Finding Small Towns & Airfields

As part of the CPL flight training and test I have to be able to find ground features such as small towns and airfields by dead reckoning given a certain heading from a place eg divert from Ballarat Airport (YBLT) north to Clunes which is a relatively "big" town with a railway line going into the town from the south and several major roads branching out from the town. Then track overhead Clunes to the north east and find a small town Franklinford and from there track to Kyneton airfield (YKTN). Now Franklinford in this case consists only of a few small houses and the way to find it would be to identify Daylesford to the south which is a town of several hundred houses and follow the main road out of Daylesford to find Franklinford. All the time this is happening in the air flying an airplane and I have to cater to things like the wind blowing me off track, and estimating time to reach the town; on top of having to find it when I think I am about to reach it.

The work load is extremely high at that time when I am looking and looking but not seeing the big picture. The "big picture" to look out for is to find bigger features in the vicinity such as power lines, railway lines, major roads, rivers, creeks before zooming in on the target town. This is to be able to confirm that I have reached my target feature. Then compare the size of the town to the chart, seeing how many roads come into the town etc before confirming it is the town I am looking for.

Today I went flying, tasked by my instructor to find two small private airfields which are not in ERSA (I would not even call them airfields, just aircraft landing areas or grass strips) and a small town. I was asked by him to take pictures of the required ground features and show them to him when I returned. I thought it interesting to show the pictures because from 4000 ft up in the air the features were quite difficult to see. Nonetheless I accomplished the task, with some difficulty, and wasted sometime tracking back and forth looking for the second feature (Labertouche).

Bunyip grass strip

Labertouche grass strip

Berrys Creek

Rather than coming back to Moorabbin from Berrys Creek town (near Leongatha) I went on to do some NDB intercepts at Wonthaggi (WON) and Cowes (CWS) as well. All in all an interesting flight of 2.1 hours.

On the way back from Cowes to Moorabbin I also flew past the west of Tyabb airfield and took this picture of the 35/17 runway.

Tyabb airfield

Article Review - A Southern Pilot Goes Troppo - An Article By Charter Pilot, David Kent

Most people with an interest in general aviation would be familiar with the dilemma of the newly minted commercial pilot; that is, now that you have a licence how do you get a job? Most jobs require experience, and you can’t get that without a job... so one of the most common solutions is to start at the bottom and work your way up. In Australia, that most often means packing your bags and heading North, where the distances are vast and planes are used considerably more frequently than “down South”. Like some kind of aviation Mecca, there are planes to be flown, and hours of experience to be added to the logbook.

For me, the motivation for the change from instructor at the Royal Victorian Aero Club to charter pilot based in Darwin was a little different experiences (both good and bad, as it turned out!) I would miss out on. With the support of my wife who would join me later, I packed my bags and ‘went troppo’.

Here goes the story by David on his time spent as a charter pilot up in the Top End (Darwin)........ Read his complete story in the Winter 2008 edition of the Plane Talk, The Magazine of the Royal Victorian Aero Club. David writes interesting articles and I strongly recommend him to publish his stories, one day.

David Kent

Plane Talk Spring 08

Plane Talk Summer 08

Catching Up With An "Old" Instructor

It's been a long time since I last saw David. It was probably 18 months ago that David had left RVAC to go to the Top End to work as a charter pilot based out of Darwin Airport. He was my former flight instructor. David got me through my private pilot licence conversion and also taught me to fly complex single engine aircraft and Seminole twin, plus a bit of IFR stuff; in '05 and '06. David is now working out of Essendon as a charter pilot and came across as happy and settled.

He is now working on his ATPL exams (2 down, 5 to go).

We caught up with what each is doing. Got his email address and promised him I would write and invite him to facebook me. Hopefully David would get to read my blog and maybe even contribute an article or two. I also encouraged him to get back to updating his "A Southern Pilot Goes Troppo" blog which was very interesting read. David keep at it!!

David & Aus Pilot

Mitch Wong's Flight To Cameron Highlands

Mitch flew to Cameron Highlands in a Cessna C182. Must see......



Cameron Highlands Movie 1

Cameron Highlands Movie 2

This is My Blog

Aus Pilot And Flying Buddy Mitch

Hi I am Allen Chen, also known by my friends as "Aus Pilot" and "Big Al". Many of my childhood and teenage friends also know me as Seong Pin. Whichever name you use is fine with me. I now live in Melbourne, Australia with my partner and I hailed from Malaysia. As befitting my synonyms I am passionate about flying and airplanes. Flying is my all consuming hobby and past time...... I just can't seem to get enough of it.

Please visit my other blog australianflying.blogspot.com for aviation related articles.

But I also like to do other "stuff". Travel is my other passion although I don't seem to have done enough of it to qualify as an expert. I have dreams of traveling around Australia in a caravan, riding a bike through SE Asia, camping and back packing all over Europe. Food is another big do of mine and again I haven't done enough of it.....

In my allenchenblogger.blogspot.com blog I intend to document everyday happenings rather than just aviation related events. You will read general comments and thoughts, travel logs, food commentaries and just ramblings......

I think blogs are so powerful. They are diaries of individuals and they put our thoughts into context and in an organized fashion. A sort of "welcome-to-my-world" tool really. It can be said that those who blog may "like the sound of their own voice"!

Nonetheless blogging is fine if one uses it as a way to express one's thoughts and opinion and I encourage you to plunge into the world of blogging......

All Rights Reserved
No part of this blog may be reproduce, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written consent of this author.

Views Expressed
This author may not be sued in courts by anybody or any entity for expressing his views and opinions in this blog. They are just my bloody ideas. Capisce?

New Airplane From Zenith Aircraft Company

The Zenith Aircraft Company and Vans Aircraft are my two favorite aircraft manufacturers. Chris Heintz (all the letters in Zenith is contained in the name Heintz) and Richard VanGrunsven are both brilliant aeronautical engineers and aircraft designers.

I particularly like the ZODIAC CH650 and the RV 10 aircraft.

Zodiac CH650 brief specs and performance:-

Two seats

Dual Sticks

Dual Brakes

Empty Wt - 362 kg

Useful Load - 235 kg

Gross Wt - 597 kg

Engine Lycoming 0-235 (115 HP)

Sensenich Prop

75% Cruise Speed at 8000' - 139 Kts TAS

Stall Speed VS1 - 45 Kts

Stall Speed VS0 - 38 Kts

Range - 575 NM

Endurance - 4.2 HR

CH650 is available as a complete kit from Zenith and factory built from AMD. A complete kit costs US$18,500 and an AMD built Zodiac is VFR US$99,900 (LS)/IFR US$114,900 (LSi) including FAR 33 certified Continental 0-200 (100HP) engine, TSO'd 6 pack panel but not including Nav/Com.

Garmin GNS 430 with GS- Nav/GPS/Com (TSO IFR) + GTX 327 with Mode C (TSO IFR)+ GMA 340 Audio Panel (TSO IFR) + another SL30 Nav/Com will set you back another US$20,000. That's a total US$134,900 for an IFR two seater.

To me this is a good value airplane:- IFR avionics, IFR & Night cockpit, FAR certified airplane including Continental Engine & Sensenich Propeller. Fast cruise speed, easy to maintain and light on fuel usage. Only setback is that it's got only 2 seats. It would be nice to get two more seats but that will push the price to more than US$200,000; in the RV 10 range of aircraft.

Zodiac Kit Plane

Zodiac LSA
You Tube Flying the Zenith Zodiac
You Tube Flying The Zenair CH650

Farm Strips

By farm strips I mean landing strips or aircraft landing areas (ALA)that are built on a private farm. This is legal and allowed in Australia. The ALA will have to comply with certain CASA guidelines, of course. The principal document governing its design and construction is embedded in the Civil Aviation Authority Advisory Publication No. 92-1 (1) and I attach herewith a link to the CAAP:-

CASA 92-1 (1) Rules

A pilot friend of mine is building his home and farm strip up in Queensland. Once I get the details of the farm strip and the ALA coordinates I will post the info.

8/9/08 - I have a confirmation from the pilot friend that he would not let me have the landing strip details until he has sorted out with his neighbor an agreement to build his strip.