rhtrudder

Yes it does but just fly north east out of Daby to over Bell then East the Caloundra.I only gave my stops on my trip there were a couple of sidebars. I would be happy to send you the full plan if you want it. I also had a 1 hour stop at Kilcoy to wait out a thunderstorm blocking the Valley through to Caboolture rather than fly around and over the mountains.

I certainly wouldn't say flying out of Dubbo is over tiger country, there is a few patches of scrub (and of course the pilliga to the north) but nothing that would put you out to go around.I haven't flown to qld so am not much help there but I did notice a few differing opinions about transiting/avoiding CTA, do you have a ppl rhtrudder? I don't but often those that do can forget that it isn't really an option for us RAA cert holders and advice can get confusing.

Do this route regularly albeit Narromine refuel stop ex Loxton.My route which would be similar from Dubbo is...

Narromine, Moree , Gatton, Somerset dam wall, keep right of Kilcoy and follow the Brisbane Valley to Caloundra.

 

This route has limited tiger country.

 

The other suggestion given via South Straddie, Bribie is one that I keep in mind if the weather over Gatton is RS.

 

I haven't had to use that route yet.

 

Follow the valley from Gatton to the Somerset Dam wall where there are numerous ( smallish) ALA's.

 

I can send an OZ runways flight plan if you like.

 

Great scenery. Watch for fog forecast and keep just left of Amberley air space.

 

Also monitor frequencies for Toowoomba 127.65 and Watts bridge 127.3 and when closer 118.8 Caloundra and Caboolture.

 

My notes say 20 nm from Gatton not above 4500'

 

20 nm from Somerset 7500' if R620D is active, otherwise 4500'

 

Phil.

Just not sure why would go via Dalby or Gold Coast when you can go straight through the middle of Oakey and Amberly. I get going coastal for the scenic route, but its way busy. As for tiger country, well flying from Dubbo is tiger country anyway. If you are worrying about controlled airpsace, then go via Warwick, Gatton and maybe Toogoolawah. Its the most direct route. Less traffic and more ALA's. The restricted area's between Amberly and Oakey are almost never active, and even when they are you just need to stay below 4500.The Gold Coast Western VFR route is definitely worth it for scenic reasons (still need ATC approval) but flying coastal all the way is even better. But if you are going that way, I would go Coastal all the way and skip the West VFR route providing you can get ATC clearance. North of YBCG is some of the best scenic flying you will get in South East Queensland.

thanks all, I have printed everything so I have some study to do . hoping it won't be to hard all new country for me

When I flew my plane up from Orange, I went from Orange to Narromine to Coonamble all open country.From Coonamble to Moree you need to stay west of the Pilliga to avoid tiger country, but still quite ok then on to Goondiwindi and Dalby.

Then comes the cut east to Caboolture or for you Caloundra. There is some interesting country through there but it is quite possible to cover that leg without covering any tiger country as well. Any tiger country through there is easily avoided with very little diversion.

 

Fuel available at Naromine, Moree, Goondiwindi, Dalby and if you need a break on the last leg Watts Bridge also has fuel.

Could any one give me some clues on how to go to Caloundra from Dubbo , looks like a nightmare trying to transit west of Brisbane , should I track further north then cut back to the coast , don't want to get mown down by a military jet, any help would be great

Point taken , I thought most had separate switches. I rang Floods to ask how they primed the filter and as you said they can't be filled so they crank it over on the started , ignition off or grounded , till they see some oil pressure , didn't think hand cranking would ever fill the filter. I didn't ask if they, as engineers, had ever read the Rotax manual ,

I never said to pull the plug leads off with the ignition still on , sorry if that was not clear.

thanks for all the reply's, lots to consider

Probably not, as you would be pumping it into the engine as fast as it drains.Turn over slowly by hand as per specs. Crankcase pressure pushing it out faster than it is being sucked up.

Need to get it to "gurgle" anyway.

No imbersiles; however I think you missed (or you forgot to mention) to fit an oil filter (perhaps half full of oil) in the procedures some where. Otherwise she'll be spitting oil out.Cheers Mike :)

Would there be any advantage in fitting a Air Fuel Ratio gauge, seen one fitted to a drag bike looked like it could be helpful in keeping a check on engine tuning maybe better than pulling and checking plug colour

To take one step further, to check oil level after flying could you crank engine over on starter for a few seconds with ignition off

Thanks for that , is there a way to screw the filter on without spilling any oil, the machinery we operate all have vertical filters so not a problem

Would there be any difference in using the starter rather than cranking by hand

After changing filter and oil would it be prudent to crank the engine over on the starter , ignition off, till the oil pressure starts to come up , unsure whether this could do harm or be beneficial in not starving any components of oil on start up

I haven't seen any others but I don't think there are many 914' s out in there, looks like it was made to suit this aircraft. I fitted a temp probe in the air box and they rarely get above 40c . I bought the plane off the bloke who was building the Spitfires in Queensland so I guess the intercooler was made locally , it is a tight fit inside the cowl.

Engine temps would have been low as it wasn't long after warm up , unsure about EGTs , the engine is fitted with a intercooler thanks to the previous owner so the air box temps are always low . I realize it was poor fuel but wondered what was happening internally ,once I eased the throttle back it ran OK ,only seemed to falter in the boost range. Thanks for the input.

So do you think it could be detonation that is causing the engine to falter

My engine does not like to run in the boost range if the fuel has gone a bit on the stale side which doesn't take long , unsure what is happening inside the combustion chamber to make it run rough , below 30 on the map gauge its fine , would the higher compression cause it to detonate , air box temps are cool so I guess internal temps would not be the cause. It took a while to figure out what was going on. as soon as I swapped the fuel over for fresh it came good , tipped the old fuel in the bike.

We fitted bypass thermostats to the intake side of the radiator , the bypass line is connected back into the same hose, easy to do, done over 600 hrs on my 914 , no more bits of cardboard on the radiator. doesn't warm the engine up much quicker but holds temps on long descents a lot better . We bought them through JG worth a try only down side is more hose clamps. Again sorry for the bad grammar , takes me back to high school when me and storchy sat for our English exams or should that be storchy and I

Remember folks, sorry my mistake

Remember folks, there is a difference between the words loose and lose.

Can sometimes be caused by oil flow leakage past the relief valve or maybe weak spring my engine looses a bit of pressure when it outside temps are high.