Corsaire31 419 Posted September 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 New South Wales - Day 6 After spending the weekend at my regional base making plans for the future, it's time to fly again. We'll go now through the northwest quarter and we start by a flight to the mining city of Cobar. After a first round trip in the semi old way (no autopilot but a GPS on the Cessna 177 RG ), I've decided to take it easy for the second. I chose my Cessna 337 Skymaster "Softness of Australia" which will allow me some lazyness with a GPS, a HDG/NAV autopilot and altitude holder. Taking off from Condobolin this morning, the sky is clear, visibility is great and we have 14 knots of wind from 217°. Start is from main runway 19 and a turn to the NW. Stabilized at 2500 ft, I am flying over rural flat land with some forest patches here and there, and sometimes a small hill. Not far from my destination I encounter some beautiful cumulus which will force me to do some slalom. Finally they vanish as I get near to Cobar YCBA and I can land without any further problem. Here again no tower, we use the Multicom on 126.7 to warn from arrival. Cobar is a town of around 4000 people 711 km northwest from Sydney, at the junction of the Kidman Way and the Barrier Highway. The town was known in the region to be built around a copper mine which ceased its activity in 1920. In 1980, after discovery of ressources of gold, silver, lead and zinc, the mining started again, with today three open sky mines which can be visited. I found a place to sleep tonight, all is well ! For the next flights, since we already explored some of the outback towards Broken Hill, I don't think there is much interest in flying all the way west to Tibooburra, where there is nothing important to see. Link to post Share on other sites
wain 879 Posted September 23, 2015 Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 very good, out of interest can you recommend a good quality Skymaster, would prefer one that works in FSX and P3D. Always liked the look of them.....did you notice if that giant mine area was modeled in the sim?.... Link to post Share on other sites
Corsaire31 419 Posted September 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 I'm using the Carenado Skymaster, it sure works in both. I didn't see the mine in Cobar (didn't look for it in fact ) , but there are many mines added by OzX in Western Australia. Link to post Share on other sites
wain 879 Posted September 23, 2015 Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 yeah I saw the Carenado version, looks good, I may well purchase...........I can imagine there must be vast areas of mining etc, Australia is such a big area.......... Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,315 Posted September 23, 2015 Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 Nice easy flight today and great choice of aircraft. Amazing myriad of mineral colors in that mine. Link to post Share on other sites
wain 879 Posted September 24, 2015 Report Share Posted September 24, 2015 Thanks for advise Loic..I now have the C337 from Carenado...did a short test flight and it seems really good..I was worried as it says P3D v1 but works ok in 2.5 Wayne Link to post Share on other sites
Corsaire31 419 Posted September 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2015 Good ! I love this plane... You can find several nice repaints at OzX. Link to post Share on other sites
Corsaire31 419 Posted September 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2015 New South Wales - Day 7 From Cobar we will fly north to Bourke (airport YBKE). As I leave Cobar, both weather and mood are great ! Flying at 3500 ft, the agricultural landscape is slowly replaced by bigger forest patches. As I close on the Gundabooka national park south of Bourke, I can see in the far the heights of Little Mountain. I decide to get a bit out of my direct path to have a look at it. Fifteen minutes later I am on finals at YBKE. A cool short flight over the usual landscape except for the Little Mountain. "The back o'Bourke" Behind these ordinary words is a real local saying. If most english speaking people use "at the back of beyond", our aussie friends use their own equivalent, which means "in the middle of nowhere" ! I easily find a place for the night in town. More reading : http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/travel/destinations/2009/06/believing-in-bourkeiconic-outback-town/ Link to post Share on other sites
Corsaire31 419 Posted September 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2015 New South Wales - Day 8 Today we leave Bourke YBKE and keep on flying north to Lightning Ridge YLRD with an overfly of Goodooga YGDA. As I take off from Bourke, there is a 13 knots south wind, a great visibility, and the few clouds are high in the sky around 10.000 ft. I'm flying again over a flat land at 3500 ft, the autopilot is doing the job, I just have to look at the landscape around and watch the needles. After some 40 minutes, I fly over the airfield and the village of Goodooga. As I close on Lightning Ridge, I can see several dried out lakes... ... before landing at the local airfield on the secondary gravel runway. Lightning Ridge (2 600 people) lies 590 km northwest from Sydney 6 km east of the Castlereagh Highway, near the border with Queensland. The Lightning Ridge area is a world-renowned centre of the mining of black opals and other opal gemstones. Lightning Ridge has the largest known deposits of black opals in the world Lightning Ridge is an important paleontological site, with fossils dating back to the Cretaceous period, 110 million years ago. The sandstone rock once formed the bottom of a shallow inland sea where the remains of aquatic plants and animals were preserved. I'll spend the night at a local motel... (.../...) Link to post Share on other sites
wain 879 Posted September 29, 2015 Report Share Posted September 29, 2015 very interesting trip this is turning out to be, some nice weather now, lets hope it lasts, must be nearing spring in Oz..... Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,315 Posted September 29, 2015 Report Share Posted September 29, 2015 Some great legs there Loic, don't forget to keep an eye on your air filters. Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted September 30, 2015 Report Share Posted September 30, 2015 The gemstone mines sound very interesting. Would be neat to take a tour of those, and pick up a few souvenirs. I like the looks of the accommodations you are finding too...very homey looking for the most part. A nice departure from Hiltons/Motel 6's and the like. Also seems a good season for the tour, the area looks quite green and temperate. Cheers. Link to post Share on other sites
Corsaire31 419 Posted September 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2015 New South Wales - Day 9 Back to my regional base in Condobolin YCDO with waypoints in Walgett YWLG, Warren YWRN and Tottenham YTOT. Expected flight time one and a half hour. We still have nice weather leaving Lightning Ridge. High pressures are stable, 24°C on the ground, wind 10 knots from the west and some scattered clouds above 10.000ft. Then it's flat lands again as far as the eye can see. Fifteen minutes later I fly over Walgett, its airfield and VOR. Just when I start thinking this is going to be a rather cool flight, the weather changes, and not for good ! Visibility goes down to the VFR minimum ( 5 nm ) between Walgett and Warren, roughly half way in the leg. When I fly over Warren YWRN, its stays the same so I decide to continue flying. It gets a little better as I fly by the last alternate airfield in Tottenham YTOT. And finally it clears up as I get near my destination. I can see far ahead the Mount Tilga, which is close to Condobolin. The wind is still from the west, so I decide to land on the secondary gravel runway. And the second round trip is over ! Next destination will be the northeast quarter and the pacific coast. Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted October 1, 2015 Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 With regards to the scenery, that part of Oz looks like a great place to have a very fast plane. Link to post Share on other sites
Corsaire31 419 Posted October 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 This a populated area ( outside of the back o'Bourke ) so the airfields are not far from each other. I will probably need the fast planes in Western Australia ! Edit : Because of Rugby World Cup, next flight on Monday ! Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142 Posted October 1, 2015 Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 Great stuff, Loic! I'm very much enjoying your flights. Why not bid for one of the flights of the Around The World Challenge, too? (Bids for the next section are opening soon). Cheers, Brian Link to post Share on other sites
Corsaire31 419 Posted October 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 Thks for your msg Brian, glad you enjoy my little flights. For the ATWC i would reply because there's only so much I can do... I already have 2 Air Hauler companies to run besides my discovery trips... Each leg takes me 4 to 5 hours between actually flying it, work on the screenshots ( sort out, select, crop, resize and post on OzX ) google the documentation on the place, post on my french forum and translate/post here. I also spend some time flying war missions on WW1 planes in Rise of Flight and soaring around with Condor ! ... and playing some Blood Bowl when on the ground. Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142 Posted October 2, 2015 Report Share Posted October 2, 2015 Ah, I understand completely, my friend. So many aircraft, so little time.... But you manage to get more vlying in a day than I normally manage in a week. <sigh> Obviously, I need to try harder. Although for me, it's more a case of "One magnificent aircraft, but so many airports". So I salute your dedication. (What a great obsession hobby this is)! All the best, B. Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted October 3, 2015 Report Share Posted October 3, 2015 Thks for your msg Brian, glad you enjoy my little flights. For the ATWC i would reply because there's only so much I can do... I already have 2 Air Hauler companies to run besides my discovery trips... Each leg takes me 4 to 5 hours between actually flying it, work on the screenshots ( sort out, select, crop, resize and post on OzX ) google the documentation on the place, post on my french forum and translate/post here. I also spend some time flying war missions on WW1 planes in Rise of Flight and soaring around with Condor ! ... and playing some Blood Bowl when on the ground. Ah, I understand completely, my friend. So many aircraft, so little time.... But you manage to get more vlying in a day than I normally manage in a week. <sigh> Obviously, I need to try harder. Although for me, it's more a case of "One magnificent aircraft, but so many airports". So I salute your dedication. (What a great obsession hobby this is)! All the best, B. I love the different approaches folks have to this obsession hobby . Mine: 10 Airhauler companies in 8 parts of the world so far (How I "discover" new areas), and I flibberty jibbet between planes like a kid with attention deficit disorder in a toy store...and usually learn how to fly them "On the Fly". I just poked my way around an accusim P40 Warhawk last night. I "figured it out" and got it warming up in 10 minutes without having to resort to reading the manual, and bombed around the bay area with zero issues...my favorite FS challenge...just in case I ever need to steal a plane I have never flown before :D I admire both of your dedication to "More accurate simming" than I do. I just don't have the patience for details like some of you folks enjoy. It would no doubt get me killed in a real airplane eventually...after a hell of a lot of fun. Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142 Posted October 4, 2015 Report Share Posted October 4, 2015 <grin> As the old saying goes, "It takes all sorts...". Yet another great thing about our obsession -- there are *so many* aspects of it that can interest different people in different ways. Painters, ATC folks, long/short haul, VRF/IFR, pax, cargo, air charter management, procedural simming vs. "jump in and go", Virtual Airlines, military, props/jets, online flying.... the list goes on and on. But we all appreciate each other's enthusiasms. It's great. Cheers, B. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,315 Posted October 4, 2015 Report Share Posted October 4, 2015 Well said Bruce, I have gone through many phases of flight simming myself. Always something to keep things interesting, right now that would be proper GA flight planning and procedures with a WWII mission thrown in for fun once in awhile. For someone that has always jumped from one hobby to another over time I am actually a bit surprised that flight simming has kept my attention this long. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Corsaire31 419 Posted October 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2015 New South Wales - Day 10 After these few days with many events in the Rugby World Cup ( great team, Australia ! ) it's time to get on the road again... Today we start towards the North East quarter by a one hour flight between my regional base in Condobolin YCDO and Dubbo YSDU. In this part of the country there are many people and many airfields. As the weather seems to settle for high pressures, I decide to get back to good ol'times navigation after my lazy North West round with GPS and autopilot. I will fly with a trusty companion, the Waco YMF5 with which I flew many hours down the african and brasilian coasts during last year's Aéropostale adventure. No GPS, no autopilot and sadly no ADF as there are NDBs everywhere. It is equipped with VOR/DME and that's fine for this first leg as Dubbo has one (114.4) Taking off from Condobolin, I have a great weather with a clear sky, high clouds, 6 knots of easterly wind and a 31°C ground temperature. Just remember to lock the tail wheel before running down the runway if I don't want to use the whole width and may be a little more... Half way through the flight I find some low clouds which will force me to fly some extra distance for going around. Then the weather clears up totally and I can spot far ahead the low hills just south of Dubbo. With the help of the VOR I have no problem finding the town and airfield. In the meantime the wind has turned SW and is down to 3 knots on the ground. I start a downwind leg to land on the main 23 runway between a plane taking off and a Piper calling he's 10 nms away for landing. No landing gear to lower, no flaps, flying with a joystick, I soon find myself at ease after all the hours spent flying WW1 crates... and I have a trim to make things easier ! Dubbo is a town of 30.000 people on the Macquarie River. 416 kms west of Sydney and 951 ft high, the town is the main road and railway crossing of the region. From Dubbo you can go north towards Brisbane, east towards Newcastle and Sydney, south towards Melbourne and west towards Broken Hill and Adelaïde. There is a large sheep slaughterhouse and nearby a very large zoo with several endangered species, the Western Plains Taronga Zoo. I have no problem finding a room for the night in one of the several motels in town. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,315 Posted October 7, 2015 Report Share Posted October 7, 2015 Ah, open cockpit on a nice day, priceless. You don't always need mountains to enjoy some scenic flying. I must say that Australia has some comfy looking places to rest your tired rudder feet. A backwind leg? Is that an aviation term or are you letting those sailing terms to slip in again. Link to post Share on other sites
wain 879 Posted October 7, 2015 Report Share Posted October 7, 2015 Great shots again Loic, like the look of that plane, never had anything like that.....wish I had the time to go fly an adventure like this but at the moment just to busy, I am envious of you... Wayne Link to post Share on other sites
Corsaire31 419 Posted October 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2015 A backwind leg? Is that an aviation term or are you letting those sailing terms to slip in again. Haha ! As you know english is not my native language ( although I have a US High School diploma, a University Master and a British Chamber of Commerce ) and besides this you are right I spent a lot more time at the helm of sailboats than behind an airplane yoke... This is probably why I used "backwind" ... Am I right if I use "downwind" instead ? In french we only have one expression for both "vent arrière" which is literally translated by "backwind". @ Wain : " wish I had the time to go fly an adventure like this but at the moment just to busy, I am envious of you... " I understand, but I'm old, that should make you less envious ! 2 Link to post Share on other sites
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