Odd Freight

At this new job, it seems nothing is impossible. I say that in the best possible way as well, because flying is all about repeat business and customer service. Having said that, I guess if there is a will, then there is a way. I haven't really had to deal with too much odd freight in my time. Sure we have had planes absolutely chocked full of mail, newspapers, mining equipment, books etc etc. But this last job caught me off guard a little. I didnt really know how to load it, or how to even get it into the plane. When the guy delivered it, i asked him to bring it inside to weight it. He laughed at me. Once i saw what it was i understood why. Having said that, it was all fairly liftable, so weight wasnt a problem. It was just.. not really suited to a single engine cessna even with the seats removed.




The freight offloaded!

Its not as clear in the photos as to how crazy it was loaded and what the freight was. I believe it was a small diesel generator, and its mounting, plus a few lengths of what i think was cement piping. When you have jobs like this in 34 degree tropical heat, it makes me wonder why i even bother ironing my white shirt or showering in the morning. I think id been at work a total of 40 minutes before i was drenched in sweat and dirty from loading.

The freight was for a community on the Tiwi islands called Snake Bay. Its a sealed strip and about 60nm away from Darwin. Anyway long story short we eventually got all the freight in. Even the bloke that helped me load it was laughing that we got it in. We got talking and apparently his brother is a Cathay Pacific 747 captain. He took a photo himself to show his brother.

Snake bay from the air and the ground. There is regular public transport operated here in C404's and C402's.

Some Recent Flying

I have been flying a lot lately. I have been back to Borroloola (Brl) twice now. Not quite as long as Alice to Brl, but within 40nm. Its 384nm from Darwin to Brl, which is longer than flying Sydney Melbourne, for those of you playing at home. Then obviously 384nm on the return leg. You usually get good winds one way which makes one of the legs semi enjoyable! I took off on the first trip early to get some night hours. The C210 that i was flying is decked out with all the gear so its nice to have good avionics.



This was taken after leaving controlled airspace. I was at 7500ft initially, but then decided to descent lower as the winds were better. You can see its got some good gear in the plane from the photo!



This is a photo looking into the Gulf of Carpentaria, which runs between the NT and Far North Queensland. Taken on the return leg.

This picture is similar!

Sunrise. Not quite at 35000, rather... 5500. Only 30000ft difference to a jet. Maybe one day i'll post photos from 35000ft. I hope so anyway.

I have lots of photos of storms, and weather, water, islands that i was going to post, but i'll save them for another post i think. I have one more photo of the community of Ngukurr. Pronounced "nooker" i always heard people talk about it, as a lot of pilots are based at remote communities, and Ngukurr was a reasonably common base for pilots. So on the way back from Brl i detoured to get a photo.

Enjoy.

NT news

Thought i would post some good headlines from the Northern Territory newspaper. There are actual websites/facebook groups dedicated to how silly some of it is, and i don't know whether they do it on purpose or whether there is simply nothing better to write about. Im not sure what percent of readers are Australian or international, but if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!


(These are only a small percentage of silly headlines i have seen)

Croker Island

I have been to Croker Island twice in the past three days. Its 120nm from Darwin, which about 80nm is over water! Pretty fun/scary... etc in a single engine plane. I did it in a C206 and a C210. I definately prefer to fly the C210 no question. There are very strong winds at the moment due to TC Olga in the area, and the groundspeed in the C206 on the way back was down to 88kts, and in the C210 it got down to about 110kts.

A view of Melville Island about 40nm north-east of Darwin. This was taken on the C206 at 5500.

On the left hand side you can see a company C206 heading to Croker as well. I cant remember what height he was at!



Croker as per the GPS in the plane. There is lots of military airspace around Darwin (as you can see in the GPS) so its important to check the notams every flight.

Finally Croker Island strip! This is the strip, which i have found out 2 days in a row always has a howling cross wind. The settlement is around 6nm further north-east. An advantage of flying in the top-end is that most of the strips a sealed. This one is an exception to the rule, however they are very well maintained and take a lot of rain.

Lake Evella Charter

I think thats how you spell it. Today was some good wet season flying, but i didnt get to snap to much of the storms as i was too busy dodging terrain and remaining visual to snap photos! Either way i got some of Lake Evella and the flight there in the morning. Enjoy.

Main street in Lake Evella. The 'top end' communities seem a lot nicer than the central Australian ones. It's definately smoother flying, with sealed runways and VHF coverage most of the way.

210 i was in today, parked at Lake Evella.

Mission Aviation Fellowship airvan, doing a mailrun i think, similar to my job back in Alice Springs. Can't say i miss flying the airvan. 300 hours on type is more than enough!

Some build up in the morning over the Alligator river. We provide life vests in these planes as its a legal requirement and we do tend to fly over large areas of water often. But the crocs in that river would render them useless.

Smooth air at 7500ft. Awesome.

Looking at one of the most northern areas of Australian coastline. Next stop would be Indonesia or East Timor.

Some might remember the old photo i had as my blog header! I guess the ones who actually read it may have some idea which photo i mean!

This blog is a tribute to a friend who became a good mate through a friend of a friend. It is always hard to goto a new place, new city and not know anyone to help you out or where to go etc. But without even meeting me, Dave was able hook up some pizza, accomodation if i needed and answered everything a young fresh commerical pilot needs to ask!



The man himself!! His advice and support has helped me through all my work in GA. I definately owe him a lager or 6.

The instruments and throttles of a C404. I dare say in a year this is all i will post photos of as i progress forward! i hope so anyway.

The plane being loaded by one of the agencies that organises the bookings for these flights.

And finally the original photo from the header of the blog. It all comes back to where it kinda started! This is taken across the ramp back towards the company i work for.

I was a fresh, green and inexperienced pilot back then and didnt know the world of GA like i do. But his one bit of advice was to get into same company he worked. And with a bit of luck and lots of hard work! (a successful interview helped) im now there. Funny how this picture takes me back to the time when i was longing for that good GA job, with no experience in aviation except a few pieces of paper that allowed me to fly aeroplanes with people inside for commerical operations.

Anyway its late night, and its my food for thought! Thanks Dave, your words of advice were acted upon!

Night!

206 Charter

So the new company i work for has a pretty diverse fleet. From the C206 all the way to the metroliner, and soon to a 32 seat Embraer Brasilia. Also operate a fleet of cessna 404 titans, 402's, Barons and conquests! So there is definately great opportunity to fly great aircraft.



This particular C206 is decked out with a Garmin 530, Autopilot and some sort of weather radar thing. I don't know how well it works yet, although i'm sure i will out soon enough being the wet season.

We departed runway 18 at Darwin and then a left turn to 220 to track south-west. I managed to get a good shot of the city.

At the moment im checked to line flying the C206 and C210 for something different! C206 is a fun plane to fly, although its a lot slower than what im used to. But at the moment im enjoying to scenery and smoother air to complain :) It's also nice to be in a radar environment with a clearance delivery, ground, tower approach and departure frequencies to deal with.

Darwin is still pretty small compared to most cities, but its definately bigger and feels better than Alice Springs to live in. Although i do miss the friends i made in Alice a lot. So enough chit chat, i'll show you some pictures of my flight to Channel Point. Its only 60nm from Darwin, and is basically a row of nice houses in the middle of nowhere! However they had all the bells and whistles, including cable tv and comfy leather couches haha.

Here is a view from the shore at Channel Point. The water is full of saltwater crocs and stingers to no swimming. Most people here go for the barramundi fishing.

Outside view of the house we stayed in.



Not a bad way to spend the day and get paid!