Rian and I are again off for another mission this weekend, up to Coffs and back. Weather looks good so should be an enjoyable flight. Will be heading up the inland VFR corridor through Williamtown airspace (which will probably be deactivated but good for a nav exercise) and then back straight down the coast to Bankstown.

I’ll be flying the dead leg of the mission until I clock up enough hours to do these myself.

Not many updates for a while, but RWC 2007 kicks off this weekend so I’ll be flying the lounge, drinking many beers and hoping that the Wallabies won’t go out in the quarters or the semis.

Go Wallabies!

My mate Rian and I did our first Angel Flight a few weeks back and haven’t had time to update the blog with the route so here goes. I flew outbound and him inbound so we wouldn’t break any rules (Sydneyaeros having under the 250 hours PIC they require). Mission went down like this…
Mission Briefing
A 15 year old girl from Glen Innes who is suffering from Lymphodaema and requires intensive
treatment and management over a one week period at the Sydney Children’s Hospital.
Finances are difficult for the family and an Angel Flight will help during this difficult time.

Aircraft - VH-KGH Piper Warrior

Route -Bankstown to Glen Innes
Outbound
Bankstown - Parramatta - Hornsby - Patonga - Maitland - Scone - Tamworth - Armidale - (fuel/hunger stop) - Glen Innes
Pilot - Sydneyaeros
Inbound - Glen Innes to Bankstown
Glen Innes - Armidale - Tamworth - Scone - Gosford - Brooklyn Bridge - Prospect - Bankstown
Pilot - Rian

We set out at 8am from Bankstown on a clear and sunny day via Scone and Tamworth for a fuel stop arriving 10.30 for a fuel and breakfast stop at Armidale, followed by a 35 minute flight up to Glen Innes where we arrived at 1145. Our passengers arrived at 12 and we were quickly loaded and departed for the direct flight back to Bankstown via Armidale, Tamworth, Scone and Gosford. Flight time was just over 3 hours arriving at 3.30pm.

Our passengers had done this trip a number of times and were quite comfortable in the back and slept some of the way, After completing some paperwork and taking a few photos at Bankstown, Sydneyaeros left to transfer them to Ronald McDonald house at the Sydney Children hospital at Randwick where our patient will undergo intensive treatment this week.

MXZ

On Saturday I’d booked in for a 1 hour flight in MXZ for a standard Northern Beaches run with some aeros thrown in as usual over Palm Beach. I had one of the guys from work who wanted to come along for a ride. Apart from an unusually long wait for a spot to do the runup everything else was normal about the pre flight and pre departure briefings, I did my pre-takeoff brief (engine failure below 200 land straight ahead, below 400ft right into the bus depot, below 700 on the golf course, above 1000 turn back) and taxied to the holding point. Line up and take off normal until at 200ft the engine started vibrating and RPM reduced to 2050 RPM. The dash also started shaking as I thought to myself this isn’t normal. I checked engine gauges, all looked OK as I ran out of runway and climbed through 300ft. I quickly decided on a course of action. I called the tower MXZ: Tower MXZ I have a engine vibration and I’m going to fly a circuit and come back Tower:MXZ roger. By this stage I was on crosswind and watching the airport moving away behind me hoping that the engine didn’t quit entirely. I informed my pax that we were going back to land and to stay quiet and turned downwind. The tower asked a few inbounds to orbit and cleared me as #1. He then asked if I wanted the equipment rolled, to which I thought about for a few seconds (is this really happening to me) and replied negative. Aircraft performance was deteriorating and I only managed to get her up to 900ft and left the power where it was and flew an abbreviated circuit and landed normally, taxied off, breathed a large sigh of relief and taxied back to parking. I called ground, asked him to thank the tower for his assistance in getting me back quick. Those controllers at Bankstown have one hell of a job sometimes on the weekend.

Too close.

I then informed my pax just what had happened. Not sure if he really understood the gravity of what had been going on. I then went back in to Red Baron and relayed my events to them. I subsequently got DXY allocated and then conducted a fairly normal 1 hour Nthn Beaches flight, couple of loops, rolls, wing overs etc. I was thinking during that flight that I was f***n lucky but did not know what had exactly happened to MXZ.

Fast forward to Monday, ring Red Baron to find out what the problem was - MXZ threw a cylinder so I guess I am damn lucky that she kept flying at all, let alone continued on for the whole circuit/taxi.

Still, now I’ve had a real engine issue. I’ll make certain that takeoff safety brief to myself is taken more seriously in future. Make sure it is part of your pre flight checks, Jason Miller has a great Podcast (#22) that I’ve listened to a number of times that I credit with some of the components that I make part of my safety brief as well as what Doug from Red Baron drilled into me. It may save your life and that of your pax.

One of my other passions is Rugby and I’m a big Waratahs and Wallabies fan so I’m heading down to join my older brother and sink a few cans and watch some footy.

Forecast weather for the trip is pretty ugly down low with turbulence in the circuit area of Sydney - perhaps a Runway 25 departure which I’ve only ever done once before.

Go Wallabies!

Why did I start this blog? Well having been an avid reader of other pilots bogs over the past year or so I thought I may as well also blog as well. So what will this be about - well mostly about the state of private aviation in Australia based on my experiences based out of Bankstown airport (YSBK).