200nm Over Water

Not really a big deal, but was the longest i had ever been over water, especially in a piston twin. Was pretty cool seeing nothing but blue the entire way around the aeroplane. I was flying to Kalumburu (western Australia), which is probably on the most north-western area of Australia. I used to go there a lot when i worked at my first job in Kununurra, as its reasonably close.

As you can see there isn't much! No radar or VHF out here so all positon reports were made on HF radio.

The baron sitting at Kalumburu. Last time i was in Kalumburu it was a dirt strip! So it was good to see it was sealed.

Kalumburu from the air. I joined a right downwind for the purpose of the photo.

Welcome!

Flying to Gove, Groote and Bickerton Island.

I got the sort of charters i love doing. I got the fly to Gove empty at night (im always after night hours!), then overnighted, and flew a technician to Bickerton Island, which is about 15nm from Groote. We then flew to Groote, then back to Gove. I then flew home empty from Gove back to Darwin. Good flying. Although by the end of the return leg i went a bit crazy, plus my headset broke on that leg. I dont know how, but i ended up using earplugs, the hand mic in the plane and the speaker on the roof. Was ok when i was talking to centre, but was a bit tricky hand flying the plane and talking to approach.

Anyway was pretty cool. Its now hit the dry season, like someone turned a switch. No transition, just one day it suddenly wasnt humid, wasnt raining and is blue sky. Although there are a lot of fires all over the places, which makes everything really hazy.

This was the haze after take off from Darwin. Im sure the sun and light at the time didnt help, but it was almost like flying above a layer of cloud.

I get bored at night.. easily! This was the best photo i took. I think i had the overhead light on. Flying at night also means doing an instrument approach so i dont kill myself. I did the RNAV rwy 13 via WC.

Flying to Bickerton Island the next morning. Was awesome flying over the water!

Approach in to Bickerton, i think!

A picture from the main wharf thing on Groote. Was a nice day as well, so i didnt mind being outside.

Night flying.. Again!

So this post is all about the pictures. Had to do a charter where i picked up a doctor from Timber Creek and then flew her to Yarralin for the day. Then return to Darwin in the afternoon. I love night flying, and im less scared from it now that i have a second donk on the wing.

I think i departed at quarter to sixish, which is about an hour of flying at night. Anyway twin flying at night is one of the few things that still gets me really excited about flying.




Its really hard to take a photo at night, thats in focus, while waiting for a 1900 to take off before you on the runway at YPDN. This is with a bit of help from my friend boredom and photoshop is the final result.



Sitting on rwy 11, using my landing lights for a change as the 1900 taxis into position. They let him depart ahead of me due seperation, as we were both tracking south. And from memory a jet departed ahead of us, so also due wake turbulence.



1900 in position and holding..



Slowly rising sun and 8000ft.



Finally, sunrise from 8,000ft. Good times, good times.

Man Vs Wild

Yes, thats me with Bear Grylls from Man vs Wild. Great show. He came into work as they were filming him and using our DC-3 which i wrote about last post.

Here are some recent photos flying. Loving the baron. The one in the photo is an E-55. Has an empty weight was 1581kg, instead of 1730kg of the BE58, but has the same engines, making it the pocket rocked. Indicates around 170kts which is pretty decent for a piston twin.

ciao!

DC-3

I recently got the experience to fly on a DC-3 recently. Unfortunately i didn't have my camera for the inflight part, as it was semi unexpected and i was actually walking out the gate to my car to go home when i was asked if i wanted to jump on for the quick flight. (Note: This is actually a C-47, which is the military variant of the DC-3)

But i did manage to get some photos earlier in the day when it was sitting in front of the hangar.

Its quite amazing how big they are inside and up close.

These are some photos i took before i had to go flying.

This is the flight deck of the DC-3.

Looking out the window. Massive engines and sits a lot higher off the ground than i realised!



Looking from the tail up to the flight deck. This DC-3 i believe holds 28 passengers.

From the ground looking up at the big Pratt and Whitney radial engines!

All in all a pretty cool experience. I can add DC-3 to the list planes i have been on.

New Plane!

You might notice there is something out the window that isn't usually there? Correct, its a second engine. Got checked to the Baron the other day and has been awesome flying it again. Beautiful plane, reasonably fast for a piston, and just good for a change. I have around 1200 hours on Cessna 200 series, so something new fast and a bit of a challenge is refreshing. We also fly them IFR so its good to have something to do in flight. Instead of monitoring centre, i actually talk to them.

So i got a charter to Gove. Normally a cringe at the sight of that in a single, but as im flying a new plane, it was quite refreshing to do a long leg, and get some hours. Its 350nm each way, and if you have read this blog enough, you will know i have done similar distant flights many times in singles.

Gove is basically a big mining town on the very northeastern part of the Northern Territory. As said before, apart from Far North Queensland, there isnt much of Australia that sits beyond it. But i had a good day in Gove. I met up with a few of the pilots that live in Gove for other companies, went into town and visited the beach. Apparently Gove is ok to swin at, despite sharks and crocodiles still being a threat. Its stinger season at the moment, so i resisted going in!

I got bored and started taking photos. Here is the main passenger cabin. It sits 4 people in club seating. 3 is bareable, but you can't really take 4, and usually put one up the front.

The photo below is part of Gove airport. I have no idea what it was used for or its function. I don't think it was ever a control tower, but was unaware what it was used for.

Anyway thanks for reading.

Some new charters!

Its been a while since i have posted, and sorry for that. I have been incredibly busy working 2 jobs and seem to be constantly working or sleeping.. with the occaisional drinking and eating.

This post i will talk about a slow charter to Elcho Island in a C206. It is about 300nm, and with a headwind, it seemed to take ages. We had to take a 206 due to the heavy equipment they had for soil testing. Not sure what the reason was, but we were there for only 40 minutes before we headed back home. The return leg tailwind was much appreciated.

Anyway the trip to Elcho, goes over some of the most northern parts of the Australian continent. Probably the most northern parts, except for the Cape York and Horn Island areas in Far North Queensland. The direct route flown meant we pass near Maningrida and Milingimbi, which i have also flown to recently and will talk about in later posts.

All these areas are served by regular charter flights and RPT operations, with planes as large as the Emb. Brasilia and Metroliners. I believe Vincent Aviation operates Beech 1900's as well, but that might just be the Groote and Gove runs (2 Other places i have recently been to!) (Gove is also served by 717's that go between Darwin and Cairns).

So without boring you too much i'll go back to the usual post a bunch of pictures and talk about them.

A view from the street in Elcho that i sat for 40 minutes odd. I didn't really get many shots of Elcho itself, nor the airstrip, due to doing a straight in approach which was pretty much all over water! Next time i'm that way i'll take a photo of the relation of Elcho to the mainland.

The last 3 photos were from the very northern coast as we were flying. The pictures turned out well, and having been flying for so long around all areas that people pay a lot of money to see, i don't really appreciate nor look too hard out windows these days. But this definately made my head turn and i think some of the passengers even grabbed their cameras.

So i promise i will do another blog post sooner, that i did this one. I also went flying with a mate who visited from Sydney which was good, and got some photos of that, into Milingimbi.

Thanks for reading.