Day 23: Today the wings of life crew have been invited to spend the day with the Dubbo RFDS for their Educational Centre and Medical Centre Open Day. This will be the official opening of these new facilities and guests such as the Governor of NSW, Mayor of Dubbo, RFDS Patron NSW and many more figureheads will be attending the event. The morning started off early but was a relaxed morning. Rather than chasing down food, the food was brought to us for a change by the reasonably priced room service here at Endeavor Ct Hotel.
We arrived at the Dubbo RFDS base 9:30am and setup our section at the table dedicated to Wings of Life. The opening of the new centre received huge support from the community with a large and diverse turn out. The Official Opening Cerimony was done very well with many great guest speakers, demonstrations on the aircrafts capabilities and numerous stalls raising money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The guest speakers included, the President of the Rotary Society of Dubbo, The Governor of NSW, Patron of the RFDS and more. All in all, it can be said that the RFDS of Dubbo did a marvelous job in organizing the event. For the Wings of Life team, the event provided a good opportunity to raise more proceeds for the RFDS, talk to the many youth at the event as well as meeting some interesting characters. One gentleman in particular was an 82 year old RAAF veteran pilot who flew the MK XVI Spitfire back in World War 2. Hearing his stories of adventure back in the golden ages of flying was awesome. Another highlight for the day was the joy flights in the Piper Cherokee 6, pilot Josh. Josh was very pleased with the turn up of youth and said “Dubbo has some very keen and promising young pilots in the community.” It was undoubtedly a very enjoyable day for everyone who attended the opening.
By 2:30pm we were all pretty knackered and keen to see what else Dubbo had to offer. We decided to head back to the accommodation, before heading out to the Dubbo jail.
Day 21: Everyone was up before dawn for another early start to the day this morning, with the crew preparing the aircraft for departure in the dark whilst waiting for the sun to break on the horizon. Today consisted of two legs. We first departed Ceduna for Port Augusta. Throughout the trip we have been surprised by the beautiful contrast of Australia and today was no exception. Approximately 200 nautical miles on the route from Ceduna to Port Augusta took the Wings of Life team across the great salt lakes and Baxter Ranges, rolling desert dunes and a few bits of high terrain. The scenery was phenomenal and combined with the light rain moving to the North East, it made for an excellent flight and excellent DR NAVEX due to the flight being a constant diversion.
When we arrived in Port Augusta, the central section of the RFDS welcomed us. Everyone enjoyed a couple of hot drinks and some delicious snacks before blasting off to Broken Hill. When we arrived at Broken Hill, about 50 locals, Media, RFDS personnel and their families were there to greet us. The Cherokee 6 was kept busy taking roughly 20 youth on flights around the local area. The Jabiru also took some excited young kids for a flight within the circuit area. Wings of Life merchandise was sold and donations were collected. A BQQ lunch was provided as well as some great cakes and drinks.
After a long afternoon at the airport we were taken through to the RFDS hanger and given an insight to how the South East sections operate. This section of the RFDS operates only one type of aircraft, the King Air B200’s. Most other sections operate a mixed fleet of King Air’s and Pilatus PC 12’s. This is due to the areas covered by this section of the RFDS. Multi-engine aircraft must be used due to the terrain (land and water) covered within the area of operation. It was obvious that everyone at Broken Hill held great respect for the RFDS and what they do and we thank them for their enthusiasm, support and as usual, good food!
Due to the fact we had to fly an additional leg to return to our planned schedule, everyone was quite tired by the time we had finished at Broken Hill airport.
Goodbye for now,
The Wings of Life Crew
Day 20: This morning we all got up before the sun did, like so many other mornings on the trip already. We had planned to have an early breakfast, check the weather and set off for Forest as soon as the sun had made its way over the horizon. The goal was to make it to Port Augusta by the afternoon if the questionable weather permitted us to do so. After loading the aircraft, having breakfast and conducting our pre-flight check we were ready to go, unlike the blanket of fog that had decided to hug the runway and our over night home of Caiguna. With zero wind we all had to sit back and wait it out.
Caiguna is a popular stopping point. It is also a point where people don’t generally stay very long. The reason for this, as we found out this morning, is due to the limitation of things to do. However, unknown to many passers by there are several hidden attractions within Caiguna. After 24 hours in Caiguna the Wings of Life team had stumbled upon most of them.
Around 11:00 we ended up taking the runway out of Caiguna and made it up to Forest, our refueling stop, under the slowly clearing cloud layer. Once arriving at Forest, we met half the population with the airport manager greeting us before refueling. We also managed to finally catch Doug and Peter after a couple of days playing catch-up. A pie for some, a toilet break for others and then we were off again, heading southeast for Ceduna.
The flight to Ceduna was no doubt one of the most scenic and exciting flights of the trip. Its amazing how even within each day we encounter different terrain, landscape, wild life and of course weather.
Initial departure from Forest saw the Cherokee climbing to 8000ft above the low level cloud base where the crew managed to get some amazing footage of the beauty of clouds. After a short while, the cloud base that we had climbed above appeared to be thickening so it was decided to select a large whole in the clouds to make our decent, with the intention of then heading coastal. Descending through the cloud layers was an experience most of have never had before and it was amazing to see the practical side of weather operation after studying the subject so diligently this past semester.
Once free of the clouds, visibility had increased significantly and the Cherokee began to track coastal for what was one of the most spectacular and exciting legs so far!
By tracking coastal, we were flying exactly along the line of the Great Australian Bight; the Nullabor Plains stretch for miles and suddenly drop off into the depths of the freezing water of the oceans to Australia’s south. The cliff line along the coast is phenomenal! Cameras were out and we were snapping away. Meanwhile, Dom, who was on the right-hand rear seat, was on constant look out for Great White Sharks, as we did not want to be anyone’s dinner!
Not long after making the coastline Doug notified us over the radio of a pod whales that he had spotted a few miles ahead of us. Again the cameras were out and everyone became snap-happy. It could be said that some where a little too excited to see the large mammals that cruise Australia’s coastlines in the winter months. We were even lucky enough to catch a glimpse of an albino calf with its mother! In total, we believe we saw nearly 30-odd whales today in just one stretch of coastline. Truly amazing!
Once we had passed the whales it was back to business with our approach into Ceduna. Here the setting sun, and a lovely fellow who had come out to help us refuel greeted us. Once all aircraft were unloaded it wasn’t too long before the taxis that we had called came and picked us up, delivering us to our accommodation for the evening.
After everyone had moved to their rooms, it wasn’t long before we all plodded down the main road into town to the pub for dinner and a drink. Here we were surprised at how reasonably priced the meals were compared to elsewhere so far this trip. Everyone seemed to enjoy both their meals and drinks and were content with sharing stories of the previous couple nights happenings with each other.
Finally it was time to head back to our accommodation where we all began our preparations for the following day’s flights and events. Kieran began flight planning, Josh, Luke and Dom began the daily task of uploading footage, while Doug and Elle went through the events and contacts for the remaining days of the trip.
Today proved to be a very long day, however, the beauty and excitement significantly overshadowed any negatives caused by this morning’s fog delay. Tomorrow will not be as big a day, but hopefully we will all be back on schedule and things will be running smoothly again.
Day 19: Josh got up at 5am and checked the weather but then went straight back to sleep. After another sleep-in and late start waiting for weather, breakfast didn’t happen until 9am at a little café called The Dome…“premo fruit salad and coffee” said Kieran.
The plan was to blast off after the low cloud dissipated and fly all the way to Border Village. Our only stop was planned in the Locality Caiguna, where we would top up on our fuel and lunch at the roadhouse. After finishing up paperwork for the 50-hourly maintenance inspection, at Kalgoorlie, wheels were off at 10:30.
We departed Kalgoorlie in a light drizzle and did a couple of orbits over the super-pit (an absolutely enormous gold mine) ”…that’s One Big Hole!” The Cherokee climbed up on top of the dissipating cloud layer and cruised along with the smooth winds until we decided to back down due to the unforecasted increase in cloud ahead. Once below, conditions deteriorated and the ceiling dropped down to a thick Drizzle in-between us and Caiguna. After two attempts at navigating South through the weather, and with only 10min of holding fuel left before cutting into our alternate reserves, we tracked about 15NM west and found a gap south to the road and followed it into the aerodrome.
As we shut down the engine we all wondered if this town would be our home for the night.
Once inside the roadhouse we contacted Border village using the land-line, because there is no reception this far. The team received the dis-heartening news that not only was weather deteriorating even further over Boarder Village, but that the airstrip was now unserviceable due to rain. Over a couple big burgers, we discussed the fact that now one of the very few “stepping stones” across the Nullarbor was unserviceable.
The Nullarbor Plain is a desert that stretches over 400NM and only holds a select few serviceable aerodromes which have AVGAS available, at a price. These airstrips often become unserviceable with rain. Add into this equation some deteriorating weather, and we have some interesting planning for tomorrow.
The locality of Caiguna has a permanent population of 5 people and only 20 or so employees. One of the refuelers, Bob, told us the RFDS flies out to Caiguna to transport and treat the car accidents and just last Friday, flew in medical supplies. We learned about these supplies in Port Hedland- the “RFDS On The Road” Medical Boxes. We had a discussion about the reasons why one would choose to live in a remote location such as this. A girl from the city named Cerise, 18, served us our food and drinks and said she had just 3 week earlier moved out from the city. Cerise said that this place was a good place to get away and clear the head. Some of the locals say they enjoy the good quiet lifestyle. It’s quite different in such a small community.
Back to the planning, there is only one airfield we will be able to use now that Border Village is out of action. Forrest is an old alternate for jets from Perth from the 1990’s and remains the only ‘stepping stone’ airfield in our range to cross the Nullarbor. Our flight tomorrow leaves us flying almost 500 nautical miles and crossing the beautiful Nullarbor, where the desert meets the sea. No major cities or aerodromes lie between us and Ceduna. Forrest has a permanent residency of 2 and no towns or cities are in between Ceduna and us. “This is a leg I have been looking forward to all trip,” said Josh, “I have wanted to see this part of Australia because of it’s true remote nature and I cannot wait!”
We all had a huge pillow fight back in the room and we are now sitting around in the roadhouse chatting with the very few locals, playing some animated games of pool with Cerise and Bob, as well as planning for the leg tomorrow. It will be an early start for everyone but hopefully if the weather is promising then it will turn out to be a exciting and scenic flight… if not, then it will be…interesting.
Good night and Thanks for reading.
Day 18: This morning we were greeted with an unusual Boulder Kalgoorlie chill, where the temp for the day reached a high of 10C. A cosy coffee and needed sleep in gave everyone a enjoyable day off in the gold-fields of Western Australia. Before setting off to the airport for maintenance and media commitments we sat down and had a long chat about our options for the next day’s trip from Kalgoorlie to Border Village. We soon began to realize, that this was a very lengthy day, and realistically could not be possible with weather being a temperamental yet critical element to the safety, efficiency and enjoyment of the flight.
Once the crew of the Cherokee had decided that it would be more effective to track direct to Caiguna, Rod and Jim, who have the endurance in the RV4 as well as Rod’s experience, jetted off to Esperance to enjoy the scenery and sights of the bayside town, leaving the Cherokee crew in Kalgoorlie for another night.
Up until now the trip has gone almost exactly to plan. Today however, with Rod leaving ahead to Esperance, we see the crew separated. Dave and Trevor’s RV-10 and RV-8 ahead of the group, Rod and Jim’s RV-4 in Esperance, the Spitfire on it’s way back to Brisbane, the Jabiru in Jandicot and the BDG Piper Cherokee Crew on the ground in the rain in Boulder Kalgoolie.
The Cherokee underwent 50hrly and oil change while the crew talked with Bryan and Sarah from RFDS Kalgoorlie. While at the airport, both the Kalgoorlie Miner and Win News came out to get footage and interviews of what was left of the Wings of Life team, here is Kalgoorlie on this drizzling afternoon. Josh took an interview with Win News television and the crew got a good photo in the local paper. We have been receiving updates throughout the day from Jandakot reporting on the progress of the Spitfire and Doug, Peter and Ron’s movements.
Unfortunately, the latest report from Doug was that the Spitfire would sadly be shipped back to Archer Falls, as a new engine is required. So far the plans are that, Doug and Peter will be flying the Jabiru and trying to catch up with the Cherokee and the RV4 in Port Augusta, while Ron heads back home to get ready for the dishevelled Spitfire when she returns.
After the team’s publicity and quick tour of Kalgoorlie’s new RFDS PC12 Josh, Elle, Luke and Dom were lucky enough to have a private bus tour of Kalgoorlie. Cathy was our tour guide/bus driver and new everything there is to know about Kalgoorlie and Boulder and was generous enough to donate her time to us as well as Gold Rush Bus Tours donating the bus for our use. We were educated on the development and decline of the brothels on Hay St, the history of all the pubs in town, the destruction the recent earthquake had on the structure of the buildings. The end of our tour saw us trucking out to the Super Pit, which is the largest open-cut gold mine in Australia (almost a KM Deep!). Our tourist activities have been very limited on this trip so far with the exception of the Yellow River Cruise in Kakadu, however, today’s tour was extra special as not only was it educational but entertaining as well!
Before we headed off to dinner, we organized the bottles of Spitfire Port that we were going to be raffling across the road at the Exchange Hotel. We would like to say a big thank you to The Exchange Hotel and all the patrons who bought raffle tickets and gave donations. We would also like to give an extra shout out to the lovely Duty Manger at Paddy’s Ale House who was kind enough to donate us our cool beverages for the evening. After promoting Wings of Life to everyone that could here and raffling off two bottles of Port we managed to raise just over $400 in the one evening. This is a big achievement for the BDG crew as not only is it a large sum of money they raised for the RFDS but it also means that they have marginally reduced their weight…
In the end, it is easy to say that although our day in Kalgoorlie was a cold, wet and windy one, the weather didn’t dampen our spirits and we all had a blast! Tomorrow will see us continue our journey east with the countdown to our arrival at Archerfield underway!
Today the 10th of July, Day 17 of my trip around Australia my beloved MK26 Spitfire tested the boundaries of our relationship. It was a cool windy morning in Jandakot, Western Australia, but otherwise the weather was ok. I had completed my routine pre-flight inspection and was ready for departure to Kalgoorlie. “Cleared for take-off runway 06R” said the tower.” “Cleared for take-off runway 06R, SFG” I replied. Looking down, I checked: temperatures and pressures in the green, compass and dg aligned, wind, crosswind from the right. We departed by the standard eastern departure, via Armidale at 1000 feet and operations were normal.
At 25 nautical miles from Janadakot the Spitfire decided to test all I had learnt in my aviation career. She decided to do this at 3000 feet, over Mount Dale, surrounded by heavily forested terrain and beyond the Spit’s glide performance to a suitable landing area. One emergency I had dreamt I would never have to consider was boiling up under the hood of my Spit. With no warning, her engine exhausted streams of smoke from here 12 exhaust pipes down the sides of her fuse.
A couple days earlier I was discussing with Peter Raffles (who is flying the Jabiru with my father and also owns a Spitfire) how a display smoke system on our Spitfire’s exhaust would look. I can confidently illustrate to him what this would look like as this image is now forged into my head.
With no hesitation I resorted to the emergency checks I had been taught and teach on a regular basis. Initial emergency checks were completed, no flames were evident from beneath the cowling and the engine appeared to be running normal, aside from the two large plumes of smoke trailing down her fuse. I quickly decided plan A was to return to Jandakot (the closest airfield) on her injured engine. Plan B; if a serious engine fire started I would place the aircraft into a dive in an attempt to extinguish the fire. If that was the case I was hoping I would still have sufficient height to reach the banks of the Canning dam where I would ditch the aircraft, wheels up! And extinguish the aircraft fire and myself! Something I really did not want to do, but these were my options, and this was a real emergency!
Remaining calm I made the following transmission to Perth Centre “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Spitfire SFG is 25 nautical miles east of Jandakot 3000 feet, experiencing an engine fire, 1 POB, tracking direct Jandakot.” The air traffic controller responded with “SFG track direct Jandakot, you have priority, emergency services have been alerted”.
Maintaining 3000 feet I continued to track direct to Jandakot. At this point in time the smoke from the engine began to decrease, with no obvious clues on the engine instrumentation as to what was causing the smoke. I now turned to my sensory receptors for help with analysis. Briefly opening a cabin vent I attempted to smell the dark nature of the smoke. It smelt like burning oil.
Earlier in the trip I had a small oil leak from the oil pressure gauge and my initial thoughts were that oil may have been leaking onto the engine and causing the smoke, but this does not explain smoke from the exhaust. The smoke was coming from within the engine and the aircraft needed to be landed ASAP, before the engine destroyed itself!
At this point in time I had passed Canning Dam and Jandakot was in sight, but still beyond the glide distance of my Spit. I was now approaching the built up area of Armadale and the new forced landing fields included the fairways of Golf courses. These are generally well maintained!
Travelling at 150 knots, in several seconds Jandakot was within gliding distance. A strong believer of “it ain’t over until the fat lady sings” I was giving myself as much margin as possible. I continued to maintain 3000 feet until overhead the field then conducted an approach well within my glide distance. PUFF checks completed and wheels touched down on runway 06L.
As there were no flames and or smoke coming from the engine the severity of the emergency was downgraded and in formal chat with a fire fighter was all that was required.
Back on the ground myself, Dad and Peter Raffles thoroughly analysed the engine. Once the cowls were off it was evident the engine had induced a significant amount of oil through the air intake. This may be the result of a damaged piston ring, but a leak down test tomorrow will reveal more information.
Although the spit has tested my faith in her, my love for her is far stronger. I will endeavour to put us both back in the air and re-join the rest of Wings of Life crew.
A love story to be continued….
A view from the Jabiru
By Peter Raffles
Ron Field, Doug’s dad, and I were flying and had just passed Armidale on the way to Kalgoorlie when we heard Doug’s ‘Mayday’ call. I was most impressed by the manner in which Doug conducted himself in what appeared to a pilot’s worst fear, a fire in the air above inhospitable terrain Let there be no misunderstanding here, had a fire developed, there was nowhere to go, below him were trees and Doug had no parachute. Doug remained calm and controlled at all times as we listened to his radio transmissions and with no trace of panic. Doug is clearly a natural leader as he has demonstrated this before and during the Wings of Life flight around Australia. This young lad is clearly made of ‘The Right Stuff’. Doug is interested in joining the R.A.A.F. as a pilot and I feel that he has the required qualities to make him a good officer. It is good to know that the A.N.Z.A.C. spirit is alive and well. We need more men like Doug in the Air Force.
Day 15 already! Wow! We all wake up in Karratha International Hotel for the second morning in a row and make our way to Breakfast. Karratha International have given us a really enjoyable stay here and have donated the rooms in full. A huge thanks to the lovely guys and gals here! At breakfast, the Flight Ops boys briefed the weather for the crew and the weather report again read “CAVOK“(meaning great weather). At the airport Kieran is excited to jump aboard ZTI with Rod as it is his turn in the RV.
The Jabiru departs first, followed shortly by the rest of the crew. The Cherokee did another DR Leg (“Jazzy DR” as Luke described) while the spitfire and RV carved up the coastline. Josh had to “utilize the empty water bottle” in the aircraft and filled a full litre! This is the standing record so far.
The crew all arrived into Carnarvon within 5 min of each other. In Carnarvon, we were met by the CWA, the president of the Carnarvon, local media and a dozen or so locals. After Doug barnstormed the town with the Spitfire, the numbers doubled. The crew enjoyed a good lunch and coffee with a delicious homemade Banana Cake before collecting up some youth and locals for a short local flight in the Cherokee.
After things quieted down at the airfield, the crew took taxies to our accommodation at the Capricorn Holiday Park and The Gateway. The taxi driver told us a bit about the town and said it was a great place to live. Carnarvon is a famous for its seafood, local fruits and salt export and used to be home to a big NASA Tracking Station with old telescopes and a 200ft satellite. “I’ve been eyeing the dish even since he flew over it”, Said Josh, “once I heard it was abandoned I saw it as an urban exploration adventure waiting to be had”.
Dom, Kieran and Luke met some lovely people while sitting in the sun on the balcony after settling into the cabin. We saw a couple walking past holding a Crown Lager each and we asked them where they them from, which they advised a distance not really practical to walk. Moments later, the lady (Wendy) came back to offer us a lift to the bottle shop to allow us the luxury of sitting in the sun with a beer: what a beautiful heart she has! Wendy invited us to sit with the rest of her group after we explained what Wings of Life and this trip is all about. They were happy to hear about our mission and we were happy to hear their stories of how their involvement with the RFDS and similar organizations. Some stories were in the nature of how much effort was put into getting a PC12 at the scene by creative means, such as people holding torches or car lights or anything to help indicate to the pilot where the airstrip is (often being paddocks or roads).
A big part of the RFDS system is the RFDS On The Road crew and it’s these people that go out for several days at a time to make sure there are landing areas, and also help locals preserve the patient while waiting for the RFDS air support. It is so great to meet people throughout this trip, especially hearing their stories and involvement in the RFDS. It’s this type of thing that encourages us to continue doing what we do.
All the Griffith Students went into town for dinner and had a bit of a wander along the river while the sun went down. We walked into the Gascoyne Hotel to a warm small-town atmosphere with a crackling fireplace in the corner and friendly staff. The meals were big, and the food was great!
Once back at the cabins, Josh set out to take some shots of the old NASA Base. After a little night hike across and up to the base, the satellite stood towering over 200ft high! With a bit of route-finding and after a couple dead-ends, an under cling and a heel-hook finished the crux about half way up. A Western Australia Urbex icon!
We all had a good nights sleep and felt the southern cold bite because of our malfunctioning heater…
Tomorrow we fly further south and into the less predictable weather, colder temperatures and the beautiful coasts.
Day 13: The Team wakes up in Broome and splits up for breakfast. The sky is a little thicker and the air is slightly cooler. The town of Broome appears to be late risers, as Maccas and Coles were some of the few shops or cafes open at 0730. The Cherokee crew grabs an apple, a box of cereal and flags a taxi to the airport. The taxi ride proved to be a motivating start to the day when the driver, Cindy, told us the importance of the RFDS to her and how she had used the RFDS in the past. Cindy donated the cost of the cab. Thank you Cindy!
Broome International Airport: 0800. Gear up and go for a low-level coastal beginning to the leg.
The team is now reaching the western extremities of Australia and the terrain is changing significantly. The Indian Ocean is the body of water to our west, with the remote open sands to the east. The Great Sandy Dessert expands out and continues well beyond our edge of the WAC (map)! Our crew in the Cherokee flew for almost an hour hugging the pristine coastline at 500ft. ‘80 Mile Beach’ is just what it sounds like. White sand for 80 miles! Red and black cliffs form islands and peninsulas while the surrounding bays accommodate an abundance of wildlife. This flight stands out as one of the highlights of the trip so for me.
The sky is a lingering broken alto-layer and a reminder of our movement southwards.
On arrival to Port Hedland, Doug met another war bird in the sky! This was another Spitfire belonging to Keith Russell from Golden Eagle Airlines. Flying over the airfield and the township they displayed the admirable elliptical wing to all.
Doug described this experience “As an absolute blast!” He thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with Keith as it was also a great opportunity to discuss attributes about their similar flying machines.
The lunch at the RFDS Base in Port Hedland was again terrific! A lovely group of people! It seems that the RFDS teams, anywhere we go, are a truly genuine group of individuals. We all enjoyed the good food, good company and touring the aircraft (and big cookies!). The Griffith students on the Wings of Life crew also enjoyed gathering information about their potential career paths from the pilots on the base…things to look forward to, and other things not so much. We also spoke with the RFDS staff that work on the “Road for the RFDS”. These guys maintain and hand out community chests (these are made up of critical medical supplies) and educate people from the local communities on how to treat patients. Very educational!
We say goodbyes and all blast off for Karratha! Most everyone stayed low along the coast again before entering controlled airspace. The countryside was covered with ant’s nets, not so great if you had an emergency! Although Karratha is not a large city by any means, the infrastructure of rigs at sea, scattered mines, cargo shipping in the bay and smoke towers is the signature of the wealth in Western Australia.
We land with a bit of a crosswind and taxi to our parking areas.
All aircraft are operating well! And no repairs are required! This is a good thing.
The sun setting over the Indian Ocean puts our aircraft to bed while an array of large Jets touchdown. “This airport never sleeps, that’s for sure” says Gary wright (Airport Reporting Officer). The security staff have been very helpful to all of us and are planning on facilitating the public viewing of the aircraft tomorrow. We all make our way across the apron and discuss the scope of the profits generated from this huge mining industry!
Tomorrow morning from 10:00am – 12:00 noon, we will be out at the airfield in Karratha giving youth rides in the aircraft and taking donations for the RFDS. If you live in Karratha, please feel free to swing round and say hi.
We have one eye on the weather as we are about to pass across the southern parts of Australia which are well known for their notoriously bad weather during the winter. There is currently a high-pressure system sitting off the south-western coast with a low trough moving over the west coast late this week. We may be shortening our stop at Perth to get in front of this weather and make our “crossing through the Nullarbour without getting wet feet.” We will have a better idea of how things will work out in another few days.
Thanks for following us everyone!
Talk soon
-Joshua Groth and Doug Field
(and wings of Life Crew)
Day 12: After a late night last night, we all went to sleep to the sweet sweet sound of drunken derelict conversations from the sports bar not far away. We woke up to another sunny day in the pearling town of Broome where the dessert meets the sea. First up coffee and eggs, followed by an attempt on tying up loose ends. Hair cuts, chocolates, pearls and pink dresses were on the cards for some, while others berried their heads in cockpits and computers.
Later in the afternoon a visit to Cable Beach was in order. The beach was great, lots of sunshine and a pleasant water temperature, although sadly there was no surf. Most returned from the beach in a light shade of red. Upon returning to accommodation we set up for a local community promotion event. The event was a blast and a large group of friends were present for a bucks party where the Wings of Life shirts and merchandise almost sold out completely. Macca, the soon-to-be brother in law, gave us great support! All the best Dean for your upcoming marriage in Thailand! The Bucks group were a great bunch of blokes. They were very enthusiastic and proud of what Wings of Life was doing. A big shout-out to everyone who helped out!
Looking forward to the coastal flight in the morning all the way down to Port Hedland and onto Karratha.
Day 11: The team woke up this morning to leftover altocumulus in the south, and a small streak of cirrus lacing the terrain to the far north. This was just enough cloud to make our yet again perfect sky look interesting. The well-presented breakfast at accommodation, and friendly Halls Creek resident Meteorological Observer, Dave, contrasted the uncertain wander up the dark beer-can and broken-glass laden wander through the locked gates and fences the night before. An early start saw the aircraft loading before 0700 for a departure time of 0730, but a lingering breakfast and a good chat with Dave (about locals, area mountain bike trails, weather balloons and the similarities between our under-experienced and underpaid industries), left the flight departing around 0830.
The Cherokee was, once again, put towards its limits with fuel calculations when the crew decided to go see the “huge” meteorite crater down in Wolf Creek. Along with the lack of AVGAS availability at Fitzroy Crossing the extra leg required a bit more planning. Seeing as the crew are now fairly versed with IO-540 fuel planning characteristics and have applied all the groovy PNRs, ETPs and other CPL awesomeness, they had no trouble planning out the extra leg down to the crater with an hour to spare!
Once everyone was loaded and ready to fire up, the Cherokee and the RV4 swapped crewmembers. Henry (Rod’s son) jumped aboard the Cherokee with Josh, Luke, Kieran and Elle, while Dom managed to score a leg in the RV with Rod (and somehow ended up flying the remaining legs today in the RV…)
The Cherokee crew was excited to see Wolfe Creek Meteor Crater. As you may remember earlier in our Adventure, the Cosmos Centre up in Charleville gave us a few interesting facts about the formation of the crater and other such landmarks in the area. Josh communicated with a scenic-flight operator over the radio while flying down. “What’s the crater like? Anything to note?” Reply: “It’s just a $#*%ing Crater dude”. Josh shakes it off and continues with normal Josh-enthusiasm. The crater was smaller than everyone was expecting accompanied from the crew by “you mean that’s the crater?” But josh still thought it was “freaking awesome.” As the flight continued west, ones eyes were drawn the expanse to the south and the awe-inspiring sea of sand and time-scared dessert landscapes stretching off to the horizon. “We’re on the edge of the world out here…” Western Australian Desert for hundreds…and hundreds of miles.
It is daunting to think of the explorers and people who first pioneered these lands, or the aboriginal tribes who may have lived in them. The terrain up here is vast and old. There is no way to give the deserved appreciation to this country with a passing glance. It is almost an injustice. I think I could spend a month in each place we have been over the last 3 days. Beautiful… To this day, barely a road ventures into the abyss-like landscape. DR becomes an art form, and life is a constant 1/60. Although we stayed north near the roads, we managed to keep the GPS off for the duration of the flight.
We arrived in Derby around 11:30am and were greeted by the foxy RFDS crew and a group of grade 4 students from a local Derby primary school. RFDS put on a fantastic lunch for us with a good energy top-up with coffee and refreshments. Josh gave a short talk to the students and introduced to the students, Wings of Life and the Cherokee six. The first load saw 6 students blast around the Derby traffic pattern with a small diversion over “My House! It’s My House!”
Next, during the second flight with the students, one of the nurses came into the kitchen where Kieran and the crew were eating. “There is a P1 out at Fitzroy Crossing!” said a nurse to the RFDS Pilot in the kitchen. “The Doctor just needs to stock up on blood and he’ll be here shortly”. The pilot left the room immediately and the nurses started packing their things. Kieran and the gang were unclear as to the meaning of the happenings and asked the base manager, who was in the room at the time, what was happening with everything. The Manager told everyone that the situation was critical, requiring a “1 hour response, in other words, P1.” (Priority 1, is the highest priority). He went on to explain that a girl had suffered from a bull goring in Fitzroy Crossing just moments earlier and required immediate intensive care. He also explained that this particular base usually received 1 or more emergencies a day. Just then Josh landed with the second group of students and the Wings of Life crew organized the next group of students to board the aircraft for a hot-turn. After that, the third group of students took off and screamed their way through Josh’s demonstrated turns and low-g on downwind. “AGAIN! AGAIN!!!” What a great time!
Including 2 flights in the Jabiru, 18 youth were given rides in the aircraft at Derby.
On return from the last flights Doug conducted with the youth in the Jabiru he noticed the aircraft’s engine was running irregularly. Further analysis revealed that it was related to the aircrafts secondary ignition system. Doug, Ron, and Peter spent the next hour analyzing the problem and could not find the culprit causing the failing Mag. After further testing the problem dissipated, and the conclusion was drawn that the one of the spark plugs were fouling due to the high levels of led in the fuel up north (AVGAS 100). After a quick test circuit the Jabiru and the Spitfire went to depart for Broome. Unfortunately, only 3 minutes into their flight, the Spitfire was observed to be stationary on the taxiway. BDG was asked to call Doug, who informed us that the radios had failed on the Spitfire. Seeing as the airspace immediately following departure was Class D into Broome, we had a problem. The tower was telephoned and the flight took place as a “party of two”. Doug will be spending his day off in Broome under the cockpit of his beloved Spitfire…a love story if there ever was one…
The leg from Derby to Broome was spectacular! Again, Dom went with Rod while Henry again joined Crew Bravo-Delta-Golf. Dom has yet to write about his experience in the RV but we are certain that it will be a terrific story, seeing as the flight took them up north to the Horizontal Waterfalls and valleys of the beautiful ranges and valleys on the northern tip of the peninsula.
Aboard the Cherokee Six, Henry is fast becoming part of the Bravo Delta Golf Crew, even sharing his secret stash of chocolate with all of us! Henry commented that he appreciated the significant decrease in high-g-manoeuvres… Henry is alright by BDG. The flight to Broome took the crew across the peninsula, up Beagle Bay and then down the shoreline at 500ft. The flight was accompanied by a subtle, smooth tailwind and an array of sharks, turtles, crocks, camels, birds and other WA wildlife…What a blast! Crystal blue water, white sands and small cliff-lines made the flight one of the more memorable. “Every day is the best day!” BDG and Crew were welcomed by Broome GND FQCY and directed to our reserved parking area. Taxing up the Northern Apron, we saw Rod and Dom climbing out of the RV next to Trevor, Tom and David’s already secured aircraft on our small patch of grass.
After unpacking and securing the aircraft, the same PC-12 and Derby RFDS Crew rolled into the RFDS hanger no more than 20 metres away from us. The Young lady who had been critically injured a mere 3.5 hours earlier at a homestead over 350KM west, had now arrived in a city with full medical facilities and an ambulance awaiting her arrival. It was great to see the RFDS doing what they do!
We are now looking forward to venturing down and around and into the hopefully not-so-low pressure systems of the south…
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