Plane Paper Archive - July/August 2008   Return to current Plane Paper

July 8 to 25 Kimberly Tour report

For two RVs and a J200, the departure forecast for July 8 was “encouraging”. If Chris and Andrea Malone(CJM),Simon and Dianne Stone (SDI) and Don and Bobbie Fraser (WDB) could not get straight to Pt. Pirie or Pt. Augusta then Leigh Creek was well in range and that’s how it turned out.

There is not much to see between Leigh Creek and Coober Pedy. Woomera was not active so with blue skies and a quartering tail wind we arrived at our first overnight stop with plenty of daylight left for a wander about town. We had visited at other times and so just made a few superficial observations about the increase in above ground development. The Mud Hut Motel people put on a splendid meal and free transport to and from the airfield.

We discussed entry procedures into Alice Springs air space and followed the road to our second stop. Our arrivals were routine but we were unaware that an a light twin with a call sign one letter different from SDI had preceded us and apparently had set the tower on edge. (We only found that out later on at Mataranka.)

On the next leg we planned to refuel at Tennant creek via the published VFR route one along the highway to Bond Springs.

Next morning after getting clearance to take off we were all required to repeat the read backs. It soon became clear however as I was listening to the radio exchanges that ATC was insisting on precisely standard radio procedures and read backs in the same order as given. The blue twin was replying to Simon’s instructions as well as his own totally clogging the air with confusion. With everyone on the tower frequency, I could not get in a departure call until I was 8 nm on track and climbing through 4000 ft. Chris and Simon struggled manfully. Without radar, no clearance delivery, ground or approach on separate frequencies and now with no confidence in our position reports, ATC was seriously worried with good cause Our group’s radio work was deficient at least to some extent in those circumstances, the blue twin was completely befuddled, I heard a couple of inbound calls and there was RPT traffic scheduled to arrive within 20 minutes of our departure. That was not a good experience for anyone.

Terrain on the way to Tennant Creek

Just as I was turning base onto runway one-one at Tennant and as a Barron from the North East was entering downwind, another aircraft called his arrival in the Tennant Creek area as,
“Tennant creek, I am a few miles West at 300 feet”
I didn’t hear his call sign but recognized his voice. Was he making a straight in approach? He actually landed about four minutes after the Barron. At the refueling point, I asked him if he had heard my inbound and circuit calls thinking perhaps that he had some radio problems. He said he was happy about knowing which runway to use from the radio. Tennant Creek

Mataranka was disappointing this year, as there was very little water in the feeder streams compared with last year.

The strip is adequate but very dusty, especially when three Cessnas fired up and took off just before we were ready. I should have delayed my take off by twenty minutes. I had over heard their discussion at breakfast about going direct to Darwin through Tindal space. I assumed that they were somehow able to lodge flight plans. We couldn’t get a phone signal but still had to pick up fuel at Tindal before going to Kununurra. Silly me. The three had not been able to lodge flight plans either and had to do so after take off. Then they were each attempting to talk to Clearance Delivery on top of each other. Then they got their codes, tracks and QNH all mixed up and when on Approach frequency had to be radar vectored onto the correct course because they were 10 miles off track following the wrong rail line. Anyhow, ATC at Tindal was calm helpful and efficient.

We had no problems getting into the circuit just after a flight of F5s from Singapore landed and just before a sortie of F18s was about to depart. We shared the taxiway and circuit with the warbirds.

What difference radar coverage, discrete frequencies and separate operators make!
Our exit clearance was along the Victoria River VFR route, which is limited to 1500 ft. one mile, either side of the road: Scenic but a bit bumpy:
The terrain at low level was very interesting but after clearing the prohibited space, we climbed to a more comfortable altitude. We three kept in touch with each other on the common remote area frequency, 123.45 trying not to be overly chatty.

Our overnight stop At Emma Gorge was a short hop from topping up at Kununurra.

We had the GPS co-ordinates for Emma strip but did not see it at first. We chased about flying up the gorge and then back towards the East. From that direction, with the sun at a better angle, the strip was obvious. Chris waited circling at a discrete distance amused by our discomfort as Simon and I lost sight of each other for a couple of minutes.
The Lodge provided ground transport and deposited our bags in the “tents”. The gorge is part of the El Questro property and therefore very expensive. We only stayed for one night but it is a beautiful location of changing colour and light not to be missed.

The following morning we all started up the walking track but it soon became too rough for comfort. Simon and I went on up to the falls. For a while there I thought I might be too stubborn for my own good but Simon helped and the water pond and falls made it worthwhile. The track was along the riverbed and too rough for me to risk carrying my camera.

After lunch we headed back to Kununurra. As SDI was on short final our nemesis announced that he was entering the runway. Simon repeated his call urgently and the blue twin stopped.
A two-night stop gave us a chance to get the chores done, have a leisurely wander about the town, do a bit of window shopping for diamonds and go on an evening BBQ boat trip:(which was very good)

There is a lot more to explore in that region but it would have to be done in a 4WD.

Next stop Mt Elizabeth station. The RVs went on but Chris turned back to with a slight miss in his engine. It proved to be minor and easily fixed but things like that over remote areas are the stuff of white knuckles. Lining up number three on the taxiway and with several others behind, he witnessed once again the same blue twin entering and back-tracking forcing a Caravan into a go-round. That kerfuffle managed to delay many arrivals and departures.

At 1700 ft AGL Mt Eliz has a long a well-prepared dry-grass strip. The station carries 6000 head and makes more money out of tourists these days. The local man took us out onto a rough track to a river bend and a sandy beach opposite some very interesting rock formations.

The idea is to give tourists an experience of living on a remote cattle station.

The place is surrounded by hundreds of miles in all direction by rugged plateau country cut deep by thousands of creeks and rivers most of which would only run during the wet season. Surviving a forced landing would be problematic. Being found would be well nigh impossible without a GPS beacon. We did not dwell upon that as we departed for Cape Leveque via Derby for fuel.

The scenery changed but was no less dramatic and still with a sense of remoteness. The approach to the strip was out over the ocean over the rocks and down in between the trees. Most of it is hard sand.

For the next three nights we stayed in “tents”, loafed about on the beaches, read books during the heat of the day and had evening BBQs on the deck overlooking the eastern dunes. The sun rose directly in front of our balcony.

The coastal and seascapes Southwards into Broome were a foretaste of what was to come on the run down to Geraldton. We stayed two nights in Broome, lunched at Cable Beach, inspected an art gallery, bought some jewelry and visited a pearling museum and some cemeteries. The weekend market was on at the old courthouse park and then we searched for the dinosaur tracks out on the rocky coast.

Quite by chance we had arrived at low tide and a full moon and thus saw the phenomenon known as the steps to the moon.
The Broome Radio man and the ground marshal were very helpful and had made us welcome. There is lots of RPT and charter traffic in and out providing its own separation with information from the ground. The system worked well.
Simon and Dianne departed for Ayres Rock and we went south to Pt Hedland and Exmouth. The coastline continued on in a visually varied display of shapes and colours that have to be seen to be believed.

There is a small strip near the town of Exmouth but it has no fuel so we landed at Learmonth. Never have we seen so many security people in one place. Most of them were trainees who were delighted to screen us and our bags and escort us to our aircraft each time we needed to attend to them. We were carrying sharp tools of course. They thought it was rather amusing but good practice.
I would like to return the Exmouth area for a proper examination because we did miss a lot. As we flew out over the extensive Ningaloo reef, that was only too apparent

The same could apply to Carnarvon, Geraldton and Kalgoorlie but by that time we were in a “get home” mood and did not see much of those places but the salt scars between Geraldton and Kalgoorlie were dominant.

On the way to Kalgoorlie Chris’s oil pressure fluctuated but his CHT and oil temperatures remained cool. A little extra oil added at Southern Cross seemed to help but miles out of Kalgoorlie the pressure played up again. That evening he rang Wayne Johns, who diagnosed the problem and explained the fix. A bit of grit under the regulator seat was the culprit. Andrea however, remained glued to the gauge from then on.

Chris followed the roads to Caiguna and then along the coastal Highway. My flight at 7500 ft was a lesson in believing the instruments. The little EFIS has a display, which shows the wind direction and strength. It calculated the wind at about 210 degrees at 80 to 110 kts but the air was smooth and my belief was strained. The track following the railway line into Kalgoorlie was 88 degrees. To hold the line I had a heading of between 120 and 130 degrees.
Between Kalgoorlie and Ceduna I just had to stop at Forrest because it had played a big part in earlier days of Australian aviation. And so WDB landed to be greeted with a waiting fuel attendant, a cup of tea and some home baked chocolate chip biscuits. It was a busy day for the population of two as they were expecting yet another visitor later on making three for the day. Then we heard an approaching aircraft. It had made no call and swept over the field at 300 ft before landing. It was him again making up an unexpected fourth. Later that day as I was tying down at Ceduna I watched him make the same 300 foot inspection of the field. Maybe he was looking for the windsock.

Chris had a long six hour plus flight and made it to Ceduna just before last light. The manager of the Motel provided transport and makes a special effort to look after pilots.
The flight home on the 25th via Cowell was uneventful.

During this kind of tour any airfield should get a 30 mile inbound call with follow up as required and an accurate arrival time estimate. Similarly a timely departure call with track and height information should be automatic. There was a lot of traffic everywhere we went and some of it was not very well prepared. At the uncontrolled locations we shared space with Virgin, Qantas, Jetstar, Skywest, helicopters and the charter operators. Only when arriving at Broome did we orbit to allow a jet’s delayed back-track. The departing captain even thanked us for our forbearance. The rest of the time we had no problems in maintaining approach and departure separation. We did make some en-route position reports just to be on the safe side because we kept a listening watch on the area frequencies. On trips like these sticking to standard procedures makes a lot of sense.
We prepared for this tour as well as we could and fortunately did not use any of the emergency equipment and supplies we all carried. Chris even included a spare propeller and wheel. (and one other thing)
Navigating over the Nullabor’s featureless wastes, despite the visible presence of a railway line would be challenging without the comforting presence of inertial nav and two GPS. After his oil scare Chris wisely chose to follow the roadways. Some one once asked me if flying over tiger country worried me. Well it does and I constantly look for potential landing places but I know that Lycomings are old technology, big, heavy, inefficient, fuel guzzlers but they hardly ever stop completely even if one cylinder comes loose or a rocker arm breaks.