to be exact... a little quicker than the trusty jabiru.. and less likely to overheatm with big cowl flaps and all....

 

 

This is going to be fun! carby heat! mixture controls, how cute..... (whispering) and outdated! ;)

 

 

So many levers!

 

 

Its alive!!!!

 

all checks complete! X2! and were off, destination, YWOL....

 

 

departing bankstown, even with 2 engines, climb rate was modest at near 40 deg heat!

 

 

its kind of strange looking at an engine from the side as opposed to from behind, i was surprised to see just how much the engine bounces around Inside the nacelle!!! during the bumps the spinner (engine) would bounce up to about 1 Inch in all directions without the cowls moving, wonder if this happens with single engined aircraft???

 

 

Passing wederburn, we watched a helicopter below with a Bambi bucket relaod the bucket and dump it on the fire in the scrub ahead!

 

 

Approaching the escarpment and time to make an inbound call, we are doing 150Kts remember!

 

 

arriving overhead wollongong

 

 

Joining circuit for 34, giving a nice strong 15 kt crosswind. runway in use was 08, pretty much into wind, but its only 800mtrs long, its hot, and were in a fully fuelled duchess, safer to go with the longer runway and live with a good crosswind

 

 

mid downwind, a litte quick? no prob, drop the gear and its like ripping up the handbrake!

 

 

On the ground at wollongong! hmmmm right in front of the Vampire factory! interesting, im off to Adelaide tomorrow to look at one! is it a sign? ;)

 

 

After a quick chat, and talk of PIFR rating etc, its time to head back before the storms approach the Sydney area... lots of stuff to move before you take the Connie for a fly!

 

 

checklist. page 2...

 

 

initial climb out of Wollongong Runway 34

 

Sadly after this my phone battery died, after filming the approach and take offs.. all pics with a mobile phone! yes it was in offline aircraft mode! :)

 

made it back to Bankstown with plenty of time to spare! interesting to mix it up at bankstown with barons, Metroliners cessnas and jabirus! i was surprised to see bankstown actually busy again, reminded me of the good days many yrs ago with a 10 min wait just to cross an active runway! wonder if the approaching storm had anything to do with the increase in activity arriving???

 

oh one final pic

 

 

which side is the NEW engine???

 

 

[Guest David C]

Rob ,

 

What a great report ..... Just like the real thing !! .. Many thanks

 

Dave

 

 

[PaulN]

Yet another great post. Thanks Rob.

 

Starboard?

 

Paul

 

 

[Yenn]

Great report. Makes me jealous as I havn't flown a twin. Will have to talk kindly to our Apache pilot.

 

The levers aren't outdated. Our type of carbies wont work very well above about 8000' and the twins are usually up in that area.

 

Ian Borg

 

 

[Ben Longden]

Fantastic.... I would love to get my twin command IFR...

 

Oh well, nothing time and $$$$ wont fix..;)

 

Ben

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Great report and pics. Thanks Rob! Enjoyed it. Was down that way yesterday. What a fantastic view you had. The scenery there is just magnificent.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

The duchess is a really good aircraft all round, i did a fair bit of work on two that were used for training and they are pretty tuff. also done quite a few skydives they start to huff and puff about 9 grand with five jumpers. an engine failure on a summers day just after takeoff with 5 jumpers (= max wgt) needs real quick action to clean up and speed up to get some sort of climb rate.

 

I got out at 500ft and landed almost 4 mile from the strip. pilot stated climb rate improved heaps after that as the other jumpers followed.

 

Great aircraft. do your retract, constant speed, twin and nvfr and instrument ratings all with the one aircraft. reasonably cheap.

 

BTW walk up to any cessna or piper and if you hold the prop near the hub you can move the engine around about the same as you saw on the dutchess. and the cranck shaft is meant to move back and forth about 1/8th inch.