Camooweal

Well this was probably one of the best charters i have done. It was to take one kid home from Darwin for the school holidays. He was a good kid, as indigenous kids go. Talkative, helped me out and was well behaved. Had a lot of luggage for one person though!





That line you can see is the border between Qld and the NT. I was suprised to be able to see such a distinct borderline, but there it was, right where the GPS said it would be!



So i flew him home to Camooweal which was my first landing in the state of Queensland. Camooweal is just over the border from the Northern Territory on the Barkly Highway. It is a big refuelling stop for cars that are travelling from Queensland to the Northern Territory and vice versa. It even had a sealed strip which is a luxury with my flying. Means a lot less dirt on the underbelly when i have to clean it.

The top picture is of Camooweal from the ground. The second one is Camooweal from the air after departure. You can see the Barkly Highway going through the town, onto Cloncurry and Longreach.

The charter consisted of dropping him off where i met his father who shook my hand and drove off after. It was a 350nm leg and i had a groundspeed of 180 the whole way which is really impressive for a 210. I then took off for Baikal where i had a refuelling stop. On the return leg i expected to be very slow, but i still had a groundspeed of 150, which is decent for a 210.

A picture of "Baikal international Airport." That is our fuel supply, which is pretty much the only feature of the strip.

A photo showing how you refuel out of a drum by yourself in 35 degree heat!

At Baikal I just put 50L in to get me home. Probably could have gotten home without it, but would have been on minimum fuel. The trouble with that is, around Alice Springs there are pretty much no strips nearby if you cant get in for any reason. However, in the unlimited visibility blue skies it isnt a problem most days. Although more than a few pilots have been caught out by this. As per usual i will let the photos do the talking! I even uploaded a video this time, shows me landing rwy 15 at Baikal.