Nav 1.5 - The Twelve Apostles!!

My new found aviation friends Brian and Linda have offered many times to take me for a spin in their Jabiru, but to date I hadn't had a chance.  On the outside it may look like a nicely put together kit J-160, but is no ordinary Jabiru.  If you were to lift the cowl, you find a thumping big six cylinder engine sitting there.  Ready, waiting, wanting to climb and go fast.  How fast?  Really fast - I was about to find out.

Brian and Linda chose to build and use the J-160 as a commuting tool.  Linda's family is up in Bundaberg, so  to visit, travel to and from Victoria would often eat up the best part of a week.  After putting together the Jabiru, this was cut down to one long day of flying.  Quite an improvement because they could fly an 'as the crow flies' track, instead of having to follow wherever the roads go.  This time was greatly improved by Brian taking out the usual 2.2 litre four cylinder engine and replacing it with a 3.3 litre six (usually seen in J230's and the like).  Instead of cruising at the usual 100 knots, this can comfortably cruise at about 120 to 125 knots (that's over 230 km/h!!).  Suddenly they could take off at first light in Victoria and be in Bundy by pre dinner drinks!

So when they offered to take me for a spin, I agreed in a heartbeat.  I thought that we'd go for a burl around the local area, but Brian had other ideas.  When we caught up for an aviator dinner pre-Christmas, I had told them how I had passed my navigation/meteorology exam and was looking forward to my first nav.  Brian said that if I planned a route, he would look after the flying, and I would do all the navigation.  This would leave me to be able to concentrate on my map reading, headings and timings.  I'd never seen the coast from the air (apart from in a 737, but you're already at about 10,000 feet by the time you hit the coast - so that doesn't count!), so I thought it would be exciting to see the Twelve Apostles and began making a flight plan.

The day dawned nice, warm and sunny, however the wind was a tiny bit fickle and I could tell that the thermals would be pretty full-on.  I received a text from Linda to let me know that they had left home and would be landing in Ballarat in a few minutes.  I double checked my calculations.  My plan was to fly from Ballarat to Warrnambool, straight to Apollo Bay and then back to Ballarat.  When they arrived, Brian had a look at the lines on my map and said "Yeah, that's great, but we'll go the other way - Oh, and look up in the ERSA the special instructions for the coastal route alongside the Twelve Apostles."  Wow, this was going to be amazing!

I hastily reversed my calculations and wrote an amended flight plan.  Just then long time friend of Brian and Linda and fellow aviator, Tony arrived to take Linda to lunch while Brian and I are off flying.  We locked up the hangar and I made sure I had all the equipment I would need for the trip.  Linda headed off with Tony and we headed over to the bowser to make sure we had full tanks.

Brian topping up the tanks before departing for our adventure.  Note the much longer cowl compared to a regular J160.

After waiting at the runway intersection for a surprising number of landing aircraft, we entered runway 18 and blasted off to the South.  Our track was pretty closely related to the alignment of the runway, so I started the clock as we left the ground and we departed straight out.

The flight.

We climbed to my planned altitude of 3500 feet and trimmed the aircraft.  As suspected, it was a bit bumpy.  I got to see the Yarrowee NDB on the top of a hill and it was not long before Lake Corangamite loomed into view.  Wow, that was my half way point and we were already there.  This plane really zooms!

Brian got bored with the constant bumps and lumps, so he gave the Jab some beans and we scooted up above the inversion layer.  The inversion layer is something I had only read about in my meteorology theory studies, I had never experienced this phenomenon for myself.  As we flew along, you could see a slight brown tinge to the air near the ground.  Once we got up above that, the air was as smooth as silk!  Amazing.

Climbing above the inversion.

There was a bit of cloud clinging to the coastal ranges (everywhere else was perfectly sunny!), so Brian picked a suitable place to descend, we changed the radio to the special area CTAF and turned towards Moonlight Head to track coastal to Warrnambool.

Johannah Beach

The first thing that struck me once we had tuned to the Port Campbell CTAF was the amazing amount of chatter by all of the scenic helicopter flight operators going here, there and everywhere!  Once I got used to what and where they were talking about, I found it fascinating and very helpful to paint a picture of the various traffic.  One heli pilot asked Brian for an update of our position as they were on a similar track.  We gave a detailed description (I'd been following our progress on the map) and it turns out that he was just behind and below us.  I managed even to see him in my video.

Watch it in full screen HD here.

It was wonderful to see.  From our height (one thousand feet above the water) and only slightly off the coast, we could see heaps of stuff.  From the little secluded beaches that only the locals probably know and only had one or two people sitting on the beach, to the waves crashing into the limestone pillars and stirring up the sand below.  On the Great Ocean Road you could see the lines of motor homes parked all over the place and making their way along the tiny road perched atop the cliffs.

More limestone pillars.  You can just make out the East-bound red helicopter centre of frame.

 

 

Port Campbell

Peterborough township

 

West of Peterborough

Very secluded beaches that only the locals probably know about (oh, and pilots, too).

Onward to Warrnambool.  Cloud now lifting, sun coming out.

As we approached Warrnambool, it was time to get everything ready for the homeward leg.  I got Brian to change the radio to the Warrnambool CTAF, and reviewed my headings and timings for this leg.

Beautiful Warrnambool, with it's famous breakwater.

Brian turned for home and opened the throttle.  Boy this thing can climb!  In no time at all we were back above the inversion layer and in silky smooth air.  I was concentrating on picking out features on the landscape and referring them to the map.  By now, I was getting much quicker and more accurate, being able to spot a tiny little town, but knowing that there was a little hill to the North of it confirmed it's identity.

Brian at the controls while passing Warrnambool airport.

It is amazing how quickly the landscape turns once you turn inland.  Even though we have had much more rain than in recent memory, it still looks quite dry and parched.  One good thing for me, however, is most of the dams, lakes and creeks have plenty of water in them - so it is a little bit more straightforward to identify which is which!  It's much harder when you are comparing two dry lakes.  "Is that brown splodge Lake Learmonth, or is that other brown splodge the one?"

It was nice to actually have a look around and see some of the little things.  Brian pointed out two harvesters working a field.  Usually when I am traversing this type of country I'm looking out a tiny little window at 20,000+ feet.  The view out of the Jabiru is excellent by comparison.  One can almost see straight down below the aircraft.

Two harvesters working in tandem on a field.

It wasn't long before Mt. Buninyong and Mt. Warrenheip loomed into view.  That told me it was time to prepare for an approach to Ballarat.   Even though we hadn't been relying on the GPS, Brian showed me some nifty features he had programmed into it.  His GPS would show a little line and an arrow that if he kept it in the centre would give him a descent profile that would perfectly line up with arrival at circuit height of the given aerodrome.  So, after a long leg all you have to do is follow the arrow and you're ready to join the circuit and land.  Simple!  I, however, am not allowed to use the GPS through my training, so I was working it out old-school!

Nearly home. The familiar shapes of Mt. Buninyong (right) and Mt. Warrenheip (left) loom on the horizon.

Once we descended under the inversion the familiar bumps and lumps came back.  Up until then, Brian had flown that entire leg 'hands off' once he had the aircraft trimmed out.  There was a little bit of traffic in the area, but nothing like that morning so we joined downwind at 45 degrees and set up for landing.  Brian showed me how one has to slow this beast down early because it just wants to keep going fast.  If you leave it to the base leg, you'd be in a world of hurt come final!

While at Tony's, Linda had been monitoring the radio and heard our inbound calls.  She replied with a quick hello, and told us she'd meet back at the hangar.

On final, runway 18 Ballarat.

We rolled through and taxied back to the Inbound hangar.  Linda and Tony arrived in his car a few moments later.  I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face!  It was a wonderful trip, and not only very scenic, but very educational for me.  My map reading skills are improving each time I go up, and I was amazed how accurate my time calculations ended up being.

I grabbed all my gear and jumped in the car.  The others stayed for a minute to chat before heading home themselves.  It was such a great trip, and both Brian and Linda were so generous with their time and expertise.  Thanks again.  I look forward to the day that I can do this for another new pilot, or even just keen friends and family.

Now, I just have to save some more dough to do the next nav with Manny.  After that one, he said that he would consider sending me on a solo trip!  Wow, that's going to be exciting.  Can't wait!