Cattle station – airshow – camping

In May 2016 my son Tim and I flew up to the “Old Station”, west of Gladstone, together with Bryan Galvin, another aero club member. Old Station is a 40,000 acre cattle station whose owner is a private pilot and constructed a 2km long grass runway in a very long paddock just near the homestead. This weekend was their annual fly-in and about 100 aircraft flew in from all around Queensland.

Our flight up there went from Redcliffe to Caloundra (where we picked up Tim) and then direct to Old Station. There was a bit of traffic on the way up, with most people heading for Old Station. After 90 minutes we were 10 miles out and hearing that runway 24 was the active one set ourselves up for a down wind join. We had our eyes peeled for the property but it wasn’t until we were about 5 miles out that it appeared from behind a hill and was quite a sight, with about 80 or so aircraft there already and over 100 camper vans and caravans. We followed another plane on downwind, did a wide base to give him plenty of time to land and vacate the runway then headed down to the grass strip.

As we bumped onto the taxiway we couldn’t help but notice a Jabiru with a bend nose wheel. Obviously the strip wasn’t as smooth as we’d been told.

It’s quite a big event and has been going for about 20 years. There was an impressive range of aircraft including aerobatics, some vintage replicas and warbirds.

Various aerobatic teams put on a two hour show in a variety of planes on Saturday afternoon.

In the evening there was a band with live music and four massive braziers filled with ironbark posts that kept the chill of the night away from the visitors.

They used a number of neighbouring paddocks to provide room to park the aircraft and over 100 caravans and camper vans that arrived for the weekend.

We camped out under the wing of the plane (literally).

On Sunday morning they served a big country breakfast and we packed up our tents and headed back down south. We flew via Bundaberg and then followed the coast down to Hervey Bay and Fraser Island. 

Then it was on past Rainbow Beach and Noosa, and the Sunshine Coast aerodrome and Caloundra, where we dropped Tim off and then headed back to Redcliffe. It was perfect flying weather with blue sky and very few clouds.

Cessna 210 – wheels up

Another milestone was achieved in May 2016 when I passed my RUC (Retractable UnderCarriage) endorsement. All the aircraft I’d flown previously had been fixed undercarriage. The wheels on those basically hang below the aircraft and provide considerable air resistance and additional drag as we fly reducing our airspeed and limiting our range. If we want to progress to faster machines to travel longer distances we can move to aircraft that have a system that lifts the undercarriage out of the way. I had to learn how to retract the undercarriage on take off and, somewhat more importantly, how to extend it again before landing. Not terribly difficult but it did involve taking a somewhat larger plane, a 6 seater Cessna 210, which has an 8 cylinder engine and 300 hp. It cruises at 160 knots, so considerably faster than the 182 which is more like 130 knots. The lucky instructor was Mal McAdam. We had to head over to the training area at Bribie Island for a few manoeuvres and exercises before doing some circuits at Redcliffe.  The aircraft (call sign Echo Lima Sierra) is shown below. The main wheels fold back up into the slots in the bottom of the fuselage, while the nose wheel folds forward.

First Mal took me through a preflight briefing, inspecting the system and how the hydraulic power pack and associated pump functions. We checked the hydraulic fluid level and discussed how the system can be debugged while flying. Then it was off to runway 07 for take off. It’s Saturday afternoon and all is quiet. The Saturday morning rush is over and we’re on our own. The sky is blue and all is good. I open the throttle and we hurtle down the runway. This is certainly the first plane I’ve flown that I’ve actually felt pressed back in the seat on acceleration. The big engine has some power all right. We accelerate to 65 knots, rotate, lift off, weather cock into wind with rudder (there’s a reasonable cross wind from the right) fly over the end of the runway, touch the brakes, select undercarriage up, wait for the red light (1..2…3….4….5), then power back to top of the greens, prop back to 2500rpm, flaps up and climb to 500ft, start the turn to the left and continue climbing to 1000ft, then level out and head for Beachmere. And what do you know? We’re halfway across the bay already! This plane moves!

I make the Redcliffe departure call then abeam Beachmere change to Caboolture CTAF and let them know we’re on our way to central Bribie for some aerial work between 2500 and 3500ft. Over Bribie it’s time to get a feel for the plane with a few steep turns, dodging some clouds as we go. Then trim at 3000ft, cut the power and hold altitude by gradually lifting the nose. Pull back, pull back. We carry out a couple of clean stalls and recover to 3000ft. Practise extending the undercarriage, wait for the green light to come on, check the main wheels are visible, and then retract. Extend again and extend full flaps then practise stalls with flaps and gear extended. Wow the nose goes high before it stalls! Stall warning sounds, the nose drops, power on and level out again at 3000. Now just need to practise manual lowering of the undercarriage. Just in case the electric power pack for the hydraulics were to fail, there’s a hand operated pump with a handle between the seats. So Mal pulls the circuit breaker, I select wheels down and start pumping. After about 30 pumps it starts to get difficult and then the green light comes on. Success! That wasn’t so hard. Circuit breaker in again and retract the wheels again.

Now it’s back to Redcliffe for a few circuits. It doesn’t take long in the 210. Mal scolds me for cutting the power back for descent. No need in this plane – just point the nose down and off we go. Before long I’m making the inbound call and head into a very quiet Redcliffe circuit.

A few rusty circuits later Mal suggests we do a full stop and get a bit more fuel. This seems a good chance to have a break and discuss what needs to be improved. We land and taxi to the bowser. Just then it starts to rain, a brief shower, so we take the opportunity to discuss what I need to do better to improve the circuits. It all seems a lot more understandable on the ground while I’m not simultaneously flying the plane. So with this new found perspective and the rain stopped, we put 100L in each wing and then taxi back out to the runway.

This time they are much better circuits and it all seems so much smoother. Climb out, touch the brakes, wheels up, top of the greens, flaps up, turn and climb to 1000ft, level out, trim, manifold pressure back to 20 inches, trim, “brakes ok, check speed, undercarriage down” (1…2….3….4….5) green light on and main wheels visible, “and locked, mixture rich, fuel’s on and sufficient, hatches and harnesses ok”. Abeam the threshold check speed, 10 degrees flap, hold 1000ft, let the speed fall away, aim for 90knots, make the turn onto base and check speed, 20 degrees flap. Descend on base, trim for 85 knots, watch the rate of descent and trim, don’t turn too early given the head wind, then turn onto final and select 30 degrees flap, trim for 75knots and the aim point. Do the PUFF check (Prop fine, Undercarriage down and locked, Flaps at 30, cowl Flaps open. Adjust the power to keep on glide slope to the aim point until we cross the fence then retard the throttle and look down the end of the runway. Keep pulling back and flare as we near the ground, then touchdown, slowly lower the nose, retract the flaps, power on again and off we go for another circuit.

After three more good ones Mal calls it a day and we do a full stop and head back to the hangar. All good. All makes sense. I have the endorsement. Now, what next? Must be a trip to a cattle station. NDP is the aircraft of choice – a Cessna 182RG (Retractable Gear).

To mark Anzac Day in 2016 the Aeroclub arranged a Fly By of the Sunshine Coast with 8 aircraft. We met before dawn and held a short memorial service before taking off from Redcliffe at first light, with 2 minute intervals between us.

We flew at 500ft, remaining over water as we passed up the east coast of Bribie Island and past the Caloundra aerodrome.

As we continued up past Maroochydore we saw a formation of Tiger Moths pass over us, heading in the opposite direction.

Once we reached Noosa we climbed to 1000 ft and turned back towards the south. As we headed back down the coast we passed over the top of the planes that were following. Eventually one of them, a Cessna 210 that is quite a bit faster than the 182 we were in, asked whether they could overtake us. How could we say no, especially as it gave us a chance to get a shot of them bathed in sunlight as they passed.

Not long after we were landing back at Redcliffe. Back on the ground we finished the morning with a barbecue breakfast.

In May 2016, after having spent a few months grinding along with my PIFR (Private Instrument Flight Rules) training it was time for an outing with the Aeroclub. It was a fairly casual affair, with a short hop to Caloundra to visit the Queensland Air Museum and then a 30 minutes flight out to Kingaroy. I paired up with Andrew Pearson, another relatively new PPL, who was looking for someone to share the cost. We took off from Redcliffe on a perfect blue sky day. Andrew was in command and I was in the right hand seat so had plenty of opportunity to take some photos. We headed up the coast past Beachmere and the mouth of the Caboolture River,

then passed over our old training ground of Bribie Island,

and descended into Caloundra with Moffat Head on our right hand side.

We were flying in IVW, a 172 that had just returned from being repaired after a student had run it off the runway into a ditch. It has a new engine so that had to be run in full rich and at high revs. There was only a very light wind from the east so we landed on Runway 05, giving direct access to the parking area.

On the ground we waited for the others to arrive. One of the other club members was in his Beechcraft Bonanza. It’s a lot faster than a 172 so he’d already been out to Moreton Island and up to Noosa before landing and taxiing into the GA parking area.

We spend about an hour at the museum then took off again out west towards Kingaroy. We passed over the Sunshine Coast hinterland and the Mary River valley.

It wasn’t long until we were approaching Kingaroy. There were a few gliders about so we negotiated a “landing slot” and joined the circuit.

It was a perfect day with almost no wind as we landed on runway 16.

While we waited for the others to join us we caught up with a friend of the family who lives nearby.

We then headed into town for lunch at the local pub. After lunch it was back to the Jo Bjelke Peterson airport for the trip home. Andrew handed control over to me and we gained a passenger. Kerry had flown up with Rob in the Bonanza but as Rob had to leave early he came back with us. He took over photographic duties from the rear seat.

We headed back via Nanango and Lake Somerset with the Glasshouse Mountains in the distance.

It was a pleasant trip back despite the fact that we couldn’t go above 5000ft with the new engine. There was some turbulence but not enough to cause any discomfort.  Soon we were on final into Redcliffe.

With no crosswind to speak of it was a gentle touch down, and we taxied back to the hangar. The end of a great day.