Flying in the Deserts and Water

I had a read through the reg’s on what CASA say you need to do if flying over deserts and for that matter flying over water.

In Remote Areas (shown below)

You must:
· carry survival equipment for sustaining life appropriate to the area
· Have on board one of: HF Radio or Emergency Locator Beacon (EPERB)

When over water where you could glide to shore if you lost you engine you must:
· Have a life jacket on board for each passenger and they must wear it if flying below 2000ft but not when taking off or landing.
· Obtain a forecast
· Submit a SAR time or leave a flight note

None of this seems very taxing and is mostly common sense. I have both an EPERB and HF so that's covered, a life jacket on board for each when we fly over water, forecasts are a given anyway, and I intend to submit a flight plan for the desert stretches. That's just leaves what survival equipment?

Given we will be submitting a flight plan with SAR time the max time stuck due to breakdown/forced landing and the HF radio doesn't work should be less than a week.

• Water (10L) plus plastic bags for aditional water gathering
• First Aid - Already in Plane
• Warmth - Matches/fire lighters
• Shelter - Lite Tarp

I might need to carry a "carton of piss" for trading in case we go in the spinifex flats and get picked up by the roo shooters :)

The Shake Down Trip

When all good trips need a Shake Down Trip or two prior to the big event.
So with this and a few more things in mind we decided to fly up to Sharks Bay for the weekend of our 15 wedding anniversary. I planned this trip using the usual FP3000, and range was not an issue. This meant I only had to deal with Perth Center (Air Traffic control), navigation, and weather and all would be good. Shark bay is around a 3.5hour flight which is a nice distance, nothing taxing but a reasonable test for the Minister of War and Finance (Wife with very low passenger hours) .

My aim was to ensure that the experience was nice and uneventful to ease her into this flying caper. I chose no to file a flight plan as the morning of the flight saw a broken cloud base at 3500ft and headwinds increasing as height increased. So I chose to drop under Perth Controlled airspace, rather than wait around for Perth Clearance Delivery to let me through (seems to be a problem of late).

The trip up saw a great days flying, 3.5Hours flying with a stop over in Geraldton to top up with fuel in case we decided to fly inland (over farmland where there is no fuel stops) on the way home.

Ningaloo Resort is a beautifully setting, pricey for what it is, $230/night for a standard Ozzie motel room, but with great views of the bay.

We went sailing on an open 60ft catamaran on Saturday, to watch dolphins and dhugon. We where treated with glassy waters warm but not hot sun and light winds. Magic.

Sunday saw us ready to fly home. The weather was deteriorating over the next two days and the earlier we left the better it was going to be.

According to the BOM Avdesk man I spoke to the front was due to hit around 2-3pm at Geraldton. Well they got the location right but the time was out by about 4 hours. Right at the time we were flying through there.

Needless to say we turned around and flew back to Kalbarri. I am sure CASA would say there was a bit of IFR flight in the process but training, caution, & autopilot paid off.
So we waited in Kalbarri for 30 odd hours while 3 inches of rain fell. beers in bed watching crime shows was not a bad way to spend your 15th wedding anniversary.

Late Monday afternoon we managed to take off and get past Geraldton where the weather was magic again. We arrived back at Collie at "very last light" in some light drizzle.

The Minister of War and Finance loved the weekend although the "near" IFR did not fit my promise of nice and uneventful flying, and being a little claustrophobic doesn't help when the visibility drops. She seems to have a talent for navigating which please me no end. although I had the Garmin 430 to tell me where I was she stuck to the map and watch. Very accurate and very helpful. This will be something that will be of great use when we head on the big trip.

As for JTT, she was the star of the trip, magnificently smooth and stable, regardless of the weather, she loved the crosswind landings and didn't look like missing a beat.

Learning's
- Nibbles required as very little options of grabbing a bite even at the large regional airports
- Fuel computer is a little conservative (15L per tank)
- GPS flight plans work well
- MP3 player through the Stereo works well but is a bit quiet
- Wife is probably a better navigator than me.

Route and Fuel Planning Day 1

Delving a little deeper into the flight plan.

I intend to use a flight planning program called Flight Planner 3000, by Champagne Software a WA business owned and run by Rob Slater. I find the program to be first class, & I can't say enough about this service I have recieved. You will see some of the functionality below. Worth a look if your in the market for a Australian Flight Planner. http://www.champagnepcservices.com.au/.

Day 1 sees us fly to Alice Springs from our home airport of Collie

Day 1 sees us tavel some 1130nm or 2085km. I have chosen a relatively direct route, linking up the nearest airstrips that form a straightish line (haven't bothered with great circle routes etc). The first hop Collie to Kalgoorlie is over farmland with plenty of forced landing locations and friendly terrain but few options for fuel. The range on the TB-20 has got this leg well covered so thats not going to be an issue. Kalgoorlie is a large regional airport which recieves 727's etc and has all ammenities but no tower. It could be fun being tucked in between these guys on our desent, giddee up:)

A refuel at Kalgoorlie is definately required as we have 818nm still to run on our second leg of day 1. This presents my first planning challenge. The second leg is over is predominately rocky desert (bugger all forced landing sites) and no fuel available unless pre-arranged to have it delivered to a remote airstrip / community.

So the question is; Can we attempt this leg without refueling? or doI need to organise to have fuel dropped at either Giles (outback weather staion) or Warburton (Indigenious Community)?

FP3000 uses specific fuel flows for each altitude, and for each phase of Flight (climb, cruise, decent).

These values assume Rich of Peak (ROP) operation. JTT is fitted with Gami injectors and a JPI fuel flow computer so the option of going Lean of Peak (LOP) is available. Fuel flows (very conservative numbers) for LOP are around 8L/Hr less than ROP and a loss of 5Knots.

Using average winds aloft for this time of year, NE at 15knts or (045/15), sees the fuel balance looks like this for ROP:

Running LOP it looks like:

We are looking for an adventure but flying with 19L of fuel in the tanks over rocky desert ( no forced landing sites) with somewhat unknown winds aint for us. The reg's say that for VFR flight you need 45 mins fixed reserve ( i.e. 42L) but in this case 45 mins of reserve does not allow us to reach an alternate airport nor does it really give us much margin if we hit a stronger than forecast headwind once past the point of no return.

So what are our options?

1. Fuel stop at either Giles or Warburton, assuming I can pre-arrange for fuel to be delivered there. I also assume the minimum fuel you can have delivered is a 44 gallon (205L) drum of Avgas. By the time we land at Giles I will have around 120L remaining in the tanks this will allow me to fit 200L in, so thats OK.
   
2. Carry extra fuel. Not 100% sure what the reg's say about this but if an appropriate container/s are used I would feel it is safe enough. Weight on the other hand may be an issue. I think you would want to carry at least an extra 60 litres (3 x Gerry Cans). This is an extra 60L x 0.71kg/L = 42kg's. The TB has a great carrying capability when compared to it's competitors, 600kg's useful load, thats the same as a Cessna 182 but the TB does 163KTAS while carrying it..
   So I think I need to have a good look at what we are planning on carrying.
   
   Luggage for 10 days with 2 women aboard 30kg's (gees that gonna cause a few arguments "but I want to take my hair straightener, and 14 pairs of jeans")
   Full Fuel 326 x 0.71 = 230 kg's
   Pilot=105Kg's
   Navigator=75kg's
   Back Seat bandits=50+50kg's
   Total= 540kg's
   
   So adding 42L of carry on fuel fits the load limit. Balance would be an issue as the TB allows only 50Kg's in the luggage area, and the fuel and bags would weigh 72kg's. maybe I should get the kids to sit on a gerry each, that would give her straight hair if we went down ... hmmm.
   Would 60L be enough?
   74L at time of landing in Alice. 1 and 1/2 hrs reserve...hmm... as long as the winds did not pick up past a 15knt head wind it would probably be OK.
   

Decision = Check out the logistics of getting fuel dropped at Giles and leave carrying extra fuel as a back up, although packing the plane if we did take extra fuel would need further thought.

The Trip

The Stein family call home a place named Yabberup, in the Preston Valley (South Western Australia). This is predominately a wine/fuit growing area, a great place to live, (it was until we got there anyway:)

The trip:

fly to Kalgoorlie (goldmining town out in the desert of WA)

On to Alice Srings in the middle of Australia.

Day flying around Uluru (Ayres Rock), Kings Canyon, Devils Marbels etc

Up to Mount Isa (North West Queensland mining town)

Onto Townsville home of "The Farleys" and on the East coast of Queensland.

Down the eastern coastline to the Gold Coast
Down to South Australia

Along the Great Australian Bight

Back Home

The Trusty Steed Pics & Specs

Thanks to Mark Reynolds (previous owner of JTT) for the photos.

Specifications:

Engine & Airframe:
Airframe: 3950 TT
Engine: IO540 (Millennium) less than 150hrs
Avionics:
Garmin GMA 340 Audio Panel (Stereo).
Garmin GNS 430 GPS/NAV/COM coupled to autopilot.
King KX 165 NAV/COM.
King KT76A Mode C Encoder.
Century 21 GPS Coupled Auto Pilot.
Codan HF.
RC Allen Electric AH.
JPI 450 Fuel Flow Coupled to GNS 430.
EDM 700 Engine Monitor.
GPS Pilot III.
AM/FM/CD Player coupled to GMA 340 Audio Panel.
Four Place Intercom. (note pilot isolatable from others.....ahhh bliss)




Performance:
- Rate of climb (sea level - max weight):
1,200 ft/min
- Maximum cruising speed (8,500 ft at 75% Power):
163 KTAS
- Average cruising speed (8,500 ft at 75% Power):
155KTAS
- Demonstrated crosswind:
25 kt
- Operating ceiling:
20,000 ft (no oxygen so we can only fly below 12,000ft)



Loading:
- Maximum take-off weight:
1,400 kg
- Typical useful load:
599 kg
- Maximum luggage compartment weight:
50 kg
- Basic empty weight:
801 kg
Take-off & Landing Distances (ISA - 1,400 kg):
- Take-off (50 ft):
635 m
- Landing (50 ft):
555 m
- Maximum range:
1,108 NM

Powerplant:
- Manufacturer :
Lycoming
- Type (TB20):
IO-540-C4 D5D 6 cylinders fuel injected
- Power rating :
250 HP at 2,575 RPM
- Recommended TBO :
2,000 hours

Fuel:
- Type :
100 LL (Avgas)
- Total fuel capacity :
336 L
- Usable fuel :
326 L

Whats Is This Crap?

The "Stein Family", being:

• Brad/Pilot (myself)
• Marlene/Navigator (& the better half)
• Belle (the princess daughter 15)
• Kizz (the demon son 13)

have plucked up enough courage to commit to a flying adventure around/across Australia.

The trusty steed is a Socata Trinidad Tb-20 (VH-JTT), (See The Trusty Steed Post for details and photos of the plane) is a 5 seater, single engine, aircraft, capable of 300km/hr, and 1500km between fuel stops (the female occupants are only capable of 1/2hr between toilet breaks;).

The trip has three goals:

1. See the Farley's (friends that live in Queensland)
2. Have an adventure
3. See some of the best of Oz (Ayres Rock, Outback Queensland, Islands off of the east coast, Movieworld, Seaworld etc, Goldcoast, outback NSW/VIC "Bourke/Brokenhill", Great Australian Bight.

(see Trip Details for more info on the route etc)

We plan to head off in September 2008 and take about 10 days to do the trip.

Total distance is around 10,000 nm or 19,000kms (equivalent of halfway around the globe)

This blog is intended for family, friends and others that are interested or can offer good advice etc.

If you only like purfick spellin and tops gramma don't bother reading