Coop

What about the Austers? Coop

Thanks, it is. It gets us around, and into and out of some places that other aircraft are frightened to go to. And it carries a good load, and didn't cost us any more than your average LSA- in fact, less than many.... You can pick up a good one for around $30k. Coop

That's interesting. Have concrete or building standards been slipping? I recall many concrete structures from my youth (water towers 5 stories high, etc.) that are still there, as good as the day they were finished. I was amazed a few years back when they had to build a new bridge over the Murray at Blanchetown in SA (this was a major construction- two lanes about 50-100' in the air) because the original one had concrete cancer. Are builders or contractors trying to cut costs a little too much? Coop

THanks for the comment. It's a J1 with a Gypsy Major, which makes it a J1N- except it doesn't have the enlarged tail feathers of the "true" J1N's. So- take your pick. Auster model designations are a nightmare.... Coop

Just back from another trip to Arkaroola- stayed 4 days. Flew up on Sunday and saw a number of large thunderheads leaking buckets to the west of our track, but no rain on us until much later that night when it fairly poured. [ATTACH]675.vB[/ATTACH] Wywhyana Creek was flowing rapidly by Monday morning, and while we didn't actually need to go anywhere- it was just as well, because we couldn't have even if we'd wanted to. [ATTACH]676.vB[/ATTACH] This photo shows the crossing- it doesn't look like much but that water is at least 4' deep and moving fast, and the brown line in the middle foreground is where the level was overnight. The first vehicle into or out of Arkaroola made it late on Monday- and it was a large bus with high clearance- and even then the bottom 6" of his passenger's luggage got wet!. [ATTACH]677.vB[/ATTACH] This shot shows the track you would normally take to get to the astronomical observatory. As before we refuelled at Yunta- but this time we remembered to take our luggage trolley for carting the jerries of fuel, and an apple for the friendly horse! The country is as green as can be- even more than last trip. Some of the walking tracks we traversed were waist- high with new growth, at times making the track itself difficult to pick out. There was heaps of bird life- especially some large flocks of budgerigars- and many other parrots, and you wouldn't believe the number of Orb spiders- or their size!. [ATTACH]679.vB[/ATTACH] Here's some of the budgies we saw near the village. [ATTACH]678.vB[/ATTACH]Also saw a Simpson's Python (captured by one of the locals so got to see it up close and hold it) and it was very obviously well fed- it was as fat as can be. Lake Frome is about 50% covered with water, and the area between the ranges and the lake looks like a golf course. Normally you could access Arkaroola by ordinary vehicle, but you'd probably need a 4WD for a while now until they get the roads repaired. The best bet is to fly, of course, and let the folks collect you from the airstrip. Our Auster developed a little more vibration than usual on the way home- not enough to alarm us, but we put in a SARTIME just as a precaution. Happened to mention the vibration and they rolled out the system like we'd declared an emergency. I guess they have procedures and perhaps it was a quiet day as well. They tracked us all the way to Yunta, insisting we relay a call when on the ground before they let go of us. At Yunta we checked the obvious stuff- prop hub nuts, prop tracking, looked for any signs of prop unbalance, or slop in the structure but found nothing. I used a mirror to get a good look at the engine support rubbers and noted the front ones looking a bit on the thin side. They have probably compressed over the years and will have to be replaced. The rest of the flight was uneventful and I'll get our LAME to check it out tomorrow. Big wooden props sometimes get a bit out of balance, especially if you smack a few locusts and break some of the varnish off out near the tip. A great trip- and we got to see the creeks around Arkaroola in flood- a real privilege and not something we'd have got to see if we hadn't been able to fly there. Coop [ATTACH]17980[/ATTACH]

You're giving her away? You're not paying him to take her away, then....? Coop

280 FPM? Looxury!! The method by which Austers gain altitude on a hot day isn't called "Ausmosis" for nothing..... :-) Coop (Who is thankful he was once a glider pilot...)

Yep- I can relate to that. Only time I've ever really needed a deodorant is after 15 minutes of partial panel.... Coop

Yeah, I can relate to that. We had 28mm rain here last Friday. The average for the whole of Feb is 14mm.... Coop

Glenn, I believe these are "trig" points for trigonometric mapping. They are points with a very accurately determined location and altitude which can be sighted by a theodolite from a considerable distance (which is why you usually see them on tops of prominent landmarks). It is then possible, using trigonometry, to determine your location by obtaining bearings and elevations from at least two (preferably three) of these points. Probably completely obsolescent now, with GPS giving such accurate positions anyway, although I wonder if these locations are still used to establish a base for Differential GPS to operate from- I understand this system uses a signal generated by a GPS transmitter at a known location to correct the errors in the satellite generated GPS signals. Maybe someone on here with more knowledge of surveying can inform us... If you want to see how accurate such trig measurements can be, try reading "The Great Arc" by John Keay which describes the survey of India in the early 1800's. To give you an idea of what they were able to achieve with theodolites and trigonometry, one of their surveys took them across India from East to West, and when they resolved their calculations from one end to the other, they had a difference of less than 6" in the location of sea-level! The book also describes the discovery that Mt Everest was the tallest peak in that area (and ultimately the tallest in the world) and how it was named. It's a great read. Regards Coop

Hopefully, if what you say is correct, with more than just a casual glance in the direction of safety..... Coop

Even those of us with our own aircraft run into similar hold-ups. I'm mothballing "Dorothy" for some maintenance that I can't put off any more- new top and bottom cowlings need to be made, new exhaust stacks need to be made, new instrument panel, and a few other bits and pieces that I have been putting off for just such an occasion. In this corner, it's not so much the lack of $'s as I'll do a lot of the work myself under supervision, but the lack of time to do the work... :-( Coop

Never a truer word spoken..... ...oh, and by the way, a successful landing in a balloon is referred to as a "controlled accident" . Coop

Great write-up! You have a delightfully refreshing turn of phrase. In your doddering years, when the Medical Examiners have told you that it is time to hang up your wings, have a go at writing- you'll be a hit. On the other hand- why wait? There are enough days when aviating is'nt possible for those of us lacking instrument ratings- so keep on writing- you're good at it!! Coop

The Kangaroo Island run again- normally a routine business in the middle of summer- has lived up to its reputation of throwing up something different each time. Wanted to go to KI to celebrate the old man's 91st birthday- if for no other reason than that his continued existence ensures I am not yet a member of the "older generation". Saturday's forecast was for cloudbase around 1500'- a bit marginal, but Ok if it isn't accompanied by showers of rain- which it was- but even this can be alright if the rain doesn't actually get in the way- which it did.... Headed south from our home base in rather poor visibility (milky sort of haze everywhere due high humidity)towards a lowering cloudbase. Heard a chopper landing near Strathalbyn so gave a general call to warn him and any others of our presence and intentions. He helpfully replied that they had just come from down south and the cloudbase was 300'. Looked like we would be stopping at Goolwa for a coffee. No such luck. About 5 miles south of Strath the cloudbase was already down to 500' agl and getting lower, so we turned around and headed back to base. Coffee and scones at the local cafe helped assuage the disappointment at not getting to KI for lunch. At about 12:00 rain set in, but by 1:00 it had cleared and a call to the operator at Goolwa indicated that conditions there and further south were better. Set off again, but this time tracked further west on the grounds that the moisture was being brought in by a southeasterly and the other side of the ranges should therefore be clearer. And so it turned out. With 1500' cloudbase we slid past Aldinga, and the cloud began to break up, so we climbed above it to 3,500' for the run down the coast and over to Penneshaw. Raced another shower of rain to Kingscote, helped the old man celebrate his 91 years at afternoon tea, and by 5:00 we were back at the airport ready to head for home. Above us were clear blue skies and a few puffy white clouds. No problems! But it didn't take long before our optimism took a blow- by American River we were again down to 500' agl (actually over eastern cove) and the cloud ahead was getting even lower. And we couldn't see Cape Jervis through the murk. So, turned back and dropped into American River private strip (we know the owner). His dog did a very good shepherding job, and appeared to want to get behind me all the time. I was having none of this as his barks and tail wags were interspersed with growls, so as he continually tried to circle around me I pirouetted and kept him in front of me as we circled our way down the path towards the house. AS we closed on the house his circles got tighter and he got closer. I eventually decided that maybe no-one was at home, and that he was fulfilling his guarding contract, so I decided to execute a strategic withdrawal, still circling to keep him in front of me. He was pleased with this and gave me more room. At this point the owner showed up, called his dog back to him, and as soon as we shook hands the dog was my friend, the growling stopped, and he was happy to be patted and tickled. Smart dogs these Border Collies! THe owner was heading off to a friend's place for dinner, but was happy for me to hang about as long as I needed to. Within about 15 minutes things were looking clearer, so we took off and headed northeast again. However, by Penneshaw we were again down to 500', and from a position about 2 miles out over Backstairs Passage we still could only just see the coast of Cape Jervis, and then only the first 100' or 200' or so. There was no future in that, so about face again and back to Kingscote to stay the night with sis. IT was too late for another try, as by now we would have had limited fuel reserves and limited daylight, and going into a tricky environment with no margins in either case is asking for trouble. Next morning the scene looked somewhat better, and armed with another jerry of fuel we got back to the airport nice and early. Again, we were confronted with cloud at about 1500' but this time it was obviously breaking up to the west, leaving the coast from Jervis to Aldinga and beyond in the clear. With this as our escape route, we decided to go over the top, figuring that the cloud wouldn't extend all the way to home base, and if it did we would just have to land at Aldinga for lunch (diversions can be tough!). By 2,500' we had cleared the top of the cloud but went on up to 5,000' to get a better view of the extent. From this altitude we could see that it probably only extended to around Strathalbyn, and that there were regular breaks through which we could navigate and/or descend if we had to. We crossed the passage, dropped to 4,500 to stay OCTA, and the rest was easy. Its pretty unusual to run into such high humidity and such low cloud coming from the southeast at this time of the year in SA. This "la Nina" weather event is going to make flying tricky for all of us this year, I suspect. And we will have to keep our wits about us- especially when flying near hills and ranges that can trigger cloud as happened on this occasion. Coop

Looks like Lusaka is a pretty smoggy place- or was this just a bad day? Seems the atmosphere can be pretty active by the look of those clouds. Thanks for some interesting photos, Pete, Coop

Just love that "giraffe" impersonation on the tail and cowlings of the Zambezi aircraft! Coop

You don't often get a chance to buy an overhauled engine for an old machine like mine, so when one came up on the market I jumped at it. This involved a quick trip to Archerfield to see the engine before parting with any cash, and I also needed to organise packing, insurance and transport. At this time of the year, the cheapest flights are early am, so it was a bleary-eyed start to Thursday with the Virgin Adelaide to Brisbane, direct flight on one of their Embraer machines. Nothing eventful about the flight, it all went smoothly, and I had a chat with a hydraulic engineer and we discovered a mutual friend- Adelaide really is a small place... Brother met me at the airport and we proceeded direct to Archerfield where the engine was already bolted to a test stand. We spent the rest of the morning connecting up oil and fuel lines, priming the oil pump, checking ignition wiring, checking tappets and ignition timing, filling the rocker hats, removing the exhaust blanks and filing and fitting a motley selection of exhaust stacks. Eventually all seemed ready, everything was double checked (especially the magneto connections- don't want to be in a situation were it starts and then can't be stopped!) and we were ready to fire it up. Fuel on, prime (four blades forward), throttle wide, blow out (eight blades backwards), close and set the throttle, contact! It coughed on the first swing, the second swing, the third swing and the fourth swing, blowing a cloud of blue smoke each time (inhibiting oil). With all the cylinders thereby cleared, it fired on the fifth attempt and ran smoothly, with the oil pressure climbing to a good level within a few seconds. (Not bad for an engine that was overhauled 12 years ago and has been in storage ever since). After a few minutes to warm it up we checked magneto drop, and oil pressure at varying revs, then gave it a burst at full throttle to check static rpm. All the numbers were as they should be and the engine scarcely missed a beat. My brother, who took this photo, reckoned I looked like a parachutist when the engine was at full power- with rippling cheeks and all. That prop certainly shifts some air! [ATTACH]644.vB[/ATTACH] We got the machine back inside just before the thunderstorms that had been building up all day let their deluge and lightning go off, and spent the rest of that day and half the next removing all the test gear and mounting and packing the engine ready for transport. Arrived at Brisbane airport on Saturday bright and early (well, early, anyway) for a 6:10am departure. Got to the gate to see an Alliance machine at the bottom of the stairs. It was still there close to boarding time, and the mystery was solved when Virgin announced they had chartered Alliance to fulfill their contract as Virgin had run out of aeroplanes. As I presented my boarding pass to the Virgin lass at the top of the ramp I said, in my best fake-German accent: "Zo, ve haf exchanged ze 737 for zis little Fokker, no?" (it was an F100)- she cracked up, and laughingly chastised me for swearing... "No, iz not Swearingen, is Fokker" I replied..... I was sitting near the front (4A) and was pleased with the little Fokker's legroom, which was more than I've been used to in recent commercial trips. The trip was smooth, and very quiet (I'd forgotten how nice it is to have all the engines right at the back) if a little slow (thanks to the 100 knot jet stream head wind). The young lass sitting next to me was happy to chatter away about various subjects, and the time passed quickly in spite of the extended duration of the flight. A very successful trip. Now if the transport company just do their part properly, we'll soon have a spare engine waiting for when Dorothy's current engine gets to the stage where it needs overhaul.... Coop [ATTACH]17965[/ATTACH]

There's just a possibility this is Bill Lancaster and Chubbie Miller. They flew out in an Avro Avian (how certain are you of your ID of this craft as a Moth Minor?). The "colour" scheme is right- dark on the turtle deck and light underneath. And their aircraft was registered G-EBTU. It was also labelled "Red Rose" with a rose between the two words. Hoever, it had undergone significant repairs en route to Oz, and it is possible that they lost the name and did not repaint it during the repairs. The faces are a little bit like Lancaster and Miller, but the graininess of the image makes it difficult. Miller was pretty small, this woman may be a little too large. But there is a resemblance. THe fly in the ointment, as it were, is the absence of elevator control wires on the images I have access to in Ralph Barker's book about Lancaster and Miller, vs their presence in the photo above. Ah well, it was worth a try... Coop

THanks Darren, some nice shots. Sure is rugged in places. Were you and the crew wearing lifejackets during the flight? Coop

G'Day Whirlygirl, I have a collection of about 350 books by and about early aviators- and all of the books mentioned above are in my collection. No, I know of no other collection of historical information about Australian women aviators. There are individual stories, of course, such as Nancy Bird, Gaby Kennard, Chubby Miller, and Robin Miller, but I am not aware of any historical books such as you appear to have written. Well done! I look forward to acquiring one soon!! Regards Coop

The Boomerang was one of my favourite aircraft. Comfortable to sit in (I've got long legs), pleasant handling, good performance (for its day). It also taught me some lessons- it's the only aircraft I have accidentally spun- fortunately at a very safe height (9,000')- and it fell off and rotated in the opposite direction to where I had the ailerons! The second lesson came when I was approaching the finish line in a local competition at near red-line speed (118 knots) and happened to glance at the wingtips. I was horrified to see them twisted forward and down! After landing, I tried to move them to where they had been- nothing doing. This gave me a much greater respect for the magnitude of the aerodynamic forces generated in high speed flight. The loss of one of our pilots in a stall/spin accident off the downwind to base turn was made even more poignant by the loss of the Boomerang as well. Coop

It came off quite easily because they were still fresh- we only hit them on the landing approach. What was so interesting was that there wasn't much on the leading edges or struts (except where the prop had thrown it up). Our approach speed is only 45 knots, going back to 40 knots over the fence. I reckon they were able to get out of the way in most cases, and many that did hit bounced off. Nor were there all that many in the cooling fins- a few nicely barbecued specimens- easily removed because they were dry and crispy! But they couldn't avoid the prop- probably couldn't even see it- and that's where the mess came from. The leading edge of the prop and the back face had obviously swept up a goodly number of them! A much worse infestation occurred once at Ceduna. We had a thundery night and a local species of moth (small and white) decided this was a good time to breed. After their night of debauchery, they looked for somewhere to hide, and what better place than in between the cooling fins of this nice Gypsy engine! In the morning we looked under the cowls to find hundreds of these little bugs lined up almost nose to tail in between every cooling fin. It was going to take forever to get them all out, but then I had a bright idea. We removed both side cowls and started the engine- a snowstorm of bugs disappeared into Dorothy's slipstream, to be gathered up with great delight by the local spoggie population... Coop

Flies- that's nothing. Landed at Swan Hill a few weeks back and ran into locusts. The nose bowl looked like someone had sprayed scrambled eggs all over it. Seems they were able to get out of the way of the aircraft most of the time, but the prop was a different story. The starboard side of the fuselage and under the wing was also liberally splattered with yellow goo. The upgoing blade on that side flings the remains upwards so that they impact under the wing and along the fuselage. The other side wasn't as bad. Guess we will need to carry a couple extra cleaning rags this summer.. Coop

Hey, it's a picture of the sky, right? So how much more aviation do you need it to be... Coop