Big Saturday of Aviation

"So, now that we've finished lunch... Grab your headsets, and we'll make some noise!"

When Darren said these words, Adam and I looked at each other and almost squealed with excitement.

A few days ago, my friend Adam contacted me and told me that he's visiting a friend that owns a Winjeel down at Lethbridge - and would I like to come along to see the thing up close.  Apparently Darren would be there on Saturday doing some work on his plane, so Adam was going down to check it out.  I thought that's a great idea.

Then, a light bulb went off in my head:  I could tick off a number of things I've always wanted to do.

1. Catch up with Adam, a self-confessed photography and aviation nut,
2. Fly to Lethbridge,
3. Join in with the Lethbridge Club's Saturday Barbeque,
4. Fly the Tecnam a little further out,
5. See a warbird close up.

So, I looked at the forecasts - Saturday was looking to be quite good weather.  Light winds with a high overcast.  Brilliant.  I contacted Adam to see if he was up for a little airborne adventure and booked the aircraft.  Adam was keen... All was looking good!

I woke up early to check conditions.  Northerley wind at 4 knots and an overcast at 2700 feet.  That sounds cool to me!  Plenty of room to play under the clouds!  I finalised my flight plan, grabbed all of my gear and headed to the Airport.  When I got there, all of the aircraft were still in the hangar.  I went in to organise the keys and paperwork.  Unfortunately, the duty pilot had forgotten it was his day so things were a little crazy when I entered the clubrooms.  However, it wasn't long before the duty pilot was phoned and things got back on track.

Adam arrived and promptly helped me to move aircraft and refuel the Tecnam.  The Tecnam is run on Mogas (i.e. motor-gasoline: otherwise known as car petrol) due to it's up-to-date engine not requiring any lead in the fuel.  There is a special trailer with hand pumped barrels on it.  Now that I know where to find everything, it should be a pretty quick process in the future.

Unfortunately, I forgot to set my GPS going for the leg to Lethbridge, but it fairly closely resembles the return journey.  Those who have a sharp eye will note that my GPS flew much further South than the Airpark.... I'll explain that a little later...

As this was my first trip away from Ballarat with the Tecnam, I wanted to make sure that I was on top of everything.  So, with Adam's agreement, I completed a full circuit with a touch-and-go before departing.  It was just to make sure that I had all of my ducks in a row before going to an airport that I was less familiar with.  This time I was ready for the right-rudder requirements of the Tecnam and it was a much more orderly lift off both times.  After that, I climbed out and set course for our lunch destination.

We arrived at my planned cruise altitude of 3500 feet.  We were still well under the cloud, but every now and again it would dip lower in one place, so I opted for about 2800 feet once we were the other side of Mount Buninyong.  As we arrived, I could see an almost completely limp wind sock, so I chose runway 29 purely because I've operated from that particular runway before.  As it turns out, it seems to be a favourite of everyone else, too.

 As we pulled up near the clubhouse.  There were about 5 or so aircraft parked at this stage.  I stopped the engine opposite a spare spot and elected to do the safe option and push the tail in manually.  As we popped the canopy to get out, we were greeted by a smiling face.  It was Darren's.  After a quick handshake and a chat we slowly made our way over to the clubrooms for the barbeque.

After enjoying an awesome spread of sausages, rissoles, party-pies, steamed dim-sims, steamed vegetables and lashings of mashed-potato, Darren said the first of two magic phrases for the day: "Grab your headsets, we'll go and make some noise!" Adam and I looked at each other in almost disbelief.  My understanding (which I had got from Adam's understanding), was that Darren was working on the Winjeel today, so we could see it up close and have a chat to him about it.  That was cool enough for us... To go flying in it was an absolute added bonus!

Darren's Beast.

All strapped in, ready to go!

Looking over the cowl.

Lots going on at Lethbridge today!

The Winjeel's panel. Each section is mounted on it's own shock-absorbed panel.  It needs to be!

 As we got in and warmed up the huge engine, we saw that the AgCat was also being warmed up ready for a joy flight.  Darren waited until they taxied past and went in behind them.  We took off in close-is proximity, but once we turned downwind, we gained on them.

One of the things that really struck me about the Winjeel was the amount of slipstream noise from the airframe.  It can be distinctly heard over the engine noise!  You don't really get that in the slippery Jabiru or Tecnam.

The Winjeel portion of our flying adventure.

In the air now... Catching up to the AgCat on a joy flight.

Close now.

Tucked right in now.  Darren had full concentration at this stage.

I didn't even think that we'd be forming up.  This was an absolute bonus!  I'm sure the two blokes in the front of the AgCat were enjoying themselves too!  (Although, their faces would have been a lot colder!)   One of the guys had a GoPro camera and was filming stuff with his arm right out of the aircraft.  I think that would be some shaky footage!

After departing the formation, we headed South towards Bannockburn.

After a wave to the other pilot, it was time to depart the formation so we did a steep descending turn to the right.  Darren had to use the first stage of flap to keep the Winjeel slow and stable enough to cruise with the AgCat, so after cleaning up the aircraft he trimmed it out and we cruised towards Geelong for a bit.

Then came the other awesome phrase: "Would you like to have a go?"

I'm not even sure I said anything.  Darren just looked at my smile and offered me the stick. I was immediately struck by how heavy the aircraft feels.  It seems to let you know that it is almost two-and-a-half-ton!  However, the control inputs are responded to quite snappily.  It is quite nimble.

Me at the controls during a left medium level turn.  (Adam's photo)

I didn't want to do anything silly or embarrassing, so after some prompting from Darren to "do some turns", I did some medium level turns.  One to the right and one to the left.  The one to the left was much better balanced, and I could feel the considerable backpressure needed to maintain height.  After that, Darren took back the controls and demonstrated a steeeeeeeep turn.  Wow.  That was intense... and fun!  Apparently we hit 2.5 G's during the turn.

Geelong city just off our wing.  Avalon's hangars can be seen in the distance.

 

Coming back in to Lethbridge.

Turning to join mid-field crosswind.  The Tecnam can be seen parked on the grass.

Joining the circuit.

After a beautiful wheeler landing, we taxied back to the parking spot.  It is cool how sharply a tailwheel aircraft can turn on the ground!  We unbuckled and got out of the aircraft, then all headed back over to the club rooms where Jeremy (the pilot of the AgCat) was standing.  I was telling them how this was many firsts for me: first tailwheel, first warbird, first formation flight.  Jeremy kept reminding me that he can teach me to do aerobatics and formation.

Maybe one day.

Adam and I checked the time and begrudgingly tore ourselves away from the conversation.  We couldn't thank Darren enough.  It was an amazing experience.  We got back in the Tecnam, which seemed tiny by comparison, ran through the checklists and taxied down to the end of runway 29.  As we got there, the Winjeel and the AgCat were heading out for more adventures.  We waved as the passed, and lined up behind them.

Heading straight out, we climbed to 2500 feet and pointed the nose just left of Buninyong.  As we got back to Ballarat, there was a banner tow aircraft doing a drop on one runway, and then landing on another.  I contacted him and he confirmed that he was going to do a low-level circuit.  We stuck to normal height and size so he was well on the ground by the time we even turned base.  Touching down with another soft landing (woohoo), we headed back to the hangar.

It was an amazing day of aviation.  Lots of firsts for me, lots of great new people to meet.  It was also great to share it with an altitude junkie like Adam.