Revisiting The Birdsville Races

In September this year I elected to fly to the Birdsville Races. I succumbed to the appeal of a flight of some 1,700 nm round trip, over remote country via several outback towns along the way. I have been to Birdsville and the races before, but I felt compelled to return.

My aircraft of choice was a Piper Archer. I spread the word a month in advance to see if anyone wanted to share the flying, to gain long-distance flying experience, fly over remote outback countryside and operate an aircraft away from home base for almost a week. The response was zero.

A great opportunity to gain real and valuable experience was seemingly lost.

Maybe too many pilots thought that if they could not pay for it with VET Fee help then it was not worthwhile going. So much for new CPLs wanting to have real experience in their logbook for that first job.

An instructor friend pushed a couple of guys my way and so Phil and Rob, a 160-hours PPL, made the trip with me. They were great travelling companions.

The secret with any long- distance flight is the planning. A gear check list is essential as is a pre-trip briefing.

We launched from Moorabbin on the Thursday and stopped at Swan Hill for a refuel and a lunch thanks to the Aero Club. Then on to Broken Hill – 5.2 hours for the day.

As we had arrived close to 5 pm there would have been a call out fee for the refueller, so we chose to refuel the next day. Fuel can only be obtained via a BP card (no credit cards).

The next day it took almost one and a half hours to get the refueller and a top up, leading to the avoidable but inevitable lost time at the start of the day. We launched north with a tailwind. The strong wind was blowing up dust so we climbed to 7,500 ft to get on top of the muck. The ground was visible below us but it was nice to fly VFR on top with the assistance of the trusty iPad. Every half hour we swapped tanks and recorded the decreasing endurance.

We flew via Tibooburra then Innamincka and over the racetrack inbound reporting point before landing on Birdsville’s dirt R21 – 4.2 hours for the day.

For most visiting aviators, accommodation was a tent next to their aircraft. Having been to Birdsville before I made sure that we had a roll mat under our sleeping bags plus a coreflute floor under that to flatten out the many pebbles on the parking area. Star pickets and a good mash mallet was the tie down order of the day. The ground was hard.

We towed the Archer to the fuel station to prevent prop stone damage.

The famed Birdsville Pub was fenced off this year. I am not sure if that was to keep the drinkers in or the rabble out. For a lot of aviators, the races were a secondary interest – flying to Birdsville was like carving an extra notch on their fuel tester. The town was crowded with visitors – about 8,000 in all. Aviators, grey nomads, packaged bus tourists, caravan people and a few well-heeled visitors who arrived by executive charters. Out there, big hats and boots are a must – there is a lot of dust and sun. This year the weather was good unlike a few years back when the heavens opened up and gumboots were the order of the day.

Saturday and the races. Now if you have not been to the Birdsville Races you are in for an eye full. There were ladies dressed to the nines. There were gents in suits and bow ties sweltering in the heat. There were locals in coloured shirts, very wide hats, jeans and of course dusty boots. There were gents in skirts. And there were guys and gals dressed in fun outfits and there were top hats and sombreros. Great colour and a good atmosphere.

For the record I backed the wrong horse!

Good experience flying to the Birdsville races

That night we went to the Fred Brophy Boxing Troupe, a Birdsville races institution and a fun night. He even had a son of Paul Hogan in his crew up against a few plucky volunteers from the spectators.

When Fred awarded a bout to one of his troupe and the spectators thought otherwise the boos could be heard in the aircraft tent area.

I noted some 65-70 plus light aircraft at Birdsville, plus executive charter aircraft. A far cry from the days when there were some 350 visiting aircraft. A sign of the times.

Sunday and we departed south in fine weather. The headwind said that we needed a squirt of fuel to get to Broken Hill, so we stopped at Tibooburra and had lunch at the pub.

After 5.2 hours we arrived at Broken Hill and returned to the motel at which we stayed on the north bound run. Broken Hill is a great place to visit and explore.

Next day we got fuel with a minimum delay. We headed south and over the Menindee Lakes to Kerang. The desert was slowly turning green. A refuel and lunch of fish and chips. A thunderstorm had passed though Melbourne during the morning, but we figured that an afternoon arrival would have us arrive in flyable weather. That was the case and we got into Moorabbin just after 6 pm after another 4.9 hours.

The fantastic trip was over with just under 20 shared flying hours, two motel nights, two tent nights and some 1,700 nm flown. We experienced a variety of weather conditions, witnessed the Birdsville races, saw the vast desert areas of inland Australia and visited remote outback towns. We flew two time zones and four states. Rob, my 160-hour PPL, gained some real flying tips and experience along the way. Our Archer went well with a faulty baggage door latch as the only snag.

Oh, and the $1 coin. I found that in the dust outside my tent. A memory of Birdsville that another aviator left behind sometime in the past.

‘Flying to Birdsville was like carving an extra notch on their fuel tester’

Instructor tip of the month

PILOTS TAKE NOTE: Check the latest issue of ERSA. Airservices Australia has advised in AIC No. H29/19 that the phone numbers for all the AWIS locations have changed. Make sure you alter the numbers in your contact list if you want to check on the weather at some location.