Mudgee and Temora Flyaway

The Temora Aviation Museum hosts monthly air shows and it was decided to organise an aero club flyaway to attend their September 2023 airshow while basing ourselves at Mudgee for the weekend. Six aircraft took part with Mike Cahill, Brett Silvester and me in MSF, Bryan Galvin, Mike Gardiner and Gary Ayre in Cherokee BHN, Sam Keenan, his wife Jac, and daughters Ava and Georgie in C310 JTV, Neil Jensen in 19-7360, Paul Smeath, son Ben and grandson Josh in C182 ROC and Peter Nally with three friends in Cirrus YVR.

The first leg on Friday 15^th dawned fine with beautiful flying conditions, and MSF departed Redcliffe just after 8am with me flying as PIC and Brett as copilot. We obtained a clearance to climb to 6000 ft and tracked direct for overhead Archerfield, then to the southwest over the Scenic Rim. We flew over some interesting terrain as we flew the dividing range to the east of Armidale.

The plateau stretched out to the west of us while deep gorges separated us from the coastal plains to the east. In just over 2 hours we were descending into Scone.

I practised an RNP instrument approach into Scone with one holding pattern before starting the descent. It was clear skies but I focussed on the instruments while Brett kept a lookout. About 5 miles out I broke off from the instrument approach and joined left downwind for RWY11. A smooth touchdown and we rolled into the grassed parking area opposite the aero club bulding.

We’d arranged a tour of the Hunter Warbirds Museum at 11am and arrived early enough to enjoy a cup of coffee beforehand. The museum opened 18 months ago and has an impressive collection of aircraft. An enthusiastic ex-RAAF guide gave a detailed history of virtually every aircraft, some of which are privately owned and stored at the museum for display purposes. Many are in flying condition and therefore absent from time to time visiting various airshows or just being flown by their owners.

They also have a Spitfire simulator and a 737 simulator that visitors can learn to fly.

After a quick lunch at the cafe it was a 30 minute leg from Scone to Mudgee with Mike as PIC and Brett as copilot again. Both Scone and Mudgee have significant high ground in close proximity to the circuit area and Mudgee requires right circuits on Runway 22, which happened to be our arrival runway.

The Mudgee Aero Club hospitality was on display, the Club President Gary Chapman and his wife Denise plus various members meeting us on arrival and treating us to afternoon tea. They also provided us with the Club loan car for the weekend and a lift to town for those who couldn’t fit.

The evening was spent at the Three Tails microbrewery and smoke house trying some of their alcoholic and non-alcoholic beers.

We rose early on Saturday 16^th (Brett said too early) to beat the expected rush at Temora approximately 150 miles to the south-west. The Mudgee locals had warned us about high traffic density and the presence of pilots who may not be so diligent with their radio calls so we wanted to avoid any close calls and thought it prudent to arrive before opening time. Departing Mudgee at 7:30 I was PIC again as Brett wanted to practise an instrument approach on the way back in the afternoon. We flew under clear blue skies once again and over a green carpet scattered with yellow patches of canola.

There was no other traffic ahead of us as we descended into Temora and no sound of a Unicom officer as had been mentioned in the fly in notes. Obviously we were too early for anyone to be around. I decided to join downwind for RWY 36 as that would give us the shortest taxi to the apron even though there’d be a slight right crosswind so I stated my intention when we were 5 miles out. As happens one plane had to barge in at the last moment and it was Sam who was flying the 310 and just couldn’t help but overtake us on the descent and join downwind for RWY 05. He obviously wanted the longest runway. So I changed my call and followed him as he made a long downwind, turned base and then final. I extended my downwind even longer to give him time to exit the runway and then also turned base and final. Slowing to 80 knots I watched as he landed ahead of me and taxied to the far end of the runway and taxiway. I held off as long as possible and touched down just as the stall warning went off and Sam gave his vacating call.

The other aircraft followed us in and we gathered to walk over to the museum, where a line of visitors was already forming. It was 9:15 and it didn’t open until 10am.

The airshow was well attended, hosting thousands of visitors on the day. Flying displays by the Spitfire, Kittyhawk and Mustang were most impressive as were the Cessna Birddog, Cessna O-2A, Wirraway, Winjeel, Harvard, Tiger Moth, Ryan monoplane, CT4 as well as a PC21, the RAAF’s current ab initio trainer. A flying-condition Hudson bomber was on static display while a flying-condition Canberra bomber undergoing detailed maintenance could be viewed in an adjacent hangar.

Local weather was picture perfect for the airshow.

We had some great tailwinds for the return flight to Mudgee in the afternoon and Brett carried out an instrument approach into RWY22.

That night we had predinner drinks and dinner at Kelly’s Irish Pub.

Sunday was a restful day where we dropped out to Lowe Family Winery to buy a bottle of Jodie then headed to Burnbrae Winery on the road to Hill End for an afternoon of wine tasting and live music from a girl with a guitar. Some of us drank a bit too much wine and decided to stay in for the evening while the rest of us had dinner at the Oriental Hotel.

On Monday we departed Mudgee at 8:30 heading for McIntyres Airfield on Palmers Island.

Brett was PIC again with Mike as copilot and he’d initially planned via Port Macquarie and Coffs but ATC cleared us direct shortly after takeoff so we went that way.

Once again it was clear blue sky with no clouds.

On the way we passed over Grafton straddling the Clarence River.

McIntyre’s Airfield is a privately owned and maintained ALA situated 4nm from Yamba. It is kept in immaculate condition but can be a bit hard to spot from the air. We’d actually flown right over the top of it before we identified it. Brett was a bit fast on his first approach so did a go around and landed smoothly on his second attempt.

The patriarch Bob McIntyre had died only a week before at age 83 so the family were still coming to grips with his death. As his son Murray told us, Bob was out on his mower the day before looking as fit as ever and just died overnight. It was a shock to everyone. Bob’s wife met us on arrival and made us all a cup of tea and offered some biscuits while Murray got the loan car out of the garage. They’d had a memorial service for Bob the day before so they were still cleaning up but were very hospitable.

We drove the loan car 10 minutes into Yamba and stopped at the Pacific Hotel where we could take in views of the beach from the dining room.

After we eventually dragged ourselves away from the food and views at the hotel, we drove back to Palmers Island and boarded MSF for the trip to Redcliffe.