Plan the flight and fly the plan

Then more recently I ferried a VFR Cessna 206 from Moorabbin to near Albany in WA.

In both flights the key was the pre‑trip planning, and that applies equally to a ferry flight as much as a long distance holiday flight.

The WA flight went smoothly thanks to planning and preparing for the flight, having the right kit and safely executing the flight.

In planning the flight a number of things came to mind, particularly range and fuelling stops and the ‘what if’ factor in the event of encountering poor weather.

The aircraft with a 300hp (222kW) engine had some 287 useable litres when full. The one litre-a-minute fuel burn gave me 287 minutes endurance and with a TAS of 130kt a range of 525nm, no wind.

The longest leg was to be Forrest to Kalgoorlie, 344nm, followed by Kalgoorlie to Albany, 335nm. Going west typically means into headwinds and this flight was no exception, which meant consideration of thewinds and leaning to get a fuel burn below 60 litres per hour.

When you fly a different aircraft it is good to check the fuel burn so my first fuel stop was Mildura at 270nm from Moorabbin.

The next plan item was kit: tiedowns for the overnight stops; some spare oil; a survival kit in the unlikely event of being forced down including bottled water and a cigarette lighter, a sharp knife and an ELT on my belt. If you go prepared then bad luck is unlikely to happen to you. Go unprepared and you increase the chances that it will happen to you! The next consideration was the pilot. A flexible cooler bag held frozen drink bottles, some health food bars, some apples and some sandwiches. I made sure that I had all charts required plus an iPad as well as the Garmin 430 in the panel.

I also drew up a mud-map with the distances, leg tracks and radio frequencies needed.

Next was a review of the planned stops. Fuel, method of payment, maintenance facilities available, accommodation for overnight stops.

I also made sure that I had adequate funds available for the fuel and trip, both cash and cards. The trans- Australia fuel costs came to a total of $1,922.

The Moorabbin to Mildura leg was nothing to write about. Mildura to Ceduna via Port Augusta was below a stratus cloud layer. Into Ceduna to find that a BP card is required

The red dirt turned to mud as the rain bucketed down. A half hour later the western skies cleared and I continued.

or else 24 hours prior notice. Dinner that night was at the hotel overlooking the long pier with the sunset in the background and all the grey nomads going east to west and west to east Next day a no-start. The battery had taken a holiday. Pulling it out I found that it hadn’t had a lot of TLC in recent months. Into town for an overnight charge and a 24 hour delay.

Ceduna to Forrest. En route Melbourne Centre advised that there was a new TAF available. I took it before I ran out of radio coverage. Inters, tempos and a thunderstorm – exciting stuff. I could see it up ahead but it was off to my left. The strip at Cook on my right became my alternate bolt hole but as I closed on Forrest I saw that the weather had passed to the south. Mark Nash, the current resident manager, advised that it is often the case that a storm is forecast for Forrest but that it passes to the south.

Mark advised that the RFDS strips along the rail line had recently been upgraded. I had previously been to the Rawlinna homestead strip, roughly half way to Kalgoorlie, which gave me one known weather diversion strip.

Forrest to Kalgoorlie. About 30nm from Forrest the inters started and continued all the way to Kal. I followed the rail line and counted off the miles from Kal. Coonana was at the 88nm mark. A few minutes later I saw a wall of water coming my way. I turned around and after an inspection landed at the red dirt Coonana strip. The red dirt turned to mud as the rain bucketed down. A half hour later the western skies cleared and I continued.

Kalgoorlie. The fuel agent advised that there was only carnet service on the weekend so I could wait til the next day or pay a call-out fee. Funny, no mention of that in the ERSA! Too late to get to Southern Cross so I elected to stay, which saw me spend the night in a motel that catered for miners.

A refuel the next day and after the weather lifted I departed west to Southern Cross then south for Albany. 30 miles from Kal I encountered inters. These continued all the way to near Albany. There were no thunderstorms but the inter weather meant flying around or through the rain at 2,800ft for some 300nm. In doing so I kept my finger on the chart to ensure that I was only a few minutes away from a diversion aerodrome if the weather deteriorated.

I found the destination and delivered the aircraft. Next morning we tried for a local hop but the battery had given up the ghost. Such is life, Ned Kelly would say.

The secret to any long distance flight is in the planning. As the US Navy motto says, ‘Plan the flight and fly the plan’. And make sure that plan has a plan B.

Contact Dave by email: flyer02@optusnet. com. au