Final Thoughts on Crossing the Tasman

• Fly with others

Many brains focussed on the same challenge ensure nothing is missed.  There's a reasonable amount of planning associated with a crossing of the Tasman Sea and it's good to be able to divide that up.

Even though you may only be a mile apart in flight and unable to help directly if one aircraft encounters difficulty, it's comforting to know you're flying with others who will do everything they can to assist and liaise with the authorities if the worst occurs.

It's fun to be able to chat in flight, compare aircraft performance, winds at different altitudes and your thoughts and observations.

• Only fly to a destination that has stable or improving weather.

When flying to Norfolk Island or Lord Howe Island there are no alternate airfields and most aircraft do not have the range to be able to return to their point of departure.  Therefore it's foolish to try and "race the weather".

My decision making process begins with building a picture of the weather systems in the Tasman Sea using the synoptic charts published by the New Zealand Meteorological Service and Australian Bureau of Meteorology.  Then check the TAF at the destination.  If that indicates stable or improving weather during the planned period of flight then consider the enroute winds.  I used the NZ Met Service's MetJet to get the enroute winds but they can also be sourced from the Bureau of Meterology's Grid Point Wind Forecasts.  I have found both the general and aviation weather forecasts for the Tasman Sea to be very accurate.

If you decide not to fly due to unacceptable weather - relax!  There's no point checking the weather every hour as it doesn't change that quickly.  Take the time to explore wherever you're stuck.

• Allow 1 week to cross the Tasman Sea in either direction.

Weather systems normally take 3 - 4 days to cross the Tasman Sea.  Based on my 2014 and 2016 experiences, you'd be lucky to encounter a stable weather system that would allow a crossing on successive days.

• Take your time and enjoy the experience.

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Intrepid adventurers at Port Macquarie
L to R: Dave Wilkinson, Peter Merwood, Bill Luther, Don Wilkinson

This concludes this blog for now.  I'm very grateful for the help and support Dave & Don Wilkinson, Bill Luther and I have had from our many flying mates and interested friends and family.  I'm not overtly religious but I offer a prayer of thanks on behalf of us all for having the means and ability to accomplish a safe return crossing of the Tasman Sea.  I know there were aviation friends who have passed on that were looking over us - thanks Clive Stephen, Brian O'Hagan and, most of all, my Dad.

I hope you've enjoyed this blog.  My mind is always full of potential aviation adventures.  You just never know - there might be another one to read about in the future 😏

I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things

 - Antoine de Saint Exupery

Return to the Land of the Long White Cloud

We departed Norfolk Island at 8:30am local time on our last 483nm over water leg back to Kerikeri.

I was more uneasy about this leg than any of the other Trans-Tasman legs but I'm not sure why. Perhaps it was because this was the last long overwater leg and we were in sight of the finish line.  Was "Murphy" lurking to cause some disruption at the last minute?

The flight from Norfolk to Cape Reinga was pleasant and on top of scattered cloud.  The 20 - 25kt westerly winds were a bit stronger than expected but as they were right on our beam they didn't really give us any headwind or tailwind component.

One thing that was quite noticeable was the air temperature.  Over the Tasman at the heights we've been flying the outside air temperature has been around 12 deg.  Today it was a consistent 18 deg and didn't decrease as Dave climbed to about 6,000ft.  This is unusual as the air temperature is supposed to decrease at about 3 deg / 1,000ft.  We all commented on higher oil and cylinder head temperatures on this leg than we'd seen previously.

All was well until we got to Cape Reinga and then Murphy did present us with some challenges.

There was a forecast wind shift that should have swept away the low cloud and drizzle around Northland between 10:30am and midday.  However, when we arrived at the Cape at 12:15pm it was shrouded in low cloud and drizzle.  We were forced to crawl around the east coast at low level with limited visibility which is no fun.  If you remain seaward and in sight of the surf then you have no fear of bumping into anything.  However, the risks of the weather closing in around you are high.

I chickened out and climbed up through a hole and reached the top of the cloud at 4,500ft.  My thought was that the cloud was reported to be broken at Kerikeri so I should be able to get back down again.  If I couldn't I had sufficient fuel reserves to fly direct to Auckland International Airport, get assistance with locating a clear area to let down and clear Customs and Immigration there.  It would have caused some questions to be asked but it was a safe option.

Fortunately, there was a nice big hole in the cloud just to the north west of Kerikeri and I descended through that and landed with no difficulty.  It was a relief to be on the ground after the stress of the last 40 mins of the flight.

Clearing Customs and Immigration was simple and straight-forward.  They were interested in any insect eggs on the aircraft and we were congratulated for finding these at Norfolk Island and removing them ourselves.

Bill, Dave and Don live in Auckland and opted to continue on home.  The forecast for the remainder of the North Island today was not good and deteriorating during the afternoon so I've opted to stay in rainy, drizzly Kerikeri for the night until the weather clears tomorrow.  I don't know why anybody lives in the Far North.  All it does is rain!

There's Worse Places to be Stuck

We delayed our departure from Lord Howe Island by half a day yesterday to let the weather settle at Norfolk Island.  That resulted in us having a lovely 3.1hr flight with steady tailwinds all the way.

Although there is nothing but water between Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands the flying was spectacular.  Most of the time we were flying within a few miles of each other and could see each other in the distance.  On our route there was scattered cloud at about 4,000ft with tops around 8,000ft.  A few rebellious puffs extended down to the 3,000ft level where we were flying and it was fun to blast through them and blow them to bits to punish them for daring to venture toward our track.  We passed amongst several lines of cloud and showers that were no more than 1 - 2nm thick which I guess were shallow fronts.  On each occassion it was easy to steer a little left or right of track to pass between clouds that were building and there was nothing more than a harmless bump or two as we did that.

I'm sure people who are not as obsessed with flying as I will find it hard to understand that I could spend all day flying in this way.  I never tire of looking at the sky.

 

Thunderbird 6 is performing sweetly and she seems as happy as I. She feels "light and free" and purs along.  Dave, Bill and I have all come to conclusion that the best thing we can do for our aircraft engines is to take them on long trips like this where they are running at reasonably high but constant revs.  You can certainly feel the difference.

Enroute we passed over a container ship, fishing trawler and yacht.  Although the sea looked reasonably calm when you got close to them you could see their bows ploughing into large swells.

Dave ducked down to circle the yacht and got a wave from the guy who was on it.  He was about 100nm west of Norfolk Island and must have wondered what he was seeing.  Dave reckoned he was naked!

We were planning to leave Norfolk Island today on our final over-water leg to Kerikeri.  Although the weather is lovely here the north of New Zealand is subject to low cloud and strong North East winds that won't ease until late today.  Although we're all now looking forward to getting home, flying into forecast bad weather is not an option so we've delayed our departure 24hrs.  There's worse places to be stuck!

Lord Howe Island - An Island Paradise

As I write this it's Tuesday 7 June 2016. In my earlier post I indicated that we had hurriedly scuttled back to Port Macquarie the previous Friday to take shelter from a severe storm that was forecast to lash the east coast of Australia.  That proved to be the right decision.

The storm that passed south along the east coast of Queensland and New South Wales over the weekend of 4/5 June was a good one.  There were winds in excess of 120km and torrential rain.  4 - 5 people were killed in storm related accidents and properties in the northern coastal suburbs of Sydney had significant parts of their land washed away. The houses on those properties are sure to be condemned.

We used the time in Port Macquarie wisely.  We lazed around, visited other aviators, Looked at their aircraft in the shelter of their hangars and went to seafood restaurants!

We are now chasing the front and associated low pressure area east across the Tasman Sea back to New Zealand.  We have to watch the weather carefully to ensure we don't fly into the back of the front and encounter the weather that's lashed the coast of Australia.

This morning we were airborne by 7:45am and launched into a clear blue sky on a cold, 6 deg Celsius morning.

Over the weekend we took great care to file our flight plans for our Lord Howe and Norfolk Island legs with Airservices on-line.  Theoretically all we then had to do was radio Brisbane Centre on the ground at Port Macquarie and ask them to activate our flight plan for that leg and nominate a SARTIME, (Search & Rescue Time).  When the controller was contacted immediately prior to take-off he told us he couldn't access flight plans for VFR flights - what?  He accepted our SARTIME but seemed disinterested in our flight.  Prior to this trip I'd heard Airservices weren't really interested in private Trans-Tasman flights operating under Visual Flight Rules and this was clearly demonstrated to us today.

There was broken cloud over much of our route that we climbed on top of to take advantage of the nice steady tailwinds.  It was fun cruising amongst puffy clouds but we were eventually forced up to 9,500ft.  It's not a good idea to spend too long at that height as hypoxia can set in so I ducked down through a nice big hole in the cloud to a more comfortable 5,500ft.  It was a pleasant 2:14 flight to Lord Howe which included a short diversion to fly around the impressive 1,800ft Balls Pyramid that rises like a steeple from the sea.

On landing Peter Phillipps introduced himself.  He's a local aviation nut (like us) and has published books and DVDs on interesting aircraft that have visited Lord Howe Island and the days of the flying boats that serviced the island before the airstrip was built.  Peter took us on an aviation related tour of the island and is a mine of information.  Our trip included a short walk to an Australian Airforce Catalina crash site.  In September 1948 this amphibious aircraft was making an approach across a ridge at night for an emergency landing in the lagoon.  It had a fuel leak and apparently there was fuel ankle deep in the bottom of the hull (not good).  It clipped the top of a ridge and plunged down the other side.  The two engines are still where they fell and other parts of the wings and miscellaneous wreckage surround them.  It was most interesting but this is the closest I want to get to an aircraft wreck thanks.  If you find yourself on Lord Howe Island I recommend contacting Peter's "Chase 'N' Thyme" bus tour company and booking a tour.

Lord Howe Island is a delightful place.  The beaches are gorgeous, the topography is impressive and the pace of life is pleasantly slow.

Dash to Port Macquarie

As can be expected we keep an eye on the weather forecast for the next 4-5 days over our intended route.  When we were in Longreach it became clear there was a deep low sandwiched between high pressure areas over continental Australia and New Zealand.  This sets up a fast moving stream of air up the east coast of Australia with high winds and lots of rain.

On Thursday night we made the decision to skip our stop at Lightning Ridge on Friday night and make a run direct from Charleville to Port Macquarie with a stop mid route at Moree for fuel.  We would then hunker-down at Port Macquarie and sit out the storm.

We were at the airfield early and departed at 7:45am.  The forecast for the 459nm route wasn't flash with low cloud and rain (but not much wind) and we had agreed multiple "escape" options to the east coast if the weather precluded tracking direct to Port Macquarie.

After leaving Charleville we encountered low cloud and rain within 20mins of leaving and Dave and Bill, who were ahead of me, reported there was no way through.  I use the AvPlan EFB flight planning and electronic Flight Bag application (which is awesome).  AvPlan allows the rain radar to be overlaid on the moving map so you can steer around weather.  I could see a 60 x 30nm rain band extending west from St George right over our track.  We elected to track east around the rain band ensuring that we always had an escape to the east if the rain band extended further than thought.  As it happened the rain was exactly where it was depicted on the moving map and it was easy to steer around it.

I know there's people who are critical of discarding traditional aviation charts in favour of tablet based flight applications.  They believe pilots who are over-reliant on such applications will get into strife if the application fails or the tablet goes flat.  Sorry I don't agree.  The situational awareness AvPlan provides makes me a far safer and informed pilot and the benefits far outweigh the risks.  Amazingly throughout most of our route through the outback we've had cellphone coverage which allows up-to-date METARs (actual weather conditions) at airports to be retrieved at any time using AvPlan and weather radar and situation maps to be available.  The risks associated with a technology failure can be mitigated by carrying a second synced iPad as I do (or charts), and a means to keep the devices charged from the aircraft.  In areas I'm unfamiliar with my procedure of noting all headings and times as I cross each planned waypoint ensures that if there is a total blackout, I have a fair chance of finding my destination by using a compass and watch.  

Once we cleared the rain around St George we had a clear run to Port Macquarie.  The crossing of the Great Divide was accomplished at 6,500ft on top of scattered, puffy cumulus clouds.  Port Maquarie had clear skies and negligible wind.

As there was storm warnings in place for the Australian east coast we managed to find hangar storage for our aircraft so all three are tucked up, warm and dry which is a considerable relief.

As I write this the weather in Port Maquarie is wild - just as forecast.  It has rained heavily and there's been nasty rain squalls passing through most of the day.

We're resigned to sitting it out here until the current front crosses the Tasman Sea and we will cross behind it in the arms of a nice big high pressure area with tail winds.

Diversion due weather

Sadly we've travelled as far north as we have planned on this trip and took up a south easterly heading as we left Longreach this morning.  At 208nm today's leg to Charleville is one of the shortest on the trip.  As we had all day to get to Charleville and the forecast was for low cloud that wouldn't clear until after 9am we weren't in too much of a hurry to get away.

On leaving Longreach just before 10am we immediately encountered the low cloud that was supposed to have moved on and struggled to stay much above 1,000ft AGL.  The normally distinct outback horizon came and went as the visibility lowered form time to time.  There was also a SPECI issued (special weather forecast) issue while we were in flight that indicated the cloud base was just as low at Charleville.  I chickened out and declared to the others that I was going to divert to Blackall which was only 20nm to the east of our track.  Prior to making this call we were maintaining legal Visual Flight Rules (VFR) but the conditions were clearly not going to get any better to Charleville and, as we had all day, there was no point unnecessarily pushing on in less than desirable weather. Especially when it was forecast to improve anyway.

There's nothing much at Blackall but the local airport Reporting Officer saw us come in and came down to say "hello".  He opened up his hut for us, and made a coffee and we spent a pleasant hour chatting with him.

The onward flight to Charleville was no problem as the cloud had lifted by the time we left Blackall and it was pleasant flying.

Gary had arranged for us to have a look through the Royal Flying Doctor Service base at Charleville and we spend time there crawling over one of their lovely Pilatus PC12 aircraft.  The chief pilot and chief engineer told us all about this very capable aircraft and their operations out of Charleville.  They fly 35-40hrs most weeks which is a long way when you're travelling at 250kts.

My son Andrew flies for General Aviation Maintenance (GAM) in Melbourne.  On arriving at Charleville I noticed a GAM Aerocommander on the apron.  Andrew coordinated a meeting between the pilot and I which has resulted in us scoring GAM's pilot car for the evening.  Another example of the flying community working together to help each other yet again 😌

Stockmen & Airliners

Our itinerary included a day off from flying yesterday to give us plenty of time to explore the town's two major attractions: Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame and the QANTAS Founders Museum.

We tackled the Stockman's Hall of Fame first and I lost myself in there for about 4 hours.  The Hall of Fame is a great tribute to the fortitude and hard work of the Australian pastoral pioneers.  The challenge of trying to eke out an existence from an inhospitable land must have been so hard.  Add to that the isolation and occasional tests that Mother Nature chucked at you in the form of fires, floods, droughts and even locust plagues.  The museum deals with how the early farmers enlisted the help of the Aborigines, the formation of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, how the big land owners like Sydney Kidman grew enormous land holdings and culminates with information on modern farming practices.

In one section I read the following poem which I think sums up the efforts of the pioneering farmers of Australia

A farmer stood at the pearly gates, 

His face was lined and old,

He stood before the man of fate,

For admission to the fold.

"What have you done?" St Peter said,

"To gain admission here'.

"I've been a farmer sir", the old man said,

"For many and many a year"

The pearly gates flew open wide,

As St Peter rang a bell, 

"Come in," he said, "and choose your harp,

You've had enough of hell."

When we arrived at Longreach and were sheltering from the rain on Tuesday, we spent time on the inside of the QANTAS Founders Museum.  Outside in the "birdcage", are a Boeing 747-200, 707 and Douglas DC3 which were significant types for QANTAS.  We were guided on an afternoon tour of each aircraft which was interesting for aircraft geeks like us.  Gary Spicer who is travelling with us is a retired Air New Zealand pilot and, although the young tour guide was very good, it was great to have Gary on hand to tell us even more about both the 747-200 and 747-400 which he flew.

As good as it is to see these aircraft I always find aviation museums kinda sad.  Aircraft belong in the air.

Drenched in Longreach

After a hearty breakfast we took off from Birdsville at 9:20am yesterday on the 307nm leg to Longreach.  As there was no other traffic in the area I took-off immediately behind Dave and felt a few bumps from his wake as I did so.  This meant that Dave and I stayed in sight of each other for most of the 2.2hr flight to Longreach.

Along the way we had fun taking photos of each other. I got some good video of Dave's lovely Vans RV-8 cruising beside me. However, trying to get that off a GoPro, onto an iPad for insertion in a Blog with any degree of quality is not easy so it will have to be added later.

The first part of our journey had us flying north east up the Diamantina River.  This area is known as the Channel Country where the rivers all flow inland eventually discharging their water into Lake Eyre which is the lowest part of the Australian continent.  I've flown over the Channel Country several times and couldn't get over how luscious and green it was on this occasion.  The Diamantina is up to 5nm wide in places (it's actually made up of dozens of smaller streams) and there was lush emerald green grass within the river boundary that would rival anything we have in New Zealand.

As our track continued we eventually left the Diamantina and passed over a slightly higher plain that was peppered with weird sedimentary rock (I think) formations that are 100 - 200ft higher than the surrounding land.   It was fun veering slightly left and right of track to have a look at these as we passed over them.

I use a Bose A20 aviation headset which has a music input. Like most audio devices Bose make, the quality of the music that's played by my iPhone through the headset is really good and the music source is automatically muted if a signal is received by the radio - or you forget and sing into the microphone!  As I scooted from rock formation to rock formation at about 500 - 700ft AGL I had Fanny Be Tender (With My Love) by the Bee Gees, which is one of my favourite songs, belting out through my headset.  You might not like my taste in music but I couldn't be happier with where I was, what I was doing and what I was listening to.

About halfway to Longreach we started to encounter the showers that were forecast but these didn't amount to much.  There was little wind and the flying was great under a high pearl-coloured overcast.  However, that was to change as we reached Longreach and encountered the "moderate" rain included in the Terminal Area Forecast (TAF) for the day.

Bill was approx. 15mins ahead of Dave and I and when he landed he reported heavy rain but was able to tell us where there were clear(er) areas we could use.  There was no traffic around Longreach other than us so we had the freedom to manoeuvre around the worst of the rain.  As the visibility was low I held in a clear area south of the field until I knew Dave had the airfield in sight and was established on final.  When Dave reported that I began my run in to the airfield. I didn't have much option other than to steer a GPS heading straight for the runway and then breakoff onto a close left hand downwind leg for runway 22.  The rain was torrential but there was no wind. As I began my flare onto a very wet runway it crossed my mind that I needed floats not wheels fitted to the undercarriage of Thunderbird 6.

My aircraft doesn't like the rain much and leaks where the canopy meets the turtle deck just behind the engine cowl.  After parking I leapt out and fitted the aircraft cover in teaming rain and got saturated for my trouble.  I then made a made dash for the nearest buildings but unbeknown to me the bloody gate had been shifted since I was last in Longreach.  I was reduced to running along the airside fence line looking for the gate while getting drenched.  Not amused!

The rain eventually reduced to showers and we all gathered under a veranda looking like drowned rats.  The QANTAS Founders Museum was not far away so we took shelter in their cafe before spending a great couple of hours in the museum.

The QANTAS airline we know today was started in Longreach and the story of their early route and aircraft challenges is great.  It's not hard to lose yourself for a couple of hours in the museum that records the early history of the airline.  The museum is not part of QANTAS but is well supported by them.  Sometime ago QANTAS donated a retired Boeing 747-200 and the museum itself has sourced QANTAS' first Boeing 707.  Panels of these aircraft have been removed so you can see what "makes them work".

By the time we left the museum the rain had stopped and we were able to unload our aircraft and get to the motel just down the road from the airfield.

We're here for two nights to ensure we have time to thoroughly visit the QANTAS Founders Museum and the Stockmans Hall of Fame.