pylon500

Here you go SDQDI, look familiar?

Talking to guys in Moree, he was landing at a property. Ag strip maybe?

OK, As promised, a follow up from my 'help wanted' thread with details of the ferry flight I was on. Being based at Taree, I'm close to Olie Hartmann (Australian Aircraft Kits and Gary Morgan (Morgan Aeroworks). Every now and then, either of these two will end up with a plane to be delivered, returned or ferried for whatever reason, and if they are busy at the time, they ask if I could fly an aircraft to wherever it needs to go. This time around was to be my longest trip yet, deliver a refurbished AAK Hornet Cub to Bond Springs, just north of Alice Springs. Not being the fastest ultralight around, I really needed to pick the weather for this one and unfortunately, a byproduct of optimum conditions for this trip would really mean crap weather on the east coast. With a tangle of multi centred Low pressure systems and attendant ridges and fronts, it was still a bit of a guess to pick the exact window. The trip would take a minimum of two days, and if I timed it right, my retrieve crew might also get a tailwind back. Naturally none of the above occurred. The more cautious route would be from Taree, WSW toward South Australia (probably Broken Hill), then around to the NW and upwards (Coober Pedy or abouts) and on up to Alice. Unfortunately the typically stable pattern of a High pressure cell over the Bight negates any chance of tailwinds for more than one day. The next alternative is to follow an 'anti clockwise' direction from Taree which would head more towards Bourke, then onwards towards Birdsville, then Alice. As expected on the day, weather at Taree was pretty dismal, but instead of blowing the howling South Easterly as predicted, the wind was still from the South West. I was tempted to wait another day (and in hindsight, it's still a mixed decision) but assumed the weather would be better once past the Dividing Range (called the Barringtons in our area). Tracking for Narrabri, I came across a wall of weather just before leaving the Barringtons, which caused me to track SW. This had me tracking towards Tamworth CTA, so I had to divert further South, and ended up heading towards Quirindi (never realised exactly where that was, Hi SDQDI) where I landed to access the situation, and get a warmer jumper out of the back! With the wind still strong from the SW, heading for Bourke was going to be a struggle, better to use the weather and gain some Northern lattitude for the rest of that day, so I continued towards Narrabri and looking at Walgett. Still a strong SW wind at Narrabri, I decided to keep going North and tracked on to Moree, where I posted my 'assistance request' post, after finding a minor problem with the engine. I contacted the team back at AAK, and it was decided to send out a guy with more tools than I had, and make sure the problem was totally resolved there, instead of having to send a warrantee crew to Alice! Day two dawned with the wind finally deciding to blow in the right direction, and blow it did! Departing Moree about midday with a 15~20kt tailwind, I tracked to regain my original goal of Thargomindah, assuming I would land at Cunnamulla. Within view of Cunnamulla, and with three GPS units, good fuel gauges, a fuel flow meter and the relevant maps, I crunched the numbers and figured I could still make Thargomindah, where I arrived half an hour before sunset, with reserves. Up early the next morning and off towards Birdsville, still with the 20kt tailwind. There really is a lot of Nothing out of Birdsville towards Alice, but it's not the hot, dry, parched desert that everyone expects. There's an amount of foliage on the ground and lines of scrub trees in the long dunes, that run for miles in either direction. Some of the dunes even have small creeks in them that even from 6,000 feet, looked to have water in them. With the survival gear I had and my RAAF training, I could probably kick back and take it easy for a week or so if I had to land. Biggest problem would have been the cold!, although there looked to be plenty of wood to burn. Reached Bond Springs after 17.9 hours flying time over three days, $590.00 worth of fuel (not counting the full tanks I left Taree with) and $217.00 worth of accommodation. I've yet to find out what the retrieve flight will cost in a Twin Commanchee, but I saw the pilot put in $500.00 worth at Thargomindah, although he said we could have made it non-stop, but not with IFR reserves, so we topped up. Now for some pictures; Terrain around Thargomindah. Filled up at Birdsville. Rows of dunes out in the Simpson. Arrived Bond Springs, might be a hard plane to find out there ? Phone image of my log sheet. Summery, not a lot of adventure, just a lot of flying...

Yes, all sorted, thanks to those involved, even the call from Victoria just with concern for my well being was appreciated. Obviously the double post was just to make sure it was noticed. I'll try not to make a habit of this for the rest of the trip, going to Alice Springs!!, but the tailwind never eventuated. Never tried posting from my phone before, has it's quirks.

Yay, problems solved. It's good to see (most) of us forumites stick together. Aircraft now fuelled, and I have a lift back out in the morning. Sure I could have run around in a taxi (if he would carry the fuel?) then just bill the ferry customer, but now I've met more of our members and saved my customer that $200.

This is a repeat post, in hope someone can help; Hi folks, pylon500 here, I am currently at Moree, and looking for anyone local that could give me a hand to get on my way. Basically need someone that can give me a lift to and from the airport to fill the plane. Hiring a car or even taxis would break the budget of this trip, plus we can chat (yes I will listen to others for at least a few minutes :) It is now 5:00 Tuesday evening, if you can help, call or text O425-323-3O6, thanks..

Hi folks, pylon500 here, I am currently at Moree, and looking for anyone local that could give me a hand to get on my way. Basically need someone that can give me a lift to and from the airport to fill the plane. Hiring a car or even taxis would break the budget of this trip, plus we can chat (yes I will listen to others for at least a few minutes :) It is now 5:00 Tuesday evening, if you can help, call or text O425-323-3O6, thanks..

Interesting, they look like pictures of instruments. Was this used for a movie set maybe...?

You could give Garry Morgan (Morgan Aeroworks 20 6553 9920) a call with some dimensions, as his Cheetah/Sierra/Cougar canopies are about a similar size.

The later version Sapphires had a slight sweep-back in the wings to get the CofG better positioned. Many sapphire owners, not happy with the bungee trim system, have fitted 'anti-servo' trim tabs to the all flying tail, and can now fly hands off. Not much else needed on the Sapphire, it was pretty well sorted from the start. There may be the odd AD somewhere in the system, the top rudder pivot rings a bell....?

Remember watching an episode of catalyst on the ABC a few years back, when they were using a Grob 109. They were doing low level air sampling over a lake I think?

Yep, my bad. Confused myself talking about sleeve valves, and started thinking Bristol instead of Napier.

And if you look real careful, you'll realise it's a SLEEVE VALVE engine, not overhead valve. For those unfamiliar, the Centuarus is best described as a flat 12 double! Yep, TWO flat TWELVE engines, merged together to create a twenty four cylinder, twin crankshaft monster.

Hope he goes with the Napier, otherwise he just has a weird Fury if he uses a Centaurus.

I think I've seen BIGGER models.

Actually I moved up(?) to a Tempest. Got some drawings, and a bit of photoshop... Strangely enough, if fitted with a 912s, it will actually sound like a real one!!

You mean this one?

Please buy it Riley, with all the projects I've got cluttering up my hangar, it's the last thing I need (even though I want it...). Besides, I've only got one R2800, and it's earmarked for my Murphy Renegade/Stearman conversion (project #3 of about 6). https://picasaweb.google.com/113292981019876413104/MurphyRenegadeStearmanProject

Good to see someone not knocking the Zero because of it's cultural heritage. I try not to worry too much where a plane came from, just it's effectiveness as an aeroplane, and to that end, the Zero is a brilliant piece of design and construction work. I've often looked at various warbirds with an aim of making scaled ultralight versions. All the 'usual suspects' have been done, but the Zero seems missing, and would make a great counterpoint to the Titan 51, or Sullivan Spitfire. Could be built light enough to be powered by the usual 912s, or be fitted with a Rotec radial...

WOW, Already? Or am I just not admitting how old I am? (First flight 1997)

Actually it gets worse, during a heavy snowstorm the Buran hangar collapsed, killing some workers and destroying the Buran. Full story here; http://www.buran-energia.com/bourane-buran/bourane-fin.php

So does this camping issue suggest that the flying displays will be over parked aircraft? This will be at odds with the past where ALL parking areas have been pedestrian areas at past Narromines'... From sydney, you are looking at around a four to five hour drive (one way), depending on how pushy you are.. Longer if you believe Google Earth!

Slightly off topic, but I was trolling around the Top Gear track/airport (looking at abandoned aircraft/airports), and found while looking at Heathrow, if you open the time scale in Google Earth (not maps), you can scroll backwards to [bold]1945[/b]!! Some airfields that have disappeared completely.

Thought it might have been at Kamloops in Canada, but then noticed the US rego's.. Don't know if this will work but; <32º060'27.56"N, 84°11'18.82"W.>

Had seen this link, but was trying to find another one so as not to inflict all the other crap on that site. Probably easier to just post them here, some had comments, but not a great deal to learn from, so here we go..... Searching the net, there are lots of 'abandoned' aircraft around the world, for all sorts of reasons. Seems a shame but....